Bruins Gain Momentum – Ducks Seek Identity…

Seattle Mariners General Manager Jack Zduriencik was among those in attendance for last Friday's UCLA-Oregon game.

Friday’s series-opener marked one of the most anticipated pitching match ups in PK Park’s short history. Gerrit Cole, a potential number one overall pick in this year’s draft, faced off against Oregon’s Tyler Anderson, a probable first round draft pick. An estimated 25 scouts were on-hand, including Seattle Mariners General Manager Jack Zduriencik.

The Bruins took advantage of Anderson’s lack of control, tagging him for four runs (three earned) on six hits and drew four walks. Anderson only lasted 5 1/3 innings. Cole’s stuff wasn’t as sharp as usual, but he only allowed one earned run through 7 1/3 innings. A steady drizzle throughout the game could have been a factor for both pitchers, although Anderson said it wasn’t.

Saturday night against Ducks’ sophomore Madison Boer, the Bruins bats did get to Boer early, but not often. UCLA right fielder Chris Giovinazzo led the game off with a double and would later score. They rattled Boer once more in the fifth innings, scoring two runs on three hits and a walk.

The nation’s strikeout leader, Trevor Bauer, was on the hill for the Bruins, and he dazzled as usual. The probable top-10 pick struck out 12 on the way to earning his fifth consecutive complete game (sixth on the year). The only sign of life in the Oregon lineup came from freshman Ryon Healy who drove a 4-seam fastball over the wall for his second home run of the year.

Healy’s performance in recent series’ has earned him a starting spot in the lineup, and has many excited about his future as a Duck.

Adam Plutko was named Pac-10 Pitcher of the Week for his efforts on Sunday.

UCLA looked to earn the sweep behind the arm of freshman Adam Plutko on Sunday. Plutko was a sixth round draft pick in 2010 by the Houston Astros out of high school, and showed he why on Sunday. He and Oregon starter Alex Keudell matched zeroes until Keudell came out of the game after 6 2/3 innings. In the eighth inning, UCLA got on the board first. Things fell apart for the Ducks in the ninth as relief pitcher Scott McGough was tagged for three earned runs.

Plutko earned his first complete game of the season in a shutout effort. He pitched to his scouting report, as he worked his fastball and changeup effectively and recorded seven strikeouts. He did show an extreme lack of confidence in his curveball. Following a base hit up the middle by Oregon center fielder Brett Thomas on a hanging curveball in the fourth inning, Plutko did not appear to throw another curve throughout the rest of the game.

By series end, the Bruins had outscored the Ducks 14-2, and continued to prove that their weekend rotation is among the best—if not the best—in the nation. They also out-hit the Ducks 30-to-13. UCLA was able to get to the Oregon pitching staff in a way that not many teams have. Bruins head coach John Savage said that any concerns about his team’s offense were “a non-issue,” and that is hard to argue after their showing at the plate over the weekend.

John Savage's UCLA offense is starting to get hot at the right time of year.

Bruins third baseman Cody Regis raised his batting average over the weekend from .287 to .302—he went 4-for-4 in the final game of the series. Including Regis, the Bruins two, three, four and five hitters in Sunday’s lineup are all hitting above .300.

UCLA’s offense was reeling during the first half of the year, but that was likely due to a lack of comfort with the new bats. While they did leave 26 runners on base over the weekend, they found ways to get on base and continuously executed sacrifices, helping to bring runners home. With their pitching staff, that might be all it takes to win games now, and possibly into June.

Following the game on Sunday, there was plenty of insult to add to the injury. Second baseman Danny Pulfer’s streak of reaching base consecutively ended at 31 games. It was the first time the Ducks have been swept at home since May 24, 2009. They were also held to a season low two hits.

Last year the Ducks were selected for regionals with a 13-14 record in the Pac-10. They now sit at 5-13 and would have to go 8-1 through their remaining conference schedule to match their record from last season. That includes a three game series against No. 3 Oregon State at home to finish the regular season.

Oregon appeared to be a team finding their stride as of late. After taking two out of three against Arizona , the Ducks went on the road and played No. 21 Cal. Oregon did drop the series but both losses came on walk-off hits by the Bears.

In the week before UCLA, the Ducks beat Oregon State during a mid week, non-conference game, 7-2.

But by many accounts following the sweep, this is a team that consists of some players who have given up on the season.

“Pretty sure we established that we’re soft two weeks ago…” Pulfer said. “Some guys are focused, some guys aren’t.”

George Horton's Oregon Ducks have struggled to find consistency in 2011.

Ducks head coach George Horton echoed Pulfers thoughts. “I feel like throwing up. I thought it was one of the weakest offensive efforts that I’ve seen in a long time,” he said of Sunday’s game. “I’m out of speeches.”

While by last year’s standards the Ducks are not yet eliminated from the postseason, mentally they appear to be. In the week leading up to this series, Horton described his team as being “immature”, and those feelings are probably even stronger after the weekend. 21 of the 35 Oregon players are underclassmen, and the immaturity could be a result of that.

This is a team that hasn’t found an identity, nor do they have the emotional stability that would make them poised enough to finish the year by going 8-1. To be a year older and a year wiser could create for an impressive turnaround next season. They’re a team with raw offensive talent and freshman set to become the face of the program in the next couple of years. But with every step forward comes two steps backwards.

Barring a dramatic epiphany, Oregonis a team better suited for the future than the present.

South Carolina is the 2010 National Champion, after beating UCLA 2-1 to claim the program’s first College World Series title. Here’s a look at the 2010 CWS All-Tournament Team:

CWS MOP Jackie Bradley, Jr.

First Base – Christian Walker (South Carolina)

Second Base – Cody Regis (UCLA)

Shortstop – Taylor Featherston (TCU)

Third Base – John Hinson (Clemson)

CF – Jackie Bradley, Jr. (South Carolina)

CF – Beau Amaral (UCLA)

LF – Evan Marzilli (South Carolina)

DH – Brady Thomas (South Carolina)

LH Pitcher – Matt Purke (TCU)

RH Pitcher – Trevor Bauer (UCLA)

OSU’s Peavey Wins Duel With UCLA’s Cole

#24 Greg Peavey is congratulated after OSU's win (Chase Titleman photo)

Many of the baseball experts around the country have voiced their opinion that the Beavers, with a struggling hitting line-up and a pitching staff frantically trying to stay healthy, would stand very little chance against the hot-hitting bats and powerful arms of the Bruins.

Think again folks, the experts were wrong.

RHP Greg Peavey pitched a complete game 2 hitter, with 7 strike-outs as Oregon State once again used its uncanny formula of outstanding pitching, phenomenal defense and timely hitting to shock the Bruins, 4-1 in the first game of a key PAC-10 series that could have regional and super-regional implications on the road to Omaha.

UCLA’s counter-part, RHP Gerrit Cole (2.49 ERA, 6-0) added to his league leading 61 strike-outs, garnering 9 more on the night, but after a 30 pitch first inning by Cole energized the Beaver dugout and the 2,500 rabid fans in attendance, the first inning momentum swing was an ominous sign of more misfortune to come for UCLA.

Cole started the game strong by striking out Oregon State lead off hitter Adalberto Santos on five pitches, but then proceeded to throw 9 straight balls out of the strike zone, culminating in three walks, sandwiched around a hit batter, and Gerrit forced in the first run of the game without a ball touching a Beaver bat.

Although Cole struggled in doing so, he proceeded to strike out the next two batters to end the threat, but he never really got control of his secondary pitches on the night, the slider in particular.

UCLA, the hot-hitting offensive team of the two entering the game, never had a chance to get started as Adalberto Santos ran down two deep fly balls hit by (SS) Niko Gallego and (3B) Cody Regis that were caught as he banged into the outfield wall in right-center field.

UCLA suffered its third loss of the season and the last week Friday.

Santos, together with middle infielders Carter Bell (SS) and Keith Jennette (2B) were busy on the night recording 12 of Peavey’s 27 outs.  Overall, including the 7 strikeouts, only 6 balls left the infield all night, a rather uncharacteristic effort by what has been a fantastic Bruin offense this season.

While Cole continued to struggle with his pitch count most of the evening (he threw 120 pitches in 6 complete innings) the Bruins ran themselves out of a potential game changing big-inning in the 4th as (2B) Tyler Rahmatulla walked after (CF) Beau Amaral lined out sharply to left to lead off the inning.

Left-handed hitting (1B) Justin Uribe hit a perfectly executed opposite field hit and run through the six hole as Oregon State (SS) Carter Bell was covering the bag, and with one out in the inning, the Bruins were in business.

Peavey dug himself a bigger hole when he walked the next batter, (LF) Cody Keefer to load the bases.

Then, disaster struck for UCLA, further cementing an ominous tone for the Bruins in the first game of the series.

(3B) Cody Regis hit a fairly deep fly-ball to left-center, which scored Rahmatulla from third base on the sacrifice fly, but for whatever reason, Justin Uribe failed to advance all the way to third base after initially starting out for the bag, and Keefer kept running with his head down from first, assuming Uribe was headed to third.

By the time the two realized they both occupied second base, the ball was already in the infield and Uribe was tagged out by OSU (3B) Stefen Romero.

Inning over and the wave of momentum the Beavers were steadily building through the middle part of the game would soon crest over.

From here on out, the wind went out of the Bruin’s sail as they had just one other runner on the base paths the rest of the evening as Peavey retired 15 of the next sixteen UCLA hitters, getting six of his 7 strike-outs during the span of five scoreless innings through the middle portion of the game.

Although the hard-throwing right-hander from Vancouver (WA) struggled with a 24-pitch first inning and a 20-pitch fourth inning, he never threw more than 11 pitches in innings number 2, 3, 5, 6, 7 and 8.

This in itself was the story line of the game.

In talking with OSU Associate Head Coach Marty Lees before the game, he mentioned that UCLA’s strength this year was their ability to run the count deep and work a walk, where in years past they were largely an overly aggressive first ball hitting team that could be fished in to hitting pitchers pitches.

The ability to run the count deep has improved the team batting average and on-base percentage as it has forced Bruin opponents into using their bullpen sooner than anticipated, which has helped the Bruin batting averages in the process as they force the starters off the bump and get deep into the pen.

But on this night, the tables were turned.

Oddly enough, the statement by Lee’s proved prophetical, as the Bruins let Peavey off the hook in the middle innings by reverting back to old form, swinging at the first pitch and hitting a rather large number of balls into the “Field Turf,” which plays into Oregon State’s strength.

The Beavers stole the momentum and the game in the process.

The big blow for the Beavers occurred in the seventh as light hitting (RF) Michael Miller, who was hitting a meager .193 entering the game, hit a line drive opposite field double down the right-field line and OSU had a man in scoring position to lead off the inning.

On a 1-2 pitch, (3B) Stefen Romero (.326) was plunked by LHH relief pitcher Mitchell Beacom (3.75, 1-0) on an inside fastball, which prompted Oregon State head coach Pat Casey to pinch-hit bunt specialist Andy Quiring for Danny Hayes, an odd move since Hayes was hitting .353 entering the game, but Casey obviously felt the lefty-lefty match-up with the bunt in order was not in OSU’s best interest.

However, on the first pitch to Quiring, the Beavers caught another break as Beacom drilled the second batter of the inning, this time an inside breaking ball, to load the bases.

This prompted UCLA head coach John Savage to pull Beacom after just 12 pitches, bringing in RHP Eric Goedell (3.15, 2-0)

The Beavers had the right man in the right spot as the rally train sounded its horn coming through the campus area next to the ballpark in Corvallis, and (C) Parker Berberet launched a 2-1 fastball into left center for a double, driving in all three base runners on base.

This had been a tradition at Oregon State for years and it is uncanny how many times the Beavers start a game changing rally after the rally train rolls through town, tooting its horn.

The horn was right on cue for the Beavers tonight and with a win in game two tomorrow, the Beavers can begin to toot their horn around the country in their drive to get back to the Dog pile in Omaha.

Record Winning Streak Goes To 21

Garrett Claypool (UCLA photo)

The victory pushed UCLA’s historic season-opening win streak to 21 games.

Claypool limited the visiting Waves (8-15) to one unearned run and two hits in extending UCLA’s record to 21-0. Right-hander Dan Klein notched his team-leading fifth save, striking out the side in order in the top of the ninth.

Pepperdine left-hander Aaron Gates (1-5) allowed two runs and five this in 7.2 innings, striking out eight batters and issuing one walk. Gates absorbed the loss despite holding UCLA to its fewest runs and hits in a game this season.

UCLA scored its two run in the bottom of the fifth, taking advantage of two key bunt singles to secure a 2-0 lead. With runners aboard first and second base, catcher Trevor Brown bunted safely down the third-base line to load the bases with nobody out. Center fielder Chris Giovinazzo reached on a fielder’s choice, sending home first baseman Dean Espy from third. A bunt down the first-base line by third baseman Cody Regis plated left fielder Cody Keefer.

Pepperdine scored one unearned run in the top of the seventh on a sacrifice fly to center by pinch-hitter Ryan Henry, allowing third baseman Colin Rooney to score from third base. One at-bat earlier, Rooney had advanced to third base on a base hit after Keefer slipped and fell while fielding a ground ball near the left-field line.

Left-hander Matt Grace threw one scoreless frame in relief of Claypool before right-hander Erik Goeddel made one pitch to induce a flyout to right field, ending Pepperdine’s half of the eighth inning.

UCLA (21-0) opens Pac-10 play at home against Stanford (12-7, 2-1 Pac-10) on Thursday, April 1. Game time of the series opener Thursday is for 6 p.m. The Bruins and Cardinal continue their series Friday at 6 p.m. and Saturday at 2 p.m.

(Release)