UCLA baseball sweeps series against No. 9 Georgia to extend win streak

The Bruins made dealing with daylight saving time and a crowd of the rowdy Bulldog faithfuls look easy.

UCLA baseball extended its win streak to double digit this weekend with a three-game sweep of No. 9 Georgia.

Sunday’s 7-3 win was the No. 16 Bruins’ 10th straight, and any doubts about the team’s hitting prowess seem to have been assuaged for the time being.

Sophomore pitcher Adam Plutko set the tone for the Bruins (12-3) in the first game of the series, earning the 2-0 win on Friday in his second career complete-game shutout.

Plutko struck out 11 batters and gave up just five hits to Georgia (11-5) as UCLA started the weekend on the right foot.

“Coming into Georgia, we needed to be tough, with the crowd, you name it. They’re a great team and we knew this was a big series for us. … When Plutko established that on Friday early, I think it really set the tone for the whole weekend and fired everybody up,” junior Cody Keefer said.

Plutko, however, was quick to attribute the team’s success to another factor: the scorching hitting of junior Jeff Gelalich.

Gelalich went 9-for-13 from the plate over the weekend and leads the Bruins with a .491 batting average on the season. The junior is 20-for-35 during the team’s last ten games.

“When you’ve got guys like Jeff ““ I think he got out three times all weekend ““ when you’ve got guys going 9-for-13, you’re going to be successful. In the middle of the line-up, I don’t know if there’s a bigger threat in the country,” Plutko said.

“Whenever you get two hits and your average goes down, that’s very rare,” coach John Savage added with a laugh.

Georgia’s bats, silent on Friday, would not remain silent for long.

The Bulldogs came back on Saturday and took an early 3-0 lead in the third inning.

Undaunted, the Bruins tied the score with three runs of their own in the fifth inning and took a 4-3 lead in the sixth inning.

Georgia tied the score in the seventh, and junior closer Scott Griggs struck out Georgia’s Kyle Farmer with the bases loaded in the eighth to preserve UCLA’s one-run lead.

The Bulldogs threatened again in the ninth, but Griggs forced a ground out to end the game with the tying run on third base and gave the Bruins their second victory of the weekend.

“We have a ton of confidence in Scott. He’s gaining experience each weekend; this was his first major road test, and he did what he’s supposed to do, and came back (Sunday) and did better than he did on (Saturday),” Savage said.

The Bruins learned from their mistakes on Saturday and in the series’ final game, took an early lead of their own over the Bulldogs and refused to relinquish it.

Redshirt junior pitcher Chase Brewer earned his first career victory, coming in to relieve sophomore starter Zack Weiss.

Starting when it hosts Arizona State, UCLA will play a string of six home games following the Dodgertown Classic on Tuesday.