Pac-12 POTW Miller Leads UCLA Over Stanford 9-3 To Win Series

The UCLA Baseball team defeated Stanford 9-3 in the rubber match of their weekend series to give the Bruins their 10th consecutive series victory. The win gave UCLA another series victory and kept the team undefeated in weekend series so far this season. The Bruins now have a game and a half lead over second place Arizona State and a three-game lead over third place UC Berkeley.

UCLA got on the board first in the top of the second. Right fielder Kort Peterson tripled to right center and scored when Trent Chatterton drove him in with a single to right.

Stanford came back and took the lead in the bottom half of the inning on a two-run homer by left fielder Jonny Locher.

But the Bruins came up with a big inning in the top of the third scoring 4 runs on 5 hits. Luke Persico got it started with a single to left and Ty Moore followed with a double to right. Bruin catcher Darrell Miller, Jr. drove both runners in with a double to left center while DH Sean Bouchard drove Miller in with a single to left. A single by Kort Peterson gave UCLA runners on 1st and 2nd with still only one out, but Bouchard was picked off second by Bryce Carter, the Stanford catcher.

Peterson then proceeded to steal both second and third before scoring on a wild pitch to give the Bruins a 5-2 lead.

It turns out that would be enough for the victory as the Bruin pitchers would only allow one more run the rest of the game.

Bruin starter Griffin Canning (7-1) allowed two earned runs and seven hits over five innings to pick up the win while Cody Poteet, Tucker Forbes, and Grant Dyer provided the "Bridge to Berg" who closed out the game with a scoreless inning and two-thirds and earned his ninth save of the season.

Chris Castellanos (2-1) took the loss for the Cardinal and didn't make it past the third inning.

In addition, today, Bruin redshirt sophomore catcher Darrell Miller, Jr. (and nephew of Bruin basketball great Reggie Miller) was named the Pac-12 Player of the Week. An article on UCLABruins.com discusses Miller's accomplishments this weekend:

In total, Miller Jr. hit .500, going 6-for-12 with three doubles, two runs and a team-high six runs batted in. He also led the team in slugging percentage (.750) and on-base percentage (.571). Miller Jr. recorded a double in all three games and posted back-to-back three-RBI games in the final two contests. His finest play of the weekend came defensively when he finished off a throw from Kort Peterson to tag out Stanford’s Jesse Kuet at home plate to end the inning and save a run.

Congratulations to Darrell Miller, Jr. for being the Pac-12 POTW!

The Bruins' next five games are all out-of-conference games starting at Long Beach State tomorrow night and followed by a three-game series with Gonzaga at home over the weekend and finishing up with another home game against Pepperdine next Tuesday.

Those five games lead up to a three-game series in Phoenix against ASU which may ultimately decide the Pac-12 title even though the Bruins still have 9 conference games left to play.

Go Bruins!!!