UCLA Stretches Their Win Streak To 11 With 7-2 Win Over USC in Dodgertown Classic

More than 6,000 fans showed up to Dodger Stadium on Tuesday night and they left having seen a team win their 11th straight game. Once again, UCLA wasn't perfect, but they were better than USC, who made three errors. They continued to hit the ball well with 10 hits and even added some pop with a home run and three doubles. Toss in some strong pitching and the result was a 7-2 Dodgertown Classic win for the Bruins' 16th win in their last 21 against their crosstown rivals.

Kevin Williams had just one hit in the game, but it was a big one as he launched his first career home run against the ideal team and in the ideal setting. Trevor Brown added three hits of his own, two of which were doubles, as well as two RBI and two runs. Beau Amaral was the only other Bruin with multiple hits in the contest and he also scored a run, while Pat Valaika drove in a pair as UCLA scored at least five runs for the ninth time in the last 11 games.

On the mound, Grant Watson turned in another strong start to pick up the win and improve to 4-0 on the year. The freshman tossed a career-high six innings and struck out five, while just one run came across on seven hits. David Berg and Ryan Deeter worked a scoreless inning apiece in relief before Scott Griggs walked three in a shaky one-run ninth inning before finishing things up.

Watson found himself in trouble in the second inning when he gave up a double off the ball and got out of it, but he wasn't going to get out of it in the third. A lead off double was followed by a sacrifice bunt so when the next batter blooped a single into right field, the Trojans were able to score the opening run of the ballgame.

UCLA finally got on the board in the fourth inning when Jeff Gelalich was hit by a pitch and Brown followed it by ripping a double down the left field line. Gelalich came all the way around from first to score and the Bruins and Trojans were all tied up. That wouldn't last long, though, as a two-out error allowed Brown to score and UCLA took a lead they would never relinquish.

The Trojans did their best to cut into the Bruins' lead in the fifth inning, but it wasn't to be. A single and double put two in scoring position, but Watson snared a comebacker and caught the runner napping at third. After tagging him out, the Bruins got a groundout and the top half of the inning was over.

The bottom half of the inning was just getting going, though, and it started with a big blast for the Bruins as Williams turned on a 1-0 pitch and lifted it way up into the air before watching it fall on the other side of the wall in right-center for a solo home run. There was more in the inning for the Bruins, too, as Cody Keefer and Gelalich singled with two outs before Brown roped a single to center, scoring Keefer and stretching the UCLA lead to 4-1.

Two runners reached for USC in the sixth, but UCLA got out of the frame unscathed and the same was true in the seventh. The Trojans continued to shoot themselves in the foot in the bottom of the seventh when Amaral started the inning with a double and then scored on USC's second error of the game.

The eighth inning started just like the seventh for the Bruins with a lead off double, this time by Brown. USC's third error of the game then allowed Kevin Kramer to reach and take second so when Valaika singled to center, two men came into score and the Bruins were in front, 7-1.

Griggs came on in the ninth to put a bow on things for the Bruins and while it wasn't pretty, he got the job done. The right-hander hit a batter an walked three to force a run in, but he struck out to and when Keefer squeezed a fly ball in right for the final out of the game, the Bruins were 7-2 winners and owners of an 11-game win streak.