UCLA's Brandon Crawford Has Historic 7-Hit Night
August 09, 2016 | Baseball
Former Bruins' shortstop goes 7-for-8 in San Francisco's 8-7 win
Former UCLA shortstop Brandon Crawford made history on Monday evening, going 7-for-8 at the plate in the San Francisco Giants' 8-7 win in a 14-inning contest against the Miami Marlins.
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Crawford, who started all 179 games for UCLA from 2006-08, became the first major leaguer since 1975 to record at least seven hits in a game. His RBI single in the 14th inning snapped a 7-7 tie, and the Giants held on in the bottom of the frame to record the 8-7 victory. He notched his sixth hit in the top of the 12th inning, smacking a one-out triple to the right field corner.
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A former standout at Foothill High School (Pleasanton, Calif.), Crawford became the first player to get seven hits in a game since Pittsburgh Pirates infielder Rennie Stennett accomplished the feat in nine innings on Sept. 16, 1975, at the Chicago Cubs (Stennett is the only big leaguer to do so since 1900).
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Crawford's seven hits established a new single-game mark for the Giants. He had entered Monday night's game having collected just six hits in his previous 36 at-bats. The 7-for-8 effort raised his batting average 13 points to .278. Crawford registered one triple, one double and five singles in eight at-bats, tying the National League record for most hits in a game.
ยSe7en starring @bcraw35. https://t.co/AJQYzwnEA4https://t.co/xx9hLZDwob
— MLB (@MLB) August 9, 2016
In three seasons at UCLA, he recorded a career-best four hits in four games and had a career-high seven at-bats in just one game โ at Arizona on March 29, 2008. Ironically, in that game at Arizona, Crawford's teammate Casey Haerther went 7-for-7 as UCLA secured a 20-8 victory.
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Crawford recorded at least one hit off six different Marlins pitchers on Monday night. He finished two hits shy of the major league record. Johnny Burnett set the MLB mark for hits in an extra-inning game, totaling nine hits for Cleveland in a 1932 game that lasted 18 innings.
ย.@bcraw35's historic 7th hit proved to be the game-winner in tonight's extra-inning win!https://t.co/MEHQ1uq3A7
โ SFGiants (@SFGiants) August 9, 2016
Crawford's effort helped San Francisco maintain a one-game lead over the rival Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL West standings.
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A fourth-round draft selection of San Francisco in 2008, Crawford made his major league debut with the organization on May 28, 2011, belting a grand slam home run in that game โ his third major league at-bat โ against the Milwaukee Brewers at Miller Park.
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Crawford helped lead UCLA to the NCAA Tournament all three seasons, including a Super Regional appearance at Cal State Fullerton in 2007. Crawford finished his three-year collegiate career with a .319 batting average, 20 home runs, 44 doubles, 136 RBI and 145 runs scored in 179 games.
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