No. 9 UCLA baseball defeats crosstown rival USC, 7-2, in Dodgertown Classic
By Eric Peck
March 14, 2012 2:04 p.m.
On a day that saw Major League Baseball reject two separate bids to buy the Los Angeles Dodgers franchise from outgoing owner Frank McCourt, Dodger Stadium played host to the third annual Dodgertown Classic between UCLA and USC.
The Dodger drama was set aside for a few hours on Tuesday night as 6,034 Bruin and Trojan fans came together ““ albeit on different sides of the stadium ““ to watch their teams go head to head in one of baseball’s historic venues.
Freshman left-hander Grant Watson started for UCLA and earned the 7-2 win ““ Watson gave up one run in six innings and improved to 4-0 this year.
The freshman pitched himself out of a jam in the third with two runners on base and one out and appeared confident on the mound.
“His demeanor is special. The guy has ice water in his veins, he wants the ball, didn’t blink an eye. … He went out and pitched like a veteran from the get go and I’m real proud of him,” coach John Savage said of Watson’s performance.
Watson appreciates Savage’s confidence in his abilities.
“Every start is helping me get more experience, and this was definitely a huge stepping stone considering how large the game was,” Watson added.
USC got on the board in the third inning, but UCLA responded with seven straight runs over the course of the next six innings to take a comfortable lead.
“Our philosophy is to win pitches and win innings, they weren’t big wins but we kind of pecked away and that’s been the way we’ve been going about it the last couple of weeks,” Savage said.
No. 9 UCLA (13-3) benefited from consistent hitting throughout and three USC (12-4) errors on the night, all of which resulted in UCLA runs.
Junior Trevor Brown and sophomore Pat Valaika led the Bruins with two RBI’s each on the night.
“I think we’ve got some good momentum, some good mojo going, the team’s having fun playing together,” Brown said.
“We’re playing relaxed and everyone’s going out and not putting added pressure on themselves, they’re playing to win.”
Junior Scott Griggs came in to close out the game in the final inning but wound up with the bases loaded and one out in the top of the ninth.
Following a mound visit from Savage, Griggs stayed in and walked home a run to the delight of the Trojan fans still in attendance.
Griggs then struck out the next batter and forced a fly out to end the game.
Juniors Jeff Gelalich, Cody Keefer and Tyler Heineman continued their on-base streaks; each of the three has reached base successfully in all of UCLA’s 16 games.
UCLA begins Pac-12 play against Arizona State next week.
