Baseball’s winning streak ends with loss to USC in 1st matchup of home series

Twenty days ago, Ethan Gourson launched a walk-off home run to give the Bruins their first series win of the season.

With two outs in the ninth inning Friday, Gourson stepped up to the plate. Although he shot a would-be game-tying home run ball a few feet foul of the right field foul pole, the freshman second baseman could not repeat his early-season heroics.

Unable to capitalize on its final-inning opportunity, UCLA baseball (9-5, 0-1 Pac-12) fell to USC (10-2, 1-0) by a score of 7-4 at Jackie Robinson Stadium. The Bruins opened Pac-12 play with a loss to their crosstown rival, putting an end to their three-game winning streak.

Gourson got the scoring started early, driving a double down the right field line to bring home graduate student left fielder Kenny Oyama for the first run of the game.

Tied for the lead in RBI’s for UCLA with 10 this season, Gourson said he always steps up to the plate not trying to do too much.

“I try to stay me,” Gourson said. “I try to just do what I can to help the team win. I’m not trying to do anything extra.”

After a three-up, three-down first inning, the Bruins’ starter – sophomore right-hander Jake Brooks – ran into some trouble in the second frame.

After allowing a single and hitting a Trojan with a pitch to start the inning, Brooks gave up a line drive up the middle to tie the game. The next at-bat, first baseman Nick Lopez hit a sacrifice fly to left field to give the Trojans a 2-1 lead.

USC extended its lead two batters later when designated hitter Tyler Lozano launched a two-run home run to right field to put the Trojans up 4-1. The four runs given up by Brooks in the frame doubled the total he allowed in his previous 21 innings pitched.

After his worst inning of the season in terms of runs given up, Brooks got through the third in five pitches. The sophomore said the quick inning was important for his confidence.

“I just had to put my head down and keep making pitches and focus on getting through the innings,” Brooks said. “Being a starter, you want to go at least five innings and anything past that is really good.”

After seven innings of work, including five shutout frames following the second, Brooks’ night came to an end after he was replaced by junior left-hander Jake Saum.

Coach John Savage said besides Brooks’ four-run second inning, the sophomore had a solid outing.

“Whenever you go seven innings and give up six zeros you’re getting the job done,” Savage said. “He battled, he competed, and he made pitches. He wasn’t clearly razor sharp but he was good enough to keep us in the game.”

USC took advantage of Brooks’ substitution and extended its lead in the eighth. Right fielder Adrian Colon-Rosado hit a soft line drive that fell on the right field line to plate two Trojans and give USC a 6-2 lead.

After the Trojans added one run final in the ninth inning, the Bruins answered back with two of their own in the bottom half of the frame. However, the blue and gold could not tack on anymore and fell 7-4 in the opening game of the rivalry series.

Gourson said although he couldn’t get the clutch hit when it mattered Friday, he looks forward to being in those types of situations moving forward.

“It’s always a situation you want to be in,” Gourson said. “You want those tough at-bats. You want pressure. Wish the result was a little bit different, but it’s the (situations) that you want.”

The Bruins will have a rematch with the Trojans on Saturday for game two of the series.