#14 UCLA Drops Midweek Game to UCSB

Tuesday, March 1

Santa Barbara, Calif.

2:00 PM

UCLA

3-5

UC Santa Barbara

8-1

UCLA

UC Santa Barbara

Photo by: UCLA Athletics

#14 UCLA Drops Midweek Game to UCSB

March 02, 2016 | Baseball

Box Score

By: UCLA Athletics

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – The No. 14 UCLA Bruins fell to the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos, 11-6, on Tuesday afternoon at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium. The Bruins out-hit the Gauchos, but eventually dropped their second game in-a-row.

Scott Burke (0-1) pitched well in relief, allowing two runs on two hits in 3.1 innings, but received the loss for UCLA. UC Santa Barbara reliever Kenny Chapman (1-0) got the win, pitching 2.2 scoreless innings.

The Bruins racked up 12 hits in the loss, led by Eric Filia (3-for-5, HR, 2 R, 3 RBI) who hit his first home run of the season. Also having strong showings were Luke Persico (2-for-4, R, RBI) and Kort Peterson (1-for-4, 3B, R, RBI).

UCLA (3-5) got the bats going early in the contest with a two-run home run in the first inning. After Brett Stephens worked a lead-off walk, Filia took the first pitch he saw from Clements deep down the right field line and over the fence to give the Bruins a, 2-0, lead.

However, in the bottom half, the Bruins gave the lead away with a messy inning, allowing three Gauchos to score. After Justin Hooper walked the bases loaded with no outs, Austin Bush flied out to left to sacrifice the first run home. Then, a pair of errors, a passed ball and a wild pitch combined to allow two more UC Santa Barbara players to score, giving them a one-run edge after one frame.

UC Santa Barbara (8-1) took advantage of walks once again in the second inning to extend its lead to three. The first two batters reached via walk and advanced to second and third on a sacrifice-bunt. Then, one out later, Bush delivered again for the Gauchos with a single up the middle to score both runners.

In a true see-saw battle, the Bruins bounced back with three runs of their own in the third to bring the game even at five. A Filia single, Peterson RBI-triple and Persico RBI-single brought the first two runs across without an out being recorded. Then with one away, Christoph Bono singled through the right side to move Persico to third and Scott Jarvis beat out a squeeze bunt single to plate Persico and tie the game.

A Josh Adams solo home run highlighted a four-run unanswered run streak for UCSB over the next three innings to retake the lead over the Bruins, 9-5, through five innings.

The Bruins worked back within three in the top of the sixth after Daniel Rosica doubled and Stephens singled to set up Filia for his third RBI on a single through the left side. However, that would be it for the Bruins who went on to give up two more in the eighth to reach the final count of 11-6.

UCLA now moves on to host Mississippi State on Friday, March 4 at 6:00pm PT. Tickets are available and can be purchased by visiting uclabruins.com/tickets or by calling 310-UCLA-WIN. Fans can also listen to all of the action live at uclabruins.com.

Notes: Dating back to last season, Kort Peterson has reached base in 13 consecutive games…Eric Filia has reached base in all eight games and is riding a five-game hit streak…Scott Burke set a new career-high in innings pitched (3.1)…Moises Ceja set a new career-high in innings pitched (2.2).