University of California, Los Angeles, Athletics
UCLA
Pepperdine
No. 11 UCLA Earns Midweek Victory, 5-3, over Pepperdine
March 10, 2015 | Baseball
MALIBU – The No. 11 UCLA Bruins remained undefeated in Tuesday games by topping the Pepperdine Waves, 5-2, at Eddy D. Field Stadium on Tuesday afternoon. Freshman starting pitcher Griffin Canning was spectacular for the Bruins, setting a new career-high with nine strikeouts in the victory.
Canning (3-1) went six innings, allowing just two hits no walks and no runs to earn the win for UCLA. Pepperdine's Kiko Garcia (0-2) lasted just two innings, allowing four runs on three hits to get the loss. Senior David Berg came on in the ninth to close out the game and record his second save of the season and 38th of his career.
The Bruins were able to rack up eight hits on the day, coming from seven different players. Senior third baseman Chris Keck led the way, going 2-for-3 with a home run, one run and three RBI.
For the eighth time in 16 games this season, UCLA (12-4) scored in the first inning, jumping out to an early 4-0 lead in the top half. Junior shortstop Kevin Kramer claimed the game's first hit with a single to the right side of the infield which was then followed up with a walk to Luke Persico. With two on and one out, junior outfielder Ty Moore then lined a single into left field to score Kramer. Kramer hustled hard to come home and paid the price with a hard collision with the Pepperdine catcher at the plate. The next batter for the Bruins, Keck, brought the other three runs in for the Bruins on a long home run over the right center field fence, his sixth, to give UCLA the four-run advantage after one frame.
The Bruins would add another run via the long ball in the top of the sixth inning. Freshman second baseman Sean Bouchard deposited his second home run of the year over the center field wall to put UCLA on top by five runs.
The 5-0 score held until the bottom of the eighth inning when Pepperdine (8-9) struck back for two runs of its own. With two outs and runners on first and second, Waves' third baseman Mitchell Gallagher hit a hard double into the left field corner, bringing both runners in, to cut the Bruin lead to three.
Pepperdine was unwilling to go down without a fight and put together a valiant rally in the ninth inning to attempt to steal the game. The Waves were able to load the bases with one out for Manny Jefferson. Jefferson delivered with a sacrifice-fly to center field to narrow the gap to two. However, David Berg shut the door by striking out the next batter, lead-off hitter Chris Fornaci, to seal the road win for UCLA.
UCLA begins Pac-12 conference play this weekend when they host the Washington Huskies for a three-game set beginning on Friday, March 13 at 6:00pm PT. As with every game this season, fans can listen to all the weekend action live at uclabruins.com.
Notes: With his nine strikeouts today, Griffin Canning now leads the UCLA pitching staff in total strikeouts this season (32). Today marked the return for Brett Stephens who had missed the previous 10 games with an injury. UCLA has outscored Tuesday opponents 18-7 in total, resulting in a 4-0 record.
