UCLA baseball extends to 21-win streak
By Ryan Eshoff
March 30, 2010 9:37 p.m.
UCLA just couldn’t get a sacrifice bunt down.
After Dean Espy led off the bottom of the 5th inning of a scoreless game with a double, the Bruins looked to advance him to third by giving up an out. As it turns out, they did better than that.
First, Cody Keefer pulled his bat back four times and took a walk. Then, Trevor Brown executed a perfect bunt down the third-base line that went for an infield single. After a groundout to second scored one run, Cody Regis dropped down another perfect bunt that resulted in an RBI single that proved to be the difference in a 2-1 win over Pepperdine at Jackie Robinson Stadium.
The two runs and five hits were both season lows for UCLA, which was kept off-balance at the plate for much of the night by Pepperdine starter Aaron Gates.
“You just got to give credit where credit is due,” UCLA coach John Savage said. “He had a lot of momentum and he kind of cut through us until we got to him in the fifth inning.”
Still, the No. 6 Bruins (21-0) managed to win on the strength of their pitching. Senior Garret Claypool gave up just one unearned run on two hits in six and two-thirds while striking out nine to improve to 3-0 on the season. The back end of the Bruins’ bullpen did its usual yeomen’s work to finish off the night, with redshirt sophomore closer Dan Klein striking out the side in the ninth to earn his fifth save.
With the Bruins holding on to their 2-0 lead in the seventh, the Waves drew a leadoff walk off of Claypool. Two batters later, Bruins left-fielder Cody Keefer played a single down the line, but slipped as he prepared to relay the ball into the infield, allowing the runners to advance to second and third. Claypool then gave up a sacrifice fly before yielding to reliever Matt Grace. The starter walked off the mound to a standing ovation.
Claypool continued to cement himself as one of the nation’s better midweek starters. When he wasn’t striking out Waves hitters, he was inducing pop-up after pop-up and keeping Pepperdine off the basepaths. With the performance, Claypool lowered his season ERA to 1.00.
“I was just getting ahead of hitters,” Claypool said about his outing. “I was throwing the fastball well and on both sides of the plate, and I could sort of do what I wanted after that.”
The win represents UCLA’s final tune-up before Pac-10 play opens this weekend when No. 19 Stanford pays a visit to Westwood.
The series represents the next test for UCLA as they look to extend their record winning streak to start the season. Thus far, the Bruins have been able to get the job done in a number of different areas to maintain their success.
Just don’t ask them to give away outs.
