University of California, Los Angeles, Athletics
UCLA
Hofstra
UCLA Claims 14-2 Win over Hofstra in Season Opener
February 14, 2015 | Baseball
LOS ANGELES – The UCLA Bruins defeated the Hofstra Pride, 14-2, in front of 1,209 strong on opening night at Jackie Robinson Stadium.
James Kaprielian (1-0) earned the win for UCLA allowing two runs and striking out five over his six innings of work. Chris Bonk (0-1) allowed four runs over five innings and earned the loss for Hofstra.
UCLA combined for 14 hits coming from nine different batters. Brett Stephens led the way offensively for the Bruins with a career-high four hits and four runs. Ending with multiple runs batted in, Darrell Miller Jr. racked up three RBIs on a bases clearing double in the seventh inning and Ty Moore and Chris Keck each drove in two runs as well.
The Bruins were able to jump out to an early 3-0 advantage in the first inning behind a two-run homerun by senior third baseman Keck. After Ty Moore had driven in a run on a sacrifice fly, Keck stepped to the plate and hit a long drive over the right field fence on his first at bat of the 2015 season.
After adding a run in the fifth and two in the sixth, the Bruins broke the game open in the seventh inning. Leading 6-2 at the time, Stephens scored on a fielder's choice which saw the Hofstra shortstop throw it past the catcher attempting to cut the runner off at home. Then, after Moore was hit with a pitch to load the bases, Miller Jr. stroked a hard line drive into the right center gap to bring all three runners home, giving UCLA a six-run advantage.
In the eighth inning, the Bruins were able to add four more runs behind the strength of an RBI triple from Kevin Kramer and an RBI double from Moore. In total, seven-straight UCLA batters reached base in the inning in route to the 14-2 final score.
UCLA (1-0) will face the Hofstra Pride (0-1) in the second game of a three-game set tomorrow afternoon at 2:00 pm PT at Jackie Robinson Stadium. The probable starter for the Bruins is senior Grant Watson and for Hofstra it's freshman Adam Heidenfelder. Tomorrow's game can be heard live on uclabruins.com.
Notes: Tonight was the first meeting all-time between UCLA and Hofstra. The Bruins have now won six of their last nine season opening games and scored more runs tonight (14) than in any game last season. On the mound, Griffin Canning, Tucker Forbes and Matt Trask all made their first appearances as Bruins combining to allow zero runs in 2.1 innings. Furthermore, Miller Jr. set a new single game career-high in runs batted in (3).
