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UCLA baseball sweeps Cal to open Pac-12 play

Junior pitcher Grant Watson, who was sick last weekend, was healthy against Cal and gave up just one run in his eight innings against the Golden Bears. (Aren Alexander/Daily Bruin)

By Jason Drantch

March 18, 2014 1:30 a.m.

When UCLA baseball’s pitching is rolling, the timely hitting tends to follow. With the team opening up its Pac-12 schedule, its blueprint for success will be more important than ever in racking up victories.

The formula was cooking for No. 22 UCLA (12-7, 3-0 Pac-12) this weekend as it helped the Bruins sweep the California Golden Bears (10-8, 0-3) and extend their win streak to five games.

“Whenever you go on the road and sweep somebody, it’s always a very good beginning,” said coach John Savage. “You can’t get too overexcited, but to go on the road and get three wins in the Pac-12, I think is about as good as a start as you can get.”

Coming off a loss where he was charged with seven earned runs, sophomore pitcher James Kaprielian (3-2, 2.97 ERA) only gave up two runs Friday night as he scattered seven hits through eight innings.

The Bruin offense scrapped together enough runs for Kaprielian to pick up the victory. After driving in the go-ahead run against USC last weekend, redshirt sophomore Christoph Bono did the same against California, doubling in the eventual game-winning run in a 3-2 victory.

“(I attribute it to) just being ready to hit on the first pitch, which most people sometimes let it go, especially in situations with runners on base, typically looking for an offspeed (pitch) in that situation,” Bono said. “Sometimes pitchers try to sneak a fastball by you and I was just thinking that he might try it. I was ready to hit it and got enough of it.”

Completely healthy after pitching through a stomach bug last weekend, junior pitcher Grant Watson (3-1, 1.91 ERA) went eight innings on Saturday night, giving up only one run on a solo home run.

Bono tied up the game in the third with an RBI single. In the seventh, senior designated hitter Kevin Williams, who recently returned from a shoulder injury, came through with a two-run home run to give UCLA the lead. Junior closer David Berg sealed the 3-1 victory with his second save of the weekend and his fifth of the year.

“You know, it felt pretty good (to hit the home run),” Williams said. “When I made contact, I was like, ‘Wow, that’s probably going to get out there,’ and it just feels good to actually hit a ball hard.”

UCLA finished off the sweep on Sunday afternoon with a 6-1 victory over Cal as the Bruins got another strong outing from sophomore pitcher Cody Poteet (2-1, 2.15 ERA). He cruised through seven innings while only giving up one run – a solo home run – and three hits.

“We threw strikes,” Savage said. “We really threw our secondary pitches as well as our fastball for strikes and that set the tone for the entire weekend.”

The pitching staff, which has allowed one run or less in four consecutive games and 10 games overall, should continue to set the tone as UCLA’s strong suit as it gets deeper into the Pac-12 schedule. Offensive consistency – the Bruins are 10-1 when outhitting the opponent – will be the biggest question mark going forward, especially against tough Pac-12 pitchers.

“If we play our style of baseball, we can be very good. We’ve proven that over a long period of time and at times this year, when we’ve played that style, we’ve been very effective,” Savage said. “We pitched and played good defense. We were offensive this weekend enough and we were opportunistic that we scored enough runs to outlast them.”

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