No. 23 UCLA Baseball Registers 10-3 Win at No. 8 Arizona State
May 27, 2011
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TEMPE, Ariz. - The No. 23 UCLA baseball team earned a crucial 10-3 victory at No. 8 Arizona State in a Pac-10 game at Packard Stadium on Friday night. The Bruins (32-21, 17-8) moved into a tie for first place in the Pac-10 standings with Oregon State, which lost at Oregon, 4-1.
Right-hander Gerrit Cole (6-7) earned the victory, striking out nine batters in eight innings against Arizona State (38-15, 16-9). Cole limited the Sun Devils to three runs and nine hits, issuing four walks.
Eight Bruins each had at least one hit, with four players notching two hits. Pat Valaika (2-for-5), Cody Regis (2-for-4) and Steve Rodriguez (0-for-3) each had two RBI for the Bruins. Dean Espy and Beau Amaral each went 2-for-5 with one run and one RBI.
Arizona State right-hander Brady Rodgers (8-4) absorbed the loss, allowing seven runs (three earned) and eight hits through six innings. Rodgers recorded nine strikeouts and no walks. The Sun Devils were led offensively by Joey DeMichele (2-for-4, one run), Riccio Torrez (2-for-5, one RBI) and Zach Wilson (1-for-5, solo home run).
UCLA claimed a 2-0 lead in the first inning before Arizona State chipped away with runs in the bottom of the second, fourth and fifth innings to secure a 3-2 advantage.
Trailing 3-2 after five innings, the Bruins scored five runs in the top of the sixth to claim a 7-3 cushion. UCLA's five-run sixth inning came after Gerrit Cole fanned Wilson and Matt Newman on consecutive at-bats with the bases loaded to end ASU's fifth inning.
The Bruins broke through with five runs, four unearned, in the top of the sixth. UCLA tied the game with no outs on a run-scoring single by Regis. With runners at first and second, Chris Giovinazzo's sacrifice bunt was mishandled by ASU third baseman Riccio Torrez, loading the bases. Pinch-hitter Marc Navarro grounded a ball to third base, and a throwing error to home plate by Torrez allowed two runs to score, Navarro to move to second base and Giovinazzo to take third. Steve Rodriguez scored Giovinazzo on a sacrifice fly, and Valaika drove home Navarro with a single.
UCLA added two runs in the top of the eighth inning and one in the ninth.
The Bruins continue their three-game Pac-10 series at Arizona State on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. before closing the regular season at 12:30 p.m. Sunday.
Game Notes: Gerrit Cole moved into sixth place on the Pac-10 Conference's all-time strikeouts list (365), surpassing four former Pac-10 pitchers in the record book ... Cole became the first UCLA pitcher to ever record at least 100 strikeouts in each of three seasons (has 108 in 2011) ... the Bruins' seven-run margin was UCLA's largest in a win over Arizona State since a 10-2 victory at Jackie Robinson Stadium on April 13, 2002 ... UCLA and Oregon State have each compiled 17-8 Pac-10 records, while Arizona State rests one game back with a 16-9 conference mark - UCLA and Arizona State play each other Saturday and Sunday, while Oregon State has two games remaining this weekend at Oregon ... former UCLA shortstop Brandon Crawford belted a grand slam in his major league debut with the San Francisco Giants at Milwaukee's Miller Park on Friday night - Crawford's first career hit, the grand slam, lifted San Francisco past Milwaukee.