LOS ANGELES – Washington State baseball dropped its Pac-12 Conference opener 5-2 to No. 14 UCLA at Jackie Robinson Stadium Friday afternoon.
The Cougars (7-10) received a solid six-inning start from junior Ian Hamilton who went six innings and allowed on four earned runs while striking out two. Cameron Frost and Weston Hatten each recorded two hits with Hatten belting his second homer of the season in the seventh.
UCLA improved to 9-7 behind an impressive performance from right-handed starter Griffin Canning who allowed two earned runs and struck out five in eight innings.
The Bruins struck first with a solo home run to right field in the second inning and pushed across a run in the third with a sacrifice fly for a 2-0 lead.
Frost lined a single through the left side in the fourth and Hatten led off the fifth with a line-drive single to left-centerfield but both were stranded as Canning settled in.
The Cougars got on the board in the sixth inning as Dugan Shirer worked a walk and moved to second on Trek Stemp's sacrifice bunt. Frost came through with a two-out hit, muscling a single into centerfield to score Shirer from second and cut the UCLA lead to 2-1.
In the bottom half of the sixth, Hamilton nearly worked out of a jam with a nice defensive play of his own. UCLA attempted a squeeze but Hamilton fielded the bunt and glove-flipped the ball to catcher Stefan Van Horn at the plate who tagged out the runner. The Bruins caught a break in the next at-bat as the next hitter sliced a linedrive towards the right field corner that just glanced off the glove of Frost in a diving attempt and two runs came home. UCLA added another run on an error to take a 5-1 advantage.
Hatten gave the Cougars a boost in the seventh with a leadoff solo homer to left centerfield that bounced off the top of the wall and over to make it 5-2. Van Horn followed with a single to left field but Canning ended the inning with a flyout, a strikeout and a groundout.
Washington State received a couple solid outings from relievers Trenton Dupre and Davis Baillie who pitched scoreless seventh and eighth innings.
The Cougars battled in the ninth, loading the bases after Van Horn, Shane Matheny and Shirer each drew walks. Stemp stepped to the plate and hammered the first he saw into the gap in right-centerfield but the UCLA right fielder made a nice catch on the run to end the rally and seal up the 5-2 Bruin win.
GAME NOTES…Frost recorded his team-leading eighth multi-hit game of the season…Shirer extended his on-base streak to nine straight games…Stemp extended his hitting streak to five games…game two of the series is set for 2 p.m., Saturday.
