UCLA
Long Beach State
#2 UCLA Falls, 2-1, in 13 Innings to Long Beach State
April 29, 2015 | Baseball
LONG BEACH, CALIF. – Three errors cost the second-ranked UCLA Bruins as they fell, 2-1, in 13 innings to the Long Beach State Dirtbags on Tuesday evening at Blair Field. The loss marks the first midweek defeat for the Bruins this season.
Brock Lundquist delivered a two-out RBI-single in the bottom of the 13th inning to provide the Dirtbags with the walk-off victory. The hit plated Joey Sanchez who reached on an error earlier in the inning.
Darren McCaughan (2-2) pitched one scoreless inning of relief, striking out three, to earn the victory. David Berg (4-1) allowed one unearned run on two hits, in one inning, to garner his first loss of the season.
The Bruins totaled just five hits, led by Kevin Kramer (2-for-5, 2B, BB) who notched his 20th multi-hit performance of the season.
UCLA (31-10) threatened to score early in the game, getting the lead-off batter on-base in each of the first four innings. Despite, getting a man to third base in the third, and a man to second in the fourth, the Bruins were unable to push across the game's first run.
It was Long Beach State (23-17) that tallied the first score in the bottom of the fifth inning. With one out, Tristan Mercadel reached on an error by Kramer and subsequently advanced to second on a failed pick-off attempt by Cody Poteet. The next batter, Daniel Jackson, proceeded to lace a single through the right side of the infield to stake the Dirtbags to a, 1-0, advantage.
Long Beach State starter, Ryan Cruz, would continue to roll through the Bruin lineup, allowing just two hits heading into the eighth inning.
With UCLA behind by one, Trent Chatterton earned a one-out walk in the top half of the eighth. Brett Urabe then came on to replace Chatterton as a pinch-runner and proceeded to wreak havoc on the base paths. Following a Christoph Bono strikeout, Urabe stole second, advanced to third on a wild pitch, and then came home on another wild pitch to finally break-through for UCLA with two outs in the eighth frame.
The Bruins then had an opportunity to close it out and break the, 1-1, tie in the ninth inning. With two outs and Luke Persico on first, Chris Keck delivered a hard base hit to right field to put runners on the corners for Darrell Miller Jr. The reigning Pac-12 Player of the Week, however, could not get the game-winning hit as he grounded out to shortstop to end the frame.
In extra innings, both teams had opportunities to seize the victory. The Bruins got a runner to second base in both the 10th and 12th innings, but stranded the man in each occasion.
Long Beach State had an excellent chance in the 12th frame as well, getting runners on first and second with two outs in the bottom half, breaking a streak of 13-straight retired by reliever Grant Dyer. However, Berg came on to induce the inning-ending ground out to force a 13th frame.
The 13th inning proved to be the final one in tonight's game. With one out, Sanchez hit a slow ground ball towards second base. Sean Bouchard fielded the ball and threw it wide of first base on a tough play attempting to catch the runner. Sanchez advanced to second on the play and was followed with a walk to Garrett Hampson. Then, after Zack Rivera grounded out to move the runners up, Lundquist sealed the victory with the game-winning hit.
UCLA will return home to host the Gonzaga Bulldogs for a three-game series beginning on Friday, May 1, at 6:00pm PT, at Jackie Robinson Stadium. Fans can listen to all three games live on uclabruins.com.
Notes: David Berg tied the NCAA record for most career appearances with his 161st in tonight's game. Cody Poteet struck out a season-high seven batters over 5.2 innings. Grant Dyer threw a season-high 4.2 innings in relief, striking out five batters. This marks the first extra-innings loss for UCLA this season (2-1). Berg went 18.2 consecutive innings without allowing a run before tonight.
