Bruins Pounded Early, Drop Series Finale To Cougars, 10-4

Rain washed away Sunday's scheduled series finale between UCLA and Washington St. and the Bruins probably now wish that it had done away with Monday's rescheduled contest as well. Nine Cougar runs in the first two innings left the Bruins with a mountain too tall to climb as Washington St. blew past them for a 10-4 win. UCLA entered the day hoping for a sweep, but they will have to settle for the series win and now, at 17-5 overall and 4-2 in the Pac-12, turn their attention to next weekend's trip to Utah.

To say that nothing went right for Grant Watson would be an understatement. Starting the series finale for the second straight weekend as Zack Weiss battle shoulder soreness, Watson wasn't even close to the fine form that he showed last weekend. He left pitches up for most of the 1.2 innings that he managed, giving up nine runs on eight hits, two of which went for home runs. The bullpen pitched well in relief of Watson, especially Eric Jaffe, who threw four innings of shutout ball. Chase Brewer and Scott Griggs each added a shutout inning apiece, while Ryan Deeter got the only man he faced and David Berg allowed a run in his one inning, but he did strike out two.

Fresh off of being named Pac-12 Player of the Week, Beau Amaral continued to hit well with a RBI triple and run scored, while Tyler Heineman also had a run, RBI and walk to go along with the Bruins' only multi-hit game. Eric Filia-Snyder, starting in place of the injured Cody Keefer, continued his hot hitting with a base knock and a walk and Trevor Brown added his second home run of the season in the loss.

A trio of first inning singles was the first indication that Watson might not be on his game, but that was only the start. Watson came close to getting out of the inning with just one across when he got a full count with two outs on Ty Jackson, but the Cougars' DH made the freshman pay for a ball up in the zone with a three-run home run that began the onslaught.

Up 4-0 already, Washington St. poured it on Watson in the second. A walk and single started the inning before a double scored on. A ground out scored the other to make it 6-0 before another single brought another run in. The, again with two outs in the inning, Wazzu got a big blast, this time a two-run home run that stretched their lead to 9-0 and basically ended the game.

To the Bruins' credit, they did not give up despite being down nine runs. Amaral followed a Kevin Williams single in the third with a triple that scored a run and Heineman followed that up with a single to make it a 9-2 ballgame.

Brown led off the UCLA fourth with solo bomb that cut the Wazzu lead to 9-3, but that is as close as the Bruins would get. The Cougars' bullpen stepped up and began retiring Bruins left and right to secure the visitors' lead.

Washington St. was able to add to their lead in the eighth with a pair of doubles and while UCLA was able to answer that run with one of their own in the bottom half of the inning, it wasn't nearly enough. The Cougars' had done their damage in the first two innings and had done their part to manage at least a game from the series.