UCLA Baseball Ends Fall season with Blue-Gold Series
November 20, 2017 | Baseball
LOS ANGELES โ The UCLA baseball team concluded its fall season last week with the annual Blue-Gold Series at Jackie Robinson Stadium. The Gold Team earned a 3-0 sweep over the Blue Team in the three-game series.
Sophomore infielder Jack Stronach led the Gold Team hitting .417 with five RBIs, two extra-base hits and two stolen bases, while freshman infielder RJ Teijeiro hit .455 with two doubles and Daniel Amaral ended the series with a .400 batting average with a home run, four RBIs and five runs scored.
For the Blue Team, Jake Hirabayashi led the team offensively hitting .333 with one double and two runs scored. Jarron Silva drove in a team-best four runs with a home run and one double.
The series opener ended with some final-inning fireworks as the Gold Team won 4-3. The Gold Team took a 2-0 lead in the third inning when Chase Strumpf hit a two-run double to right-center field to plate Amaral and Teijeiro. Heading into the seventh inning, the Blue Team had not recorded a hit until Jarron Silva blasted a three-run home run to right field to take a 3-2 lead on its first hit of the game. The Gold Team would not be denied however as it capitalized on two errors to put the winning run on first base. That set up Stronach who hit a line drive over the centerfielder's head for the walk-off win.
Game two was dominated by the Gold Team's Jake Bird as he tossed 5.0 shutout innings without allowing a hit with three strikeouts. ย The Gold Team jumped out to an early 3-0 after the third inning with two runs coming off of Blue Team errors, followed by back-to-back doubles from Strumpf and Stronach. Amaral made it a five-run game in the top of the sixth inning when he hit a two-run blast to left field scoring Jordan Prendiz. The Blue Team responded with two runs in the bottom half of the sixth inning as Michael Toglia drove in Hirabayashi with a double to left field and then later scored on a wild pitch to make the score 5-2. Ryan Garcia would come into the game on the mound for Team Gold and throw a perfect final inning to pick up the save.
In the series finale, the Gold Team would officially claim the series with a 9-2 win. Stronach and Teijeiro each went 3-for-4 and combine for five RBIs, while Amaral drove in two runs. Team Blue outhit Team Gold 10-9 but were not able to overcome five defensive errors.
UCLA will officially begin the 2018 season on Friday, Feb. 16 at home. The complete schedule with game times will be released by early December. For all updates regarding UCLA baseball go to UCLABruins.com or follow the team on Twitter @UCLABaseball.
