Bruins Shoot Themselves In The Foot In 3-2 Loss To Cal

Yet again UCLA picked up a loss that can be blamed on no one but themselves. The Bruins left runner after runner on base and wasted opportunity after opportunity, while the difference in the ballgame was yet again, a Bruin error. UCLA fell to Cal on Friday night, 3-2, dropping back to .500 with a 23-23 record. The Bruins also wasted an outstanding start from Gerrit Cole, who allowed only two hits, one earned run and struck out 11 in 8.1 innings.

The Bruins got on the board in the first thanks to an error on the Bears. With runners on first and second, what would have been an inning double play was thrown past the first baseman, allowing Justin Uribe to come around from second to score.

Cal evened up the game in the third inning when they put runners on first and third before picking up a two out single to score the runner from third.

UCLA had multiple chances to take back the lead, including in the fourth and fifth innings. In the fourth inning, the Bruins loaded the bases with one out, but Blair Dunlap fouled out to first base and Niko Gallego to right field. In the fifth, the Bruins were in another bases loaded, one out situation, but Cody Decker fouled out to the catcher and Gabe Cohen to first base.

While the UCLA offense was sputtering, Cole was cruising and from the fourth to eighth inning he faced only one batter over the minimum.

In the ninth inning though, an error bit the Bruins. After striking out the first batter, Cole walked the next batter to put a runner on with one out. Then, a should-be out was botched by Cohen in left field, allowing the batter to reach second and the runner on first to take third. That ended Cole's day and Gavin Brooks entered the game. The first two batters Brooks faced singled and hit a sacrifice fly, scoring a pair of runs and giving Cal a 3-1 lead.

In the bottom of the ninth, the Bruins mounted a rally when they loaded the bases with nobody out. Eddie Murray came to the plate and hit a sacrifice fly to right that not only made the score 3-2, but allowed the tying run to move to third. Uribe came to the plate though and grounded into a double play to end the game and waste yet another scoring opportunity.

Dunlap had a pair of hits on the evening and a run scored. Uribe was the only other Bruin with a multi-hit game, although his game was marred by the game ending double play.

The Bruins and Bears will resume their three game set on Saturday at 2 pm PDT with Trevor Bauer on the hill for UCLA. If you can't make it out to the games, you can listen to it or follow it on GameTracker via the official site. You can also stay up to date on all things UCLA baseball from game updates to news to analysis to the latest on the Bruins' regional chances on my UCLA baseball twitter.