Bruin baseball’s offense wallops Dirtbags in 9-1 win
Junior catcher Trevor Brown had his fifth straight two-hit game in UCLA’s 9-1 win over Long Beach State Tuesday night at Jackie Robinson Stadium.
By Daily Bruin Staff
Feb. 29, 2012 2:03 a.m.
The UCLA baseball team’s meeting with Long Beach State on Tuesday was supposed to be an opportunity to polish up its offensive game against a team that hasn’t made the postseason in three years.
While the Bruins did their part by posting 12 hits on the evening on their way to a 9-1 win, the Dirtbags lent a helping hand by committing three early errors.
The first inning alone saw UCLA capitalize on two walks, a hit batter and two errors to plate five runs. The Bruins would go on to add two more in the second to keep the Dirtbags at arm’s length.
As is usually the case on Tuesday nights, plenty of young pitchers saw action. Redshirt junior Chase Brewer threw the fourth inning while freshman infielder Shane Zeile tried his hand on the mound for the fifth. Freshman David Berg, redshirt sophomore Ryan Deeter and junior Scott Griggs combined to finish the game and hold Long Beach State to just two hits.
Juniors Beau Amaral, Trevor Brown, Cody Keefer and Jeff Gelalich each had two hits for the Bruins. For Brown, this was his fifth consecutive two-hit outing.
“I’ve just been trying to relax as much as I can,” Brown said. “The past couple years, I’ve been putting a lot of pressure on myself, and I’m just trying to play without putting any extra pressure on myself to do anything more than just go out and play.”
On deck
This weekend, No. 17 UCLA (5-3) will host Sacramento State for a three-game series beginning Friday.
The series comes sandwiched between two crucial weekends for UCLA.
After taking two out of three games from No. 25 Baylor last weekend, UCLA can breathe easy this weekend before heading to Athens, Ga., to take on No. 8 Georgia next weekend.
Sacramento State comes to Westwood at 4-4 and not having finished a season with a winning record since 2003.
True to form, UCLA coach John Savage isn’t overlooking anyone.
“There are so many good teams,” Savage said. “Anybody could beat anybody. There’s a lot of parity. It’s not about circling games; that’s a mistake people make, and you can’t do that at our level.”
If nothing else, this weekend provides an opportunity for Savage to polish his young pitchers, as 10 of UCLA’s 13 pitchers on the roster are either freshmen or sophomores.
“We have some youth in the bullpen as well as some power arms,” Savage said. “This year, there are going to be a lot more guys used, more than we have in a long time.”
Gelalich nets conference honor
Gelalich was named the Pac-12 Conference’s Player of the Week Tuesday. It’s the first such honor of Gelalich’s career and it’s well-deserved.
Gelalich went 7-for-14 at the plate last week in UCLA’s games against Cal State Northridge and Baylor and blasted three home runs.
Savage has liked what he is seeing out of Gelalich so much that he has batted him fourth in the team’s last three games.
“It’s an honor to be picked,” Gelalich said. “It’s special considering how much talent there is in our conference. I had a good week, and it’s nice to be recognized. My play got singled out, but our team as a whole is playing really well.”
