UCLA
Washington State
UCLA Claims First Pac-12 Road Game, 4-3, over Washington State
March 28, 2015 | Baseball
PULLMAN – The No. 9 UCLA Bruins won the first game of a three-game series, 4-3, over the Washington State Cougars on Friday night at Bailey-Brayton Field, in Pullman, Wash. The Bruins extend their win-streak to six games, tying a season-high.
Junior James Kaprielian (6-1) pitched eight innings, allowing three runs with nine strikeouts to earn the victory. Washington State's Matt Bower (4-1) got the loss in relief after allowing three runs in one inning of work. David Berg earned his fifth save of the season with a perfect ninth inning, striking out two.
Chris Keck (3-for-4, RBI) and Kevin Kramer (2-for-5, R) had multi-hit performances while Luke Persico and Ty Moore each pitched in an RBI.
UCLA (19-5, 6-1) put a run on the board in the first inning for the 13th time this season and fourth time in the last five games. The Bruin offense wasted no time getting to the Cougars' starter Sean Harnett, loading the bases with one out for Keck. The UCLA third baseman delivered with an RBI-single to left-center field, his team-leading 27th RBI, to put the Bruins ahead, 1-0. However, that would be the only tally of the frame despite the threat for more.
Down one run, Washington State (12-12, 1-6) took the lead in the bottom of the fifth with a two-run, two-out rally. After Kaprielian had set down the first 14 batters faced, he surrendered a walk to Cooper Elliot with two outs. Ben Roberts followed with a double down the right field line to score one and Tyler McDowell reached on an infield single to score another and put the Cougars on top 2-1.
The Bruins responded with three runs in the top of the sixth inning to regain the lead. Persico brought Christoph Bono in from second with an RBI-single for the first run to tie the game. Then, Ty Moore hit a ground ball to first base that was thrown home to try and cut down Brett Stephens who was bearing down from third. The throw didn't get there in time and Stephens gave UCLA the lead. The Bruins then added a third run on an unconventional play. Keck fouled out to the catcher who in turn threw down to second to catch Moore trying to tag up. Moore got caught in a run-down, which allowed Persico to tag up and score. Moore was then awarded second base due to an interference call on the shortstop. At the end of it all, UCLA took a 4-2 lead. The Cougars cut the deficit to one in the bottom of the eighth on an RBI-groundout by Shea Donlin. Derek Chapman brought the run in from third after tripling on the previous play. However, that would mark the final run of the game.
Berg came on in relief of Kaprielian in the ninth inning and needed just 13 pitches to seal the victory for the Bruins.
Game two of the series is set to begin tomorrow at 2:00pm PT at Bailey-Brayton Field, in Pullman, Wash. Fans can listen to the game live on uclabruins.com.
Notes: UCLA is now 12-1 when scoring a run in the first inning. Kevin Kramer recorded his team-leading 16th multi-hit game and extended his on-base streak to 11. James Kaprielian is now up to 55 strikeouts on the season, first in the Pac-12.
