UCLA baseball drops fourth straight Pac-12 series with Washington loss
Freshman pitcher Kyle Molnar retired the first eight batters he faced Sunday before giving up a grand slam in the fourth. (Kathy Chen/Daily Bruin)
By David Gottlieb
April 17, 2016 5:54 p.m.
For the fourth weekend in a row, the Bruins couldn’t find a way to win a conference series.
UCLA baseball (15-18, 6-9 Pac-12) dropped another series Sunday, falling 7-4 in the rubber match to Washington (19-12, 9-6).
The game got off to a promising start for the Bruins, as freshman starting pitcher Kyle Molnar retired eight of the batters he faced first – registering five strikeouts.
UCLA took a 2-0 lead in the second when senior second baseman Brett Urabe notched a two-RBI single into center that scored senior center fielder Christoph Bono.
The Huskies turned the game around in the bottom of the fourth. With two down, Molnar hit one batter and walked another to load the bases. Shortstop Chris Baker stepped up and launched a grand slam to left field, giving Washington a 4-2 lead.
Washington led for the rest of the game. UCLA scored a run to cut the lead to a lone run two separate times, but didn’t fight back after freshman Brian Gadsby let up a pair of runs in the eighth. The rookie closer gave up one run on an RBI single and another other on a balk.
With four straight weekend series losses, the Bruins have now lost nine of their last 12 against the Pac-12. They’ll travel to Malibu to take on Pepperdine on Tuesday before hosting Oregon for another three-game conference set next weekend.
