UCLA baseball’s batting woes continue against Cal State Fullerton as freshman pitcher Zack Weiss falters in his first collegiate start
Junior first baseman Dean Espy went 2-for-4 with a run in No. 24 UCLA’s 5-3 road loss to No. 12 Cal State Fullerton on Tuesday night. The Titans got to work early, registering three runs in the bottom of the first inning, and the Bruins couldn’t successfully rally despite redshirt junior Marc Navarro’s two-out, two-run single in the sixth.
By Daily Bruin Staff
March 30, 2011 2:18 a.m.
FULLERTON “”mdash; More than half of the UCLA baseball team’s wins this season have come in shutouts.
With each run their opponent scores, the Bruins’ chances of winning one of their signature, low-scoring pitchers’ duels become less and less likely.
So when UCLA freshman pitcher Zack Weiss surrendered three runs to Cal State Fullerton in the top of the first inning in his first collegiate start, the Bruins were doomed.
Despite equaling the No. 12 Titans with seven hits, the No. 24 Bruins fell to the Titans 5-3 in front of 1,910 at Goodwin Field on Tuesday.
The Bruins were never able to climb out of that first-inning hole, and the Titans seemed to have an answer at every turn.
“I was excited,” Weiss said of his first start. “I had the butterflies going, but I was able to calm it down. I messed up a little bit in the first, but it made me work hard.”
A UCLA run in the fourth inning was answered with two Fullerton runs in the fifth. Any momentum gathered from a two-run sixth inning was quelled by a Fullerton pitching change in the seventh.
Consider the Titans (17-8) vindicated for their loss to the Bruins (11-9) in last season’s NCAA Super Regional. UCLA wasn’t able to conjure the same magic that sent them to the College World Series.
It was also without the services of junior second baseman Tyler Rahmatulla, who didn’t play because of academic issues.
It is unclear if and when Rahmatulla will return to the lineup, but coach John Savage said the matter should be resolved by the weekend.
Tuesday marks the third time this season that the Bruins have equaled or out-hit their opponents in a loss.
“(Fullerton) executed better than we did,” Savage said. “We had our opportunities. We left seven guys on base, which really isn’t a lot, but it’s enough in a 5-3 ball game.”
Junior first baseman Dean Espy led the Bruins at the plate with two hits on the night and feels the Bruins are close to getting out of their offensive slump.
“We were one or two at-bats away from scoring a lot of runs,” said Espy, who is hitting .293 on the season, second on the team. “We’re going in the right direction. We need to build off this. Losing is really the best way to learn, but we’re doing things right.”
Savage said he originally wanted Weiss to be the Tuesday starter from the outset but went with sophomore Scott Griggs in the previous two Tuesday night contests because Weiss was nursing a sore arm. Savage said Griggs would return to a bullpen position similar to what he held last season.
