UCLA baseball throws away season-opening series against UNC

John Savage didn’t sugarcoat it.

After watching his team commit four errors and allow nine unanswered runs in the final three innings of a 14-5 loss to North Carolina Sunday, the UCLA baseball coach said it was the worst his team had played in 10 years.

“We take a lot of pride in winning those last three innings and we’ve been really good at it for a long time,” Savage said. “Today was basically a meltdown in all phases.”

For a while, Sunday’s game looked like Saturday’s 6-5 Bruin victory. After six innings Sunday, No. 9 UCLA was tied 5-5 with the No. 21 Tar Heels and looked poised to steal another win and take the season-opening series.

But the Bruins faltered in the seventh.

After an error by junior third baseman Luke Persico gave the Tar Heels a baserunner, UNC sophomore third baseman Zach Gahagan untied the game with a two-run shot off sophomore right-hander Jake Bird.

Bird then issued a walk to Tar Heel leadoff batter Brian Miller and gave up a double to the second hitter, Tyler Lynn, before exiting the game in favor of redshirt junior righty Tucker Forbes.

Forbes made a throwing error on a bunt by the first batter he faced, allowing Lynn to score, and then allowed a run-scoring single.

The ninth inning was almost as ugly, as UNC tacked on another four runs thanks to three hits and a series of UCLA miscues.

Freshman catcher Jake Hirabayashi allowed two passed balls, senior shortstop Trent Chatterton failed to catch the ball on a pickoff attempt and freshman righty Brian Gadsby, in his first ever college appearance, made a throwing error of his own on another Tar Heel bunt.

“I would say I’m disappointed,” Savage said. “Embarrassed is probably another word that comes to mind.”

UNC looked like the better team all weekend in the series victory, overpowering UCLA hitters with a pitching staff that Savage said is one of the best in the country and displaying a lineup full of speed and contact ability.

Starting for the Tar Heels Sunday, sophomore right-hander Jason Morgan looked like an impressive third piece in a rotation that features flame-throwing Friday and Saturday starters in junior Zac Gallen and sophomore J.B. Bukauskas.

Working with a low-to-mid-90s fastball, Morgan allowed just two earned runs in 5 2/3 innings, but the Tar Heels suffered from defensive woes of their own. Freshman second baseman Kyle Datres made two fielding errors, his second and third of the series, and freshman catcher Cody Roberts made a throwing error on a dropped third strike.

Those fielding troubles allowed the Bruins to come back from an early 3-0 deficit, produced by a three-run homer in the first inning off the bat of UNC junior center fielder Tyler Ramirez.

Ramirez’s home run came on an elevated fastball from freshman starter Kyle Molnar, who struggled with his command early on but settled in and started to rely on an impressive changeup as the game continued.

“They didn’t like my changeup and if they didn’t like it, I’m going to go back to it,” Molnar said. “I just need to locate my fastball a little bit better.”

Molnar went five innings, striking out six and allowing five earned runs.

On the other side of the ball, UCLA hitters eliminated some of the strikeout issues they’d faced in the first two games, whiffing just eight times after going down 30 times in the first two games.

The second inning was positive for the Bruins. Sophomore first baseman Sean Bouchard launched a long ball off the batter’s eye in center field and redshirt freshman catcher Daniel Rosica notched a line-drive single for the first hit of his career.

But all in all, Savage came away from the game frustrated with his team’s early-season showing.

“We’re building identity – like everybody in the whole country is,” Savage said. “And if you play like that, people will be lining up to get you.”