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Base-clearing homer salvages Oregon series for UCLA baseball

Junior left-handed pitcher Rob Rasmussen threw more than six scoreless innings to improve to 6-0 in the Bruins’ 5-1 win against Oregon in Sunday’s series finale. The top-ranked Bruins dropped their first weekend series with losses on Friday and Saturday.

By Ryan Eshoff

April 18, 2010 9:20 p.m.

With one swing of the bat, Cody Regis helped reverse a pair of teams’ fortunes.

The freshman third baseman belted a three-run double as part of a four-run first inning that put the UCLA baseball team ahead for good, as they recorded a 5-1 victory Sunday to salvage to finale of a three-game series with Oregon.

After falling behind early on Friday and Saturday, losing both games to the Ducks (23-12, 6-6 Pac-10), UCLA turned the tables on its opponents on Sunday thanks in large part to the bases-clearing shot to center field off the bat of Regis.

“I’ve kind of been struggling lately, so today my mind-set was just stay behind the ball, stay middle,” said Regis of his at-bat. “(The count was) 3-2, he tried to come in with a cutter, I stayed inside and hit it pretty well.”

The runs were more than enough for the No. 1 Bruins (27-5, 5-4), who got six and a third scoreless innings from junior Rob Rasmussen. The left-hander struck out six and gave up just four hits and two walks to improve to 6-0 and overall and 3-0 against Pac-10 foes.

“It’s nice to go out there and already have a four-run lead,” Rasmussen said.

“Every guy that comes up, you can just attack them. Make them feel the pressure and put them on their heels and let our defense work. I didn’t really try to do too much.”

“You put up a four-spot in the first, that’s the biggest thing,” coach John Savage added. “I thought we were aggressive early, we got some short-game stuff. Regis had the big bullet and that’s the difference in the game right there.”

The losses on Friday and Saturday ensured that the Bruins would drop their first Pac-10 series, after taking two out of three from both Stanford and Oregon State.

The defeats came in Oregon’s first visit to Los Angeles in more than 30 years; the baseball program went defunct and was reinstated before the 2009 season.

The presence of an additional powerhouse in the Pac-10 means that each individual victory in the conference could prove critical, even if it doesn’t accompany a series win.

“These guys were upset about losing two, and I say “˜Hey, look at the flip side,'” Savage said. “You dump two games and you’re not ready to play the third ““ I’ve seen a lot of teams in this league feel sorry for themselves and they end up losing three games, and you just cannot do that. It’s a two-game swing.”

After being spotted the four-run cushion, Rasmussen breezed throughout much of the early portion of the game.

UCLA right fielder Brett Krill hit his fifth home-run of the year in the third inning to extend the lead.

Rasmussen left the game in the seventh, and the bullpen went on to allow a run before closer Dan Klein came in and went an inning and two-thirds to secure his seventh save.

“I’m just trying to go out there and put up as many zeros as possible,” Rasmussen said. “However many pitches that takes, because I know I have that bullpen to turn to.”

It has been clutch start after clutch start thus far for the junior left-hander who had previously won the rubber matches in both the Stanford and Oregon State series.

Pitching with that kind of weight on your shoulders is just part of the job description for a Sunday starter.

“I want that added pressure, if you’re going to call it that,” said Rasmussen of taking the ball in critical Sunday showdowns. “I mean that’s something I want to do.”

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