UCLA Baseball Takes Down Fresno State, 3-1

UCLA Baseball Takes Down Fresno State, 3-1

June 4, 2011

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LOS ANGELES - Junior right-hander Trevor Bauer recorded 14 strikeouts to earn the win in his ninth consecutive complete game, leading the UCLA baseball team past Fresno State, 3-1, in an elimination game at the NCAA Los Angeles Regional at Jackie Robinson Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

Before a crowd of 1,949 fans, Bauer (13-2) notched his 10th complete game of the season, pushing his single-season strikeout total to 203. He eclipsed Mark Prior's previous record of 202 strikeouts at USC in 2001 and Tim Lincecum's 199 strikeouts at Washington in 2006.

Bauer limited the visiting Bulldogs (40-16) to one run and six hits through nine innings, issuing just two walks.

UCLA (34-23) will play at 2 p.m. on Sunday at Jackie Robinson Stadium against San Francisco, which dropped a 4-3 decision to UC Irvine on Saturday evening.

The Bruins received two-hit efforts from Trevor Brown (2-for-3, one RBI), Jeff Gelalich (2-for-4, one RBI), Dean Espy (2-for-5) and Cody Keefer (2-for-4, one run, one RBI).

Fresno State left-hander Josh Poytress (7-3) was tagged with the loss, surrendering two runs and seven hits in five innings. Poytress registered three strikeouts and issued one walk.

UCLA scored one run off three hits in the bottom of the first. Beau Amaral reached with a one-out single to left field and moved to third base on Espy's double off the left field fence. Keefer followed with a single to shallow left center, sending home Amaral. On the next at-bat, Espy was thrown out at home on a fielder's choice bunt by Pat Valaika.

The Bruins doubled their margin with one run in the fourth inning. Valaika scored from third base on a run-scoring groundout by Cody Regis, putting the Bruins ahead, 2-0.

Fresno State got on the board with one run in the top of the sixth, reducing the Bruins' cushion to 2-1. Pat Hutcheson led off with a squib double just inside the third base bag and down the left-field line. Hutcheson scored from second base on Danny Muno's ensuing single up the middle.

The Bruins pushed their lead to 3-1 in the seventh inning on a run-scoring single through the left side by Trevor Brown.

In order to advance to the NCAA Los Angeles Regional Final, UCLA will have to defeat San Francisco at 2 p.m. on Sunday. The winner of that contest will face UC Irvine on Sunday at 6 p.m. Should UC Irvine lose that game, both teams would play a winner-take-all ballgame on Monday at 6 p.m.

Game Notes: Trevor Bauer has limited the opposition to one run or fewer in each of his last five starts (and seven of his last eight) ... Bauer moved into second place on the Pac-10 Conference's all-time strikeouts list (Bauer has 460, 11 ahead of Rik Currier's 449 and 31 behind Tim Lincecum's 491) ... Bauer has recorded at least 10 strikeouts in 14 of his 16 starts this season ... he moved into a tie for first place on UCLA's single-season complete games list (tied, 10, with Tim Leary in 1979) ... Bauer has logged 136.2 innings this season, the seventh-highest single-season total in school history ... Bauer became the first UCLA pitcher to record at least 13 wins in one season since 1997, when Jim Parque went 13-2 ... UCLA's win over Fresno State on Saturday came in the first meeting between the two teams since Feb. 5, 2006.