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No. 9 UCLA Clinches Series Victory with 3-0 Shutout of Utah
March 21, 2015 | Baseball
LOS ANGELES – The No. 9 UCLA Bruins earned their fourth shutout of the season, defeating Utah, 3-0, on Saturday afternoon at Jackie Robinson Stadium. The win clinches the series victory for the Bruins, their second-straight to begin Pac-12 Conference play.
Senior Grant Watson (3-2) threw six scoreless innings, allowing three hits and striking out four to get the win. Utah starter Dalton Carroll (3-3) allowed five hits and three runs in 6.2 innings to receive the loss. David Berg came on in the ninth frame and retired the side to earn his fourth save of the year and 40th of his career.
After Watson departed the game, the combination of Tucker Forbes, Grant Dyer and Berg allowed no hits, no runs and struck out three batters across the final three innings. In total, the trio needed just 24 pitches (21 strikes) to retire the final nine Utes.
Luke Persico recorded his seventh multi-hit game (2-for-3, R) and Christoph Bono, Chris Keck and Ty Moore each pitched in an RBI in the victory.
For the 11th time this season, UCLA (16-5, 4-1) scored in the first inning, taking an early 1-0 lead on the Utes. Kevin Kramer began the game with a walk and was eventually moved to third on a sacrifice bunt from Brett Stephens and a single by Persico. Keck then reached on a fielder's choice to the shortstop to bring Kramer in for his team-leading 26th RBI.
The Bruins added their second tally in the bottom of the fifth inning on an RBI-double from center fielder Bono. Brett Urabe reached on a walk to begin the inning and subsequently stole second one batter later. Bono then lined the first pitch of the at-bat down the right field line to bring Urabe in and put UCLA on top by two.
One inning later, UCLA extended the advantage to three runs. With Persico on second base and one out, Moore laced a hard single through the left side of the infield. Persico hustled around third and came in to score, giving the Bruins a 3-0 lead after six innings.
Utah (7-14, 2-3) struggled to solve the UCLA pitching all afternoon, combining for just three hits, all singles. The timely hitting and shut-down pitching from the Bruins led to the squad's third consecutive win and second consecutive Pac-12 Conference series victory.
The final game of the three-game set between UCLA and Utah will commence tomorrow at 1:00pm PT at Jackie Robinson Stadium. Tickets can be purchased by visiting uclabruins.com/tickets or by calling 310-UCLA-WIN. Fans can also listen to every UCLA Baseball game live on uclabruins.com.
Notes: UCLA has now clinched its fifth consecutive weekend series victory to begin the season. Through five Pac-12 games, the UCLA pitching staff has a combined conference ERA of 1.84. David Berg has now gone eight consecutive innings without allowing a run.
