Long Beach St. Gets The Better Of UCLA, 4-2

UCLA went into Tuesday night's game looking at the start of a strange five-game week. In 2008 and 2009 the five-game week was the norm as the NCAA pushed back the start date for the college baseball season and necessitated a few five-game weeks to get all 56 games in, but the start date changed and the five-game week became a thing of the past. That is until the Bruins had a game to make up due to rain. Sticking to the theme of fives, the Bruins also had a five-game win streak, their longest of the season. That all game to an end at Blair Field when Long Beach St. took down the Bruins, 4-2, and knocked them down to 27-17 on the year.

For four consecutive weeks Zack Weiss was sensational. He won all four starts and was on top of his game, but against the Dirtbags it was a different story. The freshman surrendered four runs in just four innings and the Bruins were chasing Long Beach St. from the beginning. The bullpen performed well, but the offense couldn't get it going while the relievers were keeping them in the game. Brandon Lodge allowed three hits in 1.1 innings, but he kept the Dirtbags off the board and Mitchell Beacom struck out a pair in his 2.2 scoreless frames.

That offense that couldn't come back while the bullpen was doing their best to keep them in the game was pretty poor on Tuesday night. They did total five walks, but just five hits and only one of those going for extra bases and not a single stolen base won't get it done. Cody Regis did manage a hit, a walk and a pair of runs scored, while Cody Keefer had a hit, a walk and a RBI, but there wasn't much to get excited about at the plate for the blue and gold.

UCLA had a chance to get going early on when Jeff Gelalich and Beau Amaral walked to start the game. On a 3-2 pitch though, Dean Espy grounded into a double play and Regis followed with a hard liner, but right at the third baseman to end the inning. From there on, it was an ugly game for the Bruins.

Weiss had trouble right from the start. He hit the first batter of the ballgame, gave up a single to the next and then threw a wild pitch to put men at second and third with nobody out. A ground out held both men in place, but a sacrifice fly followed to get the Dirtbags on the board and then a single scored the second man to give the home side a 2-0 lead.

A lead off single and sacrifice bunt led to nothing in the second inning for the Bruins and by the fourth the Dirtbags had added to their lead. A one-out walk put a man on base and when Weiss threw a wild pitch while he was stealing, the runner was able to go all the way to third. A ground out to second was all it took to score the runner then and the Bruins were behind 3-0.

The following inning started with a single and that was the end for Weiss. Lodge came in for him, but he didn't fare much better. A sacrifice bunt and a wild pitch moved the runner to third so an infield single is all it took to stretch the Dirtbags' lead to 4-0.

UCLA tried to mount a comeback in the sixth. Two walks and a single loaded up the bases and Steve Rodriguez drew a walk on a 3-2 count to force one in. With the lead down to 4-1, the Bruins brought the tying tun to the plate, but Pat Valaika struck out to end the inning.

Regis started off the eighth inning with a triple into right center so when Keefer followed with a fly ball to right, Regis was able to tag and score for another Bruin run. That was really it for UCLA though so despite Beacom locking down the end of the game they couldn't get the runs they needed and Long Beach St. grabbed the W to split the season series with the Bruins.