PULLMAN, Wash. – Washington State lost a 6-1 decision to No. 5 UCLA at Bailey-Brayton Field Saturday afternoon.
Prior to the game, the Bailey-Brayton crowd observed a moment of silence in honor of Washington State legendary coach and College Baseball Hall of Famer Charles “Bobo” Brayton who passed away earlier Saturday morning. Brayton won 1,162 career games and led two teams to the College World Series during his 33-year tenure at Washington State.
The Cougars fell to 12-13 overall and 1-7 in Pac-12 Conference play while UCLA used a pair of three-run innings to improve to 20-5 overall including a 7-1 mark in conference. For the second straight game, the Bruin pitching kept the WSU bats in check as UCLA starter Grant Watson (4-2) surrendered one run on three hits in six innings while striking out six. Cougar starter Joe Pistorese (3-3) suffered the loss after allowing six runs, five earned, over seven innings, all coming in his final two innings.
Both starting pitchers stifled hitters through the first five innings with Washington State making the only scoring threat during that stretch. Designated hitter P.J. Jones led off the second with an opposite-field double down the right field line but Watson buckled down for the Bruins, stranding Jones by getting a strikeout, a groundout and a pop out to get out of the inning.
Pistorese cruised through the first five innings, retiring seven straight at one point before the Bruins pushed three runs across in the sixth. UCLA took advantage of a pair of Cougar errors and used two hits highlighted by a two-run double to take a 3-0 lead.
In the seventh, the Bruins received a walk and a hit-by-pitch to put two runners on before using back-to-back hits to open up a 6-0 advantage. Washington State plated a run in the bottom half of the seventh after Wes Hatten singled up the middle to start the inning and came around to score on the next pitch as Ian Sagdal doubled to left center to cut the Bruin lead to 6-1. UCLA went to its bullpen after the Sagdal hit and escaped further damage after Jones lined out to the second baseman who turned and fired to the shortstop covering at second to double off Sagdal before ending the inning with a flyout. Two more Bruin relievers combined to hold off the Cougars in the final two innings.
The series finale is set for Sunday at Noon.
