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No. 11 UCLA Shuts Out Washington, 2-0, in Pac-12 Home Opener
March 14, 2015 | Baseball
LOS ANGELES – The No. 11 UCLA Bruins opened Pac-12 Conference play by shutting out the Washington Huskies, 2-0, on Friday night at Jackie Robinson Stadium. The Bruins have now won nine consecutive Pac-12 Conference openers.
Junior right-hander James Kaprielian (4-1) had his best outing of the season, striking out a season-high 10 batters while allowing five hits and no runs over seven innings to earn the win. Washington freshman Noah Bremer (2-2) received the loss after allowing six hits and one run over 5.2 innings. All-American closer, David Berg, finished off the game with two strikeouts in the ninth inning to get his third save of the season.
At the dish, the Bruins were led by junior shortstop Kevin Kramer (2-for-4, HR, 2B, R, RBI) and senior third baseman Chris Keck (2-for-2, R, 2 BB). In total, UCLA accumulated eight hits, including three extra-base hits.
As has been the story all season, UCLA (13-4, 1-0) put their first run on the board via the long ball. With one out and none on in the first inning, Kramer took the first pitch he saw from Bremer and launched it off the 2013 National Championship sign beyond the fence in right center field. Kramer's fourth blast of the year gave the Bruins the 1-0 lead and marked the ninth time this season that UCLA had scored in the opening frame.
The Bruins continued to apply the pressure to the Huskies' freshman pitcher in the second inning. Singles from Keck and Sean Bouchard, along with a walk to Darrell Miller Jr., loaded the bases with one out for Christoph Bono. However, the young Washington starter responded by striking out Bono and Brett Stephens to end the UCLA threat.
Washington (12-6, 0-1) struggled most of the night to generate offense, but got runners on the corners with two outs in the top of the fifth inning. With the Huskies looking to tie the game, Kaprielian executed a perfect third-to-first pick off move to catch Matt Jackson leaning and end the danger.
As the UCLA pitching staff continued to shut down the Husky offense, the Bruins were able to add an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth inning. Keck began the frame with a walk and subsequently reached second on a sacrifice-bunt by Bouchard. Right fielder Kort Peterson then singled and stole second to put runners on second and third with one out for Miller Jr. The UCLA catcher fought off a tough 1-2 pitch and grounded out to second base to score Keck from third and give the Bruins a 2-0 advantage.
UCLA's all-time leader in career saves, David Berg, came on in the ninth in search of his 39th career save. The senior struck out two batters and threw just 11 pitches to seal the Bruins' 13th win of the season and first conference triumph.
Game two of the three-game series between UCLA and Washington will begin tomorrow at 2:00pm PT at Jackie Robinson Stadium. As with every game this season, fans can listen to all of the action live on uclabruins.com.
Notes: UCLA is now 22-3 against Washington in its last 25 games. James Kaprielian now has 39 strikeouts this season, which leads all Pac-12 and UCLA pitchers. Kort Peterson stole his team-leading sixth base of the season tonight.
