Ninth Inning Sacrifice Fly Gives No. 10 UCLA 3-2 Win Over Highlanders

Tuesday, March 9

Los Angeles, CA

6:00 PM

University of California, Riverside

UCLA

Ninth Inning Sacrifice Fly Gives No. 10 UCLA 3-2 Win Over Highlanders

3/9/2010 7:23:41 PM | Baseball

UCLA 3, UC Riverside 2 Box Score

Los Angeles—The UC Riverside Baseball Team battled back from a 2-0 deficit to tie the game in the sixth, but the tenth-ranked UCLA Bruins strung together a single, a sacrifice bunt, a wild pitch and a sac fly in the ninth to take a 3-2 win over the visiting Highlanders Tuesday evening.

Brian McConkey led off the Highlanders first with a single to left, but that was the last hit the Highlanders would get off of Bruins starter Garret Claypool until the sixth inning.

UCR freshman Trevor Frank had the task of trying to match Claypool and he nearly did so scattering five hits over six innings. However, the second Bruins hit of the game was Tyler Rahmatulla's run-scoring triple in the first which made it 1-0 UCLA, and the third hit—a second-inning single by Steve Rodriguez—was followed by a hit batsman, a walk and an RBI ground out making it 2-0 Bruins.

McConkey connected off of Claypool again in the sixth, lacing a one-out double to right field. The next batter, Eddie Young, traded places with McConkey as he doubled to left center cutting the Bruins lead in half. After Claypool struck out Michael Hur for the second out of the inning, the Bruins went to the bullpen bringing in Matt Grace.

UCR catcher Robert Brantly greeted Grace with a single to center which scored Young and tied the game at two apiece. Justin Shults singled through the left side moving Brantly to second, chasing Grace from the game. Erik Goeddel took over on the hill for UCLA and he got Tony Nix to ground out back to the pitcher's mound to end the threat,

The Bruins almost regained the lead in the bottom of the sixth, as Cody Keefer doubled to left center to open the inning and moved to third on a groundout to short. But Steve Rodriguez grounded out to second, Dean Espy popped out to first, and Frank was out of the inning.

Dustin Emmons took over for Frank in the bottom of the seventh allowing a one-out single to Beau Amaral. After getting the second out on a fly ball to center, he picked Amaral off first to end the inning. Emmons got into trouble in the bottom of the eighth as UCLA put a runner on second with one out thanks to a Rhamatulla single and a sac bunt. Keefer followed with a single to center and Rhamatulla raced home, but Nix's throw nailed him at the plate to preserve the tie.

Rodriguez led off the bottom of the ninth with a single to center. A sac bunt moved him to second, and Chris Giovaniazzo went in to pinch run for Rodriguez. UC Riverside Head Coach Doug Smith brought in closer Mike Wolford to face Niko Gallego, but the Highlanders closer uncorked a wild pitch sending Rodriguez to third. Gallego then lifted a deep fly ball to center and Giovaniazzo jogged home with the winning run.

The Highlanders are home for an exhibition game Wednesday afternoon at the Riverside Sports Complex as Waseda University from Tokyo, Japan comes to town. First pitch is slated for 3 pm PT, and admission is free. The team then has the next week-plus off for Finals before returning to the diamond for a three-game homestand with San Francisco from March 19-21.