UCLA
Washington State
No. 24 UCLA Wins Series Opener at Washington State, 3-1
April 08, 2011 | Baseball
April 8, 2011
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PULLMAN, Wash. - Right-hander Gerrit Cole threw his third complete game of the year to lead the No. 24 UCLA baseball team past Washington State, 3-1, in the series opener at Bailey-Brayton Field on Friday evening.
Cole (4-2) secured his third Pac-10 victory in three starts, throwing a complete game for the second consecutive start. He allowed one run (unearned) and five hits through nine innings. The junior from Santa Ana, Calif., moved into third place on UCLA's career strikeouts list (321), notching seven strikeouts and issuing one walk.
The Bruins (15-10, 6-1 Pac-10) scored three runs in the third inning and held on for the victory. Eight of nine players in UCLA's batting lineup had at least one hit.
Dean Espy led the way against Washington State (12-13, 1-6 Pac-10), going 2-for-4 with one double and two RBI. Beau Amaral, Jeff Gelalich and Chris Giovinazzo each had one hit and one RBI.
Left-hander Adam Conley (4-3) was tagged with the loss for the host Cougars, allowing three runs and nine hits in a complete game effort. Conley had seven strikeouts and two walks in nine innings.
In UCLA's three-run third inning, Gelalich scored from third base on a double off the right field wall by Giovinazzo. After Amaral drew a one-out walk, Espy belted a two-run double to right field, scoring both Giovinazzo and Amaral.
Washington State got on the board with one unearned in the fourth inning. After reaching with a leadoff double to left field, Brett Jacobs advanced to third base on an errant throw to second from catcher Steve Rodriguez as Jacobs strayed from the base. With Jacobs aboard third, Taylor Ard bounced a run-scoring groundout to shortstop.
UCLA resumes its series at Washington State on Saturday at 1 p.m. Saturday's game at Bailey-Brayton Field will be televised on ROOT Sports.
Game Notes: UCLA has won 14 of its last 16 Pac-10 road games, dating back to the start of 2010 ... the Bruins secured their first win in the series-opening ballgame at Washington State since 2005 ... Gerrit Cole (321) passed Jim Parque (319) for third place on the Bruins' career strikeouts list ... Cole moved into sole possession of 10th place on UCLA's career games started list (41, school record is 58) ... Dean Espy logged his team-leading fourth multiple-RBI game ... UCLA has not opened its Pac-10 schedule with a 6-1 start since 2007 (opened its conference slate 10-1) ... Cody Regis extended his hitting streak to a season-long six games.
