UCLA baseball overcomes slow start for seventh consecutive series win against Arizona
Junior outfielder Beau Amaral had seven hits over three games this weekend, going 4-for-6 on Saturday to spark the Bruin offense.
Baseball
Arizona 4
UCLA 3
UCLA 15
Arizona 3
UCLA 6
Arizona 2
Behind the Score:
18
Beau Amaral's current hit streak
7
Consecutive series wins over Arizona by UCLA
11-5
UCLA's record against top-25 teams
By Emma Coghlan
April 15, 2012 11:17 p.m.
Last weekend, UCLA baseball struggled offensively and defensively, losing the series to Oregon. Going up against a top five team in Arizona, UCLA knew that it would have to bring its A game.
And so it did. Any evidence of last weekend’s slow-starting offense was gone.
Although the Bruins (24-8, 10-5) lost the first game of the series 4-3, they did not let that drag down their momentum, coming back with a powerful offensive outing on Saturday for a 15-3 win.
The third game ““ a 6-2 victory ““ locked the Bruins in as series winners against the Wildcats for the seventh consecutive time.
“We just started off really well. … I mean, it’s easy to score runs when the other team has five errors. We really just managed to string together a lot of good at-bats,” said junior center fielder Beau Amaral about Saturday’s game.
Going into Arizona, all eyes were on sophomore pitcher Zack Weiss, who made his first start in more than a month on Sunday, as he has suffered from shoulder soreness.
However, Weiss showed no signs of weakness on Sunday, going six innings and striking out five.
“He came out aggressive and he looked healthy, and we need him to be our guy, so I thought he threw really well. It’s safe to say he’s back in the mix … and we’ll need him in the next few months,” coach John Savage said.
UCLA is now in a three-way tie for first in the Pac-12 with its most recent conference opponents, Oregon and Arizona.
Friday’s series opener was rocky, as sophomore starter Adam Plutko allowed 11 hits in six innings, and freshman reliever David Berg earned his first loss of the season as he allowed the winning run.
Plutko has struggled recently: His last outing, against Oregon, was a four-inning affair in which he allowed nine runs.
“He’s had a couple rough outings but we believe in him,” Savage said.” He’s a proven guy, so he just needs to get back in there. … He’ll be back.”
The second game went the Bruins’ way from the very start, as they managed to put five runs on the board in the top of the first. It was a 20-hit game for UCLA.
The finale was a strong offensive and defensive outing, and saw Weiss earn the win in his first game back.
“When we’re on, we’re a dangerous team, we wear them out, and we’re tough to handle. We just shouldn’t do too much; I like how it looks right now,” Weiss said.
