UCLA
Utah
No. 9 UCLA Completes Undefeated Weekend with 11-2 Win over Utah
March 22, 2015 | Baseball
LOS ANGELES – The Bruins' offense erupted again to lead UCLA to an 11-2 victory over the Utah Utes on Sunday afternoon at Jackie Robinson Stadium. The win marks the fourth in a row for UCLA and finishes an undefeated weekend against the Utes. The Bruins are now tied with California atop the Pac-12 standings.
Freshman Griffin Canning (4-1), making his first career weekend start, allowed two runs and struck out three over 5.1 innings to earn the victory. Utah starter Jayson Rose (1-3) allowed six runs in 3.2 innings to get the loss.
UCLA combined for 15 hits from nine different players, including three doubles, two triples and two home runs. Center fielder Christoph Bono (3-for-4, 2 3B, R, 4 RBI) accounted for both triples and drove in four runs, while Trent Chatterton (1-for-4, HR, 2 R, 3 RBI) and Ty Moore (2-for-3, HR, 3 R, 2 RBI) each hit their first home runs of the season.
Canning began the game by retiring the first five Utah batters he faced, extending his streak to 28 consecutive batters set down. However, the sixth batter he faced, AJ Young, hit a solo home run to break the streak and put the first run of the game on the board in the second inning.
UCLA (17-5, 5-1) responded by grabbing the lead back with two runs in the bottom half of the second. With runners on second and third, Chatterton delivered the first of his three RBI with a ground out that scored Moore from third. Bono then followed with a triple into the right field corner to score Darrell Miller Jr. and give UCLA the 2-1 lead.
Utah (7-15, 2-4) bounced back and tied the game in the top of the fourth inning. Young delivered again by roping a double into the right-center field gap that would score a run and knot the game at two.
In the bottom half of the fourth, UCLA began to exert its offensive prowess. Moore walked, Miller Jr. singled and Kort Peterson was hit by a pitch to load the bases with one out for Bono. The redshirt junior delivered yet again with a bases clearing triple to the left-center field gap. Shortstop Kevin Kramer then stepped to the plate and hit a double to center field to extend the Bruin advantage to four runs.
For the second consecutive inning, UCLA pushed across four runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to go up 10-2 on the Utes. The Bruins brought ten batters to the plate and totaled six hits, highlighted by two-run home runs from Moore and Chatterton. Moore laced a 2-2 pitch over the right field fence with no outs and Keck on second base to plate the first two runs. Chatterton launched his blast to left field with Peterson on second and one out to bring the next two runs home.
Leading by eight runs, the Bruins tacked on another tally in the bottom of the eighth inning to extend the advantage to nine. Peterson earned the RBI, his fifth of the year, on a fielder's choice to the shortstop.
David Berg pitched his ninth consecutive scoreless inning to close out the contest and give the Bruins their fifth conference win in six games.
UCLA will now head on the road, beginning with San Diego State on Tuesday, March 24 at 6:00pm PT at Tony Gwynn Stadium, in San Diego, Calif. Fans can listen to all of the action live on uclabruins.com.
Notes: This weekend, UCLA outscored Utah, 28-4, in total and hit .371 as a team, led by Christoph Bono (.500), Brett Urabe (.500), Ty Moore (.462), Kevin Kramer (.462) and Luke Persico (.400) who all hit .400 or better. The Bruins have hit 20 home runs this season, coming from nine different players. Through six conference games, the UCLA pitching staff has a combined ERA of 1.86. Today marked Christoph Bono's first-career two triple performance and first-career four-RBI game.
