Cohen Leads UCLA Past Arizona In 7-6 Series Opening Win

by Ryan Rosenblatt on Mar 27, 2009 10:38 PM PDT in Baseball

Thanks to four RBI from Gabe Cohen, UCLA defeated Arizona 7-6 on Friday night at Jackie Robinson Stadium. Cohen was 2-3 on the night and one of four Bruins with two hits in the night. Gerrit Cole got the start for the Bruins and gave up three runs in 5.2 innings. Matt Grace earned the win with 2.1 hitless innings of relief and Gavin Brooks recorded his second save of the year.

UCLA got off to a quick start thanks to some very good situational hitting in the first inning against Arizona ace Preston Guilmet. Blair Dunlap led off the game by getting behind 0-2 in the count, but battled back and drew a walk. Eddie Murray came to the plate next and executed a perfect hit in run by slapping a line drive single to right advancing Dunlap to third. Casey Haerther followed up Murray with a hard ground ball up the middle that Arizona turned for a double play, but Dunlap scored from first on the play.

Neither team scored in the second inning, but with two out in the third inning Arizona drove a pitch over the center field wall for a solo home run to tie the score 1-1.

The Bruins took the lead back in the fifth inning and it started with a leadoff single by Niko Gallego. After the next batter made an out, Murray roped a triple over the right fielder's head to put UCLA up 2-1. A throwing error by Arizona on a Haerther ground ball allowed Murray to score and UCLA went to the sixth up 3-1.

The UCLA lead wouldn't last long though. Cole gave up a leadoff home run to Brad Glenn that made the score 3-2 and after a Wildcat reached base with two out, Cole was pulled. Jason Novak came in for Cole, but didn't fare well, giving up a double that brought a run in and walk before getting the hook. Grace came in for Novak and got the Bruins out of the inning, but the score was tied at three.

UCLA took the lead back for good in the bottom of the sixth when the game turned into the Gabe Cohen show. Alex Weber-Shapiro led off the inning with a walk and Marc Navarro came in to pinch run. Down 0-2 in the count, Cohen got a pitch on the inner half and pulled it down the left field line for a double that scored Navarro to make it 4-3.

With Grace sitting down the Wildcats in order in the seventh, the UCLA batters came to the plate still ahead by one. The inning didn't get off to a promising start when the first two batters were retired, but a two run rally started with a single by Justin Uribe. Cody Decker singled to put runners on first and second and he also ended the day for Guilmet, who got the hook. In came arguably the conference's best reliever Jason Stoffel, but he came out wild and walked Navarro to load the bases. Down 0-2 in the count again, Cohen came through when he hit a ball as hard as it could be hit down the right field line. The ball got into the corner for a triple that emptied the bases for Cohen's fourth RBI of the game that made the score 7-3.

Grace cruised through the eighth and turned the ball over to Brooks in the ninth. Brooks hit the first batter he faced, but made a good pitch to induce a ground ball to the next batter. The ground ball to the shortstop Gallego was flipped to second for one out, however, Murray bobbled the ball on the turn and was unable to turn the double play. A single put runners on first and second and with two outs, brought up the man who already had one homer to his credit, Brad Glenn. Glenn bested his last home run, hitting a three run shot down the left field line that is one of the farther balls Jackie Robinson Stadium has ever seen hit. That bomb brought up Arizona's best hitter in a 7-6 game, but Brooks beared down and threw a fastball at the eyes that the Arizona batters swung through for strike three.

UCLA escaped Jackie Robinson Stadium with a 7-6 win, the sixth UCLA win in their last eight games. In addition to Cohen's outstanding game, Murray, Decker and Gallego all chipped in with two hit efforts. UCLA is now 9-13 on the year and 3-1 in Pac 10 play. They will look to improve upon that record tomorrow at 2 pm PDT when they face off the Wildcats yet again. As always, if you can't make it out to the game, you can listen to it or follow it on GameTracker via the official site.

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Thanks Rye

It’s nice reading your write-ups on the games. Keep up the great work.

by dproduct on Mar 28, 2009 2:39 AM PDT reply actions

How Good Are the Bruins?

Rye-

There is a tendency for the casual fan (like me) to get too down when a team (including UCLA baseball) is losing, and too up when they start winning.

The baseball team has been rolling since Pac-10 play started (3-1). Do you have a sense as to whether the team is now clicking as the fans hoped they would, or does this reflect a schedule which allowed the Bruins to start the conference season with weaker opponents?

by islandbruin on Mar 28, 2009 6:24 AM PDT reply actions

They're good, but I'm not sure just how good

Remember that even during their 10 game skid, they played some very good teams very close. It wasn’t like they showed up, got pummeled and looked like they didn’t belong out there. The problem the Bruins were having was that they were shooting themselves in the foot consistently and couldn’t catch a break. They didn’t play very well and when they’d hit, they wouldn’t pitch, but when their pitching was there, they wouldn’t hit. Now they’re doing a bit of everything and also are showing better poise.

I think that I, along with many other, underestimated the learning curve this team had. They had to replace their shortstop, second baseman, third baseman, catcher and ace all while integrating two new coaches, one of whom is the hitting coach. Now, that’s not to say that all the adjustments were 10 game losing streak tough, but there was an adjustment period. Now, it’s clear some players are more confident out there as they’ve gotten comfortable in their roles.

Also, Vanderhook’s approach at the plate is really starting to sink in. Players aren’t striking out nearly as much and they’re hitting the ball on the ground. When you hit a fly ball, 99% of the time it will be caught and catching the ball is the only play to be made. When you hit a ground ball it could ge through the infield and the defense has to catch it, throw it and catch it. That’s three times the number of chances to make an error. Now, hitting ground balls isn’t fun, but it’s effective compared to the fly ball. We’re starting to realize that now. On Wednesday five ground balls made their way through the infield for base hits. The offense is really improving and buying into Hooky’s approach, which is good because he’s led some very good offenses.

So I guess what I’m trying to say is that this recent streak isn’t just a result of playing some weaker opponents. Not that playing weaker teams doesn’t help, but this team has clearly taken major strides forward and is playing much better ball. Now, I couldn’t tell you if they’re playing top 15 ball good. We won’t know that until they get into a tight game against a good team and win it with good defense and situational hitting, but they’re doing all they can with the schedule they have and that’s a start.

by Ryan Rosenblatt on Mar 28, 2009 10:12 AM PDT up reply actions