NCAA chances disappear as UCLA ends season with OSU series loss
Redshirt junior Grant Dyer finished off his NCAA career with a quality start on Saturday. In his final four outings, the righty averaged more than eight innings and seven strikeouts per start. (Mackenzie Possee/Daily Bruin)
By David Gottlieb
May 29, 2016 6:30 p.m.
The Bruins couldn’t scratch a run across all weekend long and dropped their final three games of the season.
UCLA baseball (25-31, 12-18 Pac-12) never got any offensive momentum going as Oregon State (35-19, 16-14) outscored the Bruins 10-0 over the course of the weekend set in Corvallis, Oregon.
“We had some opportunities to score some runs and literally could not come up with a hit with runners in scoring position,” said coach John Savage. “They were tight games, certainly competitive games, but when you don’t score you don’t win.”
The first game of the series might have been the most frustrating. The teams were locked in a scoreless tie until the bottom of the seventh inning thanks to impressive pitching performances of sophomore starter Griffin Canning and Beaver senior Travis Eckert.
Oregon State picked up the only run of the ballgame on a pair of singles and an RBI groundout – the lone blemish in Canning’s eight-inning complete game. Savage said Canning pitched as well has he’s pitched all season Friday, noting that he worked on getting a wider velocity differential between his pitches last week in practice.
“We wanted to take a little more off his change-up,” Savage said. “The differential was bigger. I think that really helped him change speeds.”
On the other side of the ball, UCLA outhit Oregon State 8-4, but went 1-9 with runners in scoring position and never cashed in a run, losing 1-0.
Junior Grant Dyer took the ball Saturday. The prospect threw 7 1/3 innings, giving up a single run in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings. Dyer said he was aware he was likely finishing up his collegiate career.
“It felt a little different, but I try to just pitch the same,” Dyer said. “Just putting the pressure on the hitters, throwing strikes, throwing my pitches, not worrying about anything else other than that.”
With Saturday’s outing, Dyer finished his season with four solid starts, posting a 2.48 ERA in his last 32 2/3 innings in a UCLA uniform. Nonetheless, he took the loss as the Bruin offense stranded six base runners in the 3-0 defeat.
Sunday’s game was more of the same. Sophomore Jake Bird got the start in place of injured freshman Kyle Monlar. Bird struggled initially, giving up three runs in the first two innings before settling in and making it through the sixth to earn a quality start.
The Bruins came up with a pair of triples – one from redshirt freshman catcher Daniel Rosica and the other from junior right fielder Kort Peterson – but failed to plate a run and dropped game three 6-0.
Little was at stake for UCLA this weekend, with the Bruins’ RPI rating and overall record leaving them on the outside looking in when it comes to the NCAA Tournament. The selection show for the tournament will air Monday at 9 a.m. on ESPNU.
