Squad triumphs over Hustlin’ Rebels 27-6

UCLA 6 UNLV 2 UCLA 10 UNLV 2
UCLA 11 UNLV 2

By Jeff Agase
Daily Bruin Reporter

The UCLA baseball team parlayed three strong pitching
performances into a trifecta of victories this weekend against the
University of Nevada-Las Vegas.

The Bruins (6-2) outscored the Hustlin’ Rebels (2-4) 27-6
in the series and won their sixth consecutive game after an 0-2
start.

Bruin ace Josh Karp started Friday night’s contest,
surrendering only two unearned runs in six innings of work in a 6-2
victory.

Early defensive miscues were the only source of runs for the
Rebels, who brought two men home in the first two innings after
three Bruin errors advanced runners.

“We kind of started out slow,” Karp said of the
mishaps. “We were a little shaky in the first two innings but
we settled down.”

The Bruins got on the board in the fourth inning when an
overthrow by Tony Schuler allowed right fielder Ben Francisco to
score. The following inning lead-off man and team hit leader Matt
Pearl parked a three-run home run over the left field fence to put
UCLA ahead 4-2.

The Bruins added two more in the eighth inning and sophomore
Kevin Jerkens pitched three shutout innings to finish off the
Rebels.

Despite the win, UCLA head coach Gary Adams was disappointed
with his team’s lack of intensity.

“The first thing I told the team is that we’ve got
to come out tonight at the beginning and play with more passion,
more enthusiasm, and compete,” Adams said Friday. “I
was wondering if some guys were even participating
tonight.”

Saturday afternoon the Bruins came out with the fire Adams
expected, blowing out the Rebels 10-2 behind eight solid innings
from senior curveballer Jon Brandt.

After a one-hour rain delay on a brisk afternoon at Jackie
Robinson Stadium, the Bruin bats warmed up. First baseman Eric
Reece went 3 for 5 with five RBIs, including the second of
back-to-back home runs for the Bruins in the third inning.

“I was seeing the ball well and they left some balls up
for me to hit, so I took advantage of most of them,” said
Reece, who ended the game a single short of the cycle.

Brandt allowed just four hits over eight stanzas and struck out
seven. At one point he retired 18 of the 21 batters he faced,
mostly with easy ground balls and flyouts.

The Rebels seemed unable to figure out Brandt’s trademark
breaking ball.

“It was on today,” he said. “I was able to
throw the fastball and get ahead. I got a couple of gifts, a four
pitch inning, an eight pitch inning, and a nine pitch
inning.”

UCLA wasted no time making its presence known in Sunday’s
finale. A 10-run second inning that included seven singles and runs
by eight different UCLA starters gave starter Bobby Roe
considerable run support. Roe went six innings, striking out five
and allowing only two runs en route to an 11-2 UCLA decision, all
the while trying to hurry his pitching along so as to avoid a
rainout.

“It just seemed to be a good day,” Roe said.
“I felt good when I started. All the pitches were working.
The infield did really well for me today, especially being a ground
ball pitcher.”

UCLA plays UCSB Tuesday at home at 2 p.m. before hosting USC for
a three-game weekend series at Jackie Robinson Stadium.