UCLA
Oregon State
No. 9 UCLA Drops Series Opener, 3-2, to Oregon State
April 03, 2015 | Baseball
LOS ANGELES – The No. 9 UCLA Bruins dropped the series opening game, 3-2, to the Oregon State Beavers on Thursday night at Jackie Robinson Stadium. The loss snaps the Bruins' eight-game winning streak.
Oregon State's Andrew Moore (3-1) struck out eight batters and allowed one unearned run over 7.2 innings to earn the win. Junior right-hander James Kaprielian (6-2) garnered his first loss since March 6 after allowing three unearned runs and striking out nine over 5.2 innings. Luke Heimlich earned his second save of the season for the Beavers.
Overall, the UCLA pitching staff was strong, allowing just seven hits and no earned runs while striking out 14 batters. Cody Poteet and Grant Dyer each pitched 1.2 innings in relief of Kaprielian.
Chris Keck (1-for-4, RBI) and Darrell Miller Jr. (1-for-3, 2B, RBI) drove in the only two runs for the Bruins.
The game proved to be a true pitcher's duel in the early going, with both starters dominating the first four innings. Kaprielian struck out seven batters through the first four frames, allowing just two hits and no runs. Moore allowed zero hits, while striking out four, over the same span.
UCLA (21-6, 8-2) finally broke the scoreless tie with a two-out rally in the bottom of the fifth inning. With two down, Kort Peterson ended Moore's no-hit bid with a single to left field. Miller Jr. followed with a two-strike double to the right-center field gap that was misplayed by the right fielder, allowing Peterson to score easily, giving the Bruins a 1-0 advantage.
Oregon State (22-7, 5-2) answered right back in the top of the sixth inning, with two runs, to snatch the lead from the Bruins. However, it was a key error by Kevin Kramer that ultimately cost UCLA. With a man on second and two outs, Gabe Clark hit a high, foul pop-fly down the third base line. Kramer raced over to get under the ball, but dropped what looked to be a routine play for the third out. Clark made the Bruins pay by cashing in an RBI-single two pitches later. Then, a single and a walk loaded the bases and ended Kaprielian's night, giving way to Cody Poteet. Poteet proceeded to walk in the second run of the inning to give Oregon State the 2-1 advantage.
Another error led to the Beaver's third run in the top of the ninth inning. Keck mishandled a ground ball off of the bat of Caleb Hamilton to begin the frame to put a runner on first. A sacrifice-bunt and a wild pitch proceeded to move Hamilton to third where he was driven in on a sacrifice-fly by Christian Donahue.
Down 3-1, UCLA attempted to mount a comeback in the bottom of the ninth. With Nick Kern on second and two out, Keck delivered his team-high 29th RBI on a hard single to right field, cutting the deficit to one. However, the next batter, Nick Valaika, was called out on strikes to end the game.
UCLA and Oregon State will play game two of the three-game series tomorrow at 7:00pm PT at Jackie Robinson Stadium. The game will be broadcast live on the Pac-12 Networks and will feature live audio on uclabruins.com.
Notes: With nine strikeouts tonight, Kaprielian remains first in the conference with 64 strikeouts. Grant Dyer has not allowed an earned run in six consecutive appearances. Chris Keck has an RBI in three of the last four games for UCLA.
