Baseball Washington State Athletics

Big Inning Costly for Cougars

March 24, 2012

Box Score Get Acrobat Reader

LOS ANGELES - Seventh-ranked UCLA tallied six runs in the sixth inning against the Washington State bullpen and posted a 12-3 victory in Pac-12 baseball, Saturday.

The Bruins (17-4, 4-1 Pac-12) trailed 3-2 entering the bottom of the sixth After a one-out double against reliever Kellen Camus, Richie Ochoa (0-1) entered the game for the Cougars (10-10, 1-4 Pac-12). After Ochoa recorded the second out on a ground ball, he walked one and yielded five-straight hits as UCLA grabbed an 8-3 lead.

"We got to find ways to close out games," Cougar Head Coach Donnie Marbut said. "We didn't capitalize on opportunities early and kept it a close game. That gave UCLA a chance and they took advantage of it."

Ty Jackson started the seventh for Washington State and gave up a walk and a double in one-third of an inning. Spencer Jackson finished the seventh, but not before a pair of doubles and a walk led to four Bruins' runs.

The Cougars took a 1-0 lead in the second inning when Tommy Richards homered for the first time this season. UCLA tied the game in the fourth with a run against Cougar starter Joe Pistorese.

Washington State played small ball in the fifth to score twice and go on top 3-1 against Bruins' starter Nick Vander Tuig. With one out, Nate Blackham reached on an infield single. Collin Slaybaugh and Jason Monda followed with back-to-back bunt single to load the bases. Taylor Ard struck out, but Derek Jones delivered a two-out, two-run single that gave the Cougars the lead.

UCLA scored once in the bottom of the fifth and had runners at first and third with out. Camus came in to relieve Pistorese and induced an inning-ending double play off the bat of Trevor Brown.

David Berg (3-0), the first of three UCLA relievers, pitched 1 1/3 innings of shutout ball to earn the victory.

GAME NOTES
Derek Jones collected two RBI to raise his team-leading total to 21...Adam Nelubowich singled with two outs in the ninth to extend his hitting streak to 11 games...longest nine-inning game for the Cougars since April 18, 2010 at Arizona...both games took three hours and 37 minutes.

Print Friendly Version

Players Mentioned

Spencer Jackson

#32 Spencer Jackson

LHP
5' 11"
Sophomore
Derek Jones

#25 Derek Jones

OF
6' 0"
Sophomore
Richie Ochoa

#45 Richie Ochoa

LHP
6' 2"
Freshman
Tommy Richards

#6 Tommy Richards

IF
5' 10"
Sophomore
Taylor Ard

#35 Taylor Ard

1B
6' 1"
Redshirt Sophomore
Nate Blackham

#33 Nate Blackham

OF
5' 8"
Freshman
Adam Nelubowich

#37 Adam Nelubowich

IF
6' 2"
Redshirt Freshman
Joe Pistorese

#31 Joe Pistorese

LHP
6' 2"
Freshman

Players Mentioned

Spencer Jackson

#32 Spencer Jackson

5' 11"
Sophomore
LHP
Derek Jones

#25 Derek Jones

6' 0"
Sophomore
OF
Richie Ochoa

#45 Richie Ochoa

6' 2"
Freshman
LHP
Tommy Richards

#6 Tommy Richards

5' 10"
Sophomore
IF
Taylor Ard

#35 Taylor Ard

6' 1"
Redshirt Sophomore
1B
Nate Blackham

#33 Nate Blackham

5' 8"
Freshman
OF
Adam Nelubowich

#37 Adam Nelubowich

6' 2"
Redshirt Freshman
IF
Joe Pistorese

#31 Joe Pistorese

6' 2"
Freshman
LHP