Bruins sweep Cougars in three games

By Adam Karon
Daily Bruin Contributor

The UCLA baseball team left sunny and warm California and headed
north to chillier Washington State this weekend needing strong
performances to stay in the hunt for the Pac-10 crown.

They did that and more, sweeping the Cougars and sneaking closer
to first place. The weekend series featured a powerful UCLA offense
with an excellent guest appearance by the pitching staff.

Offensively, the Bruins were unstoppable, scoring 41 runs and
connecting for 58 hits in the three games combined. After a rocky
first game in which starter Rob Henkel and the bullpen were touched
up for 10 runs, the Bruin pitching staff shut down the Cougars,
holding them to three runs over the next two games.

“We did well all the way around,” UCLA junior left
fielder Bill Scott said. “Our defense was solid, pitching was
good overall, and obviously our hitting was good.”

The team’s hitting was good, but Scott’s
performance, especially in Sunday’s game was outstanding.
Scott had eight hits and eleven RBIs in his three games in Pullman,
raising both his batting average to .400 and his chances for the
National Player of the year honors.

Sunday’s game was Scott’s showcase as the Bruins
clean-up hitter went four for six with a pair of three-run homers
and a two-run triple en route to a career high eight runs batted
in.

Scott shrugged off his performance as something the team had to
do.

“We needed to sweep them,” Scott said. “We
couldn’t afford a loss to them after Stanford and Arizona
State had swept them. This was a really big series, and we did what
we had to do.”

The Bruins did that and more.

In game one, the team came back from an 8-7 deficit to vault
ahead of the Cougars for a dramatic 14-10 win. Despite a rough
start by Henkel, the team came back behind solid pitching from
Kevin Jerkins and Ryan Carter.

At the plate, Jim Hemming helped matters in going three for five
with a double, a home run and four RBIs. But it was the bullpen
that answered the challenge and pulled out the victory.

“We’re just glad we’re in first again,”
Carter said. “Our offense came out and scored lots of runs
this weekend.”

Game two again showcased the Bruins’ batters and bullpen
in an easier 13-2 win.

UCLA starter Josh Karp, a native of Washington, turned in a
solid five-inning shut-out performance, striking out seven while
walking just one. Freshman Mike Kunes pitched four innings of
four-hit ball for the save.

The offense once again provided the powerful punch, scoring 13
runs on 17 hits. This time, the Bruins did their damage without the
help of the long ball. Garrett Atkins went three for six, Josh
Canales went three for four and the UCLA defense did not make a
single error backing up Karp and Kunes.

Sunday’s matchup proved to be more of the same. This time,
the Bruins pitching was led by Bobby Roe, who turned in his best
performance of the season. In fact, he tied a career high with his
eight-inning appearance, and could have pitched the whole game had
the bullpen not needed some work.

Roe scattered six hits and allowed just one run in his longest
outing this year. Junior Scott Arrasmith came in and pitched a
scoreless ninth to finish up the series and give the Bruins a 14-1
win.

In addition to Scott’s big game, Matt Pearl went four for
five and Garrett Atkins went five for five, each with a pair of
RBIs.

“We played good baseball,” UCLA head coach Gary
Adams said. “We put things together. Our hitting, pitching
and defense (were) good. The bullpen and the starters did a great
job. When this team gets pitching like that, we’re very
tough.”

The three wins gave UCLA its second Pac-10 sweep this year, the
other coming against Oregon State in early April.

The Bruins improved to 11-4 in league, and now sit just a half
game behind league-leading Stanford in the Pac-10 conference
race.