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There were a lot of firsts last night at Jackie Robinson Stadium, none of them good, as the Bruins were trounced 10-0 by the Trogans. This was the first time that UCLA has given up more than 9 runs this season. This was the first time that UCLA had lost the opening game of a series since March 21. This was the first time that James Kaprielian had given up more than 2 earned runs since March 7. And, most disturbing, this was the first time that UCLA has lost to $C since 3/27/11. James Kaprielian pitched into the 7th, and left with the score 5-0. Scott Burke pitched into the 9th, and was charged with the final 5 runs. Chase Radan made his collegiate debut to close out the game. The only silver lining (and this is grasping for straws) is the fact that Coach Savage did not dig deep into the pen in the one-sided game, so there should be plenty of options going forward.
Tonight, Grant Watson attempts to avoid the "big inning" problem he has suffered recently. The Bruins have more often than not lost the 2nd game of the series after Kaprielian pitched the Bruins to a win in the opening game. Since the 2nd part of the pattern (Kaprielian win) was broken last night, we need to break the 1st part of the pattern (Watson loss) tonight.
The rest of the Pac-12 is on the normal Friday-Sunday pattern, so the UCLA loss last night drops the Bruins another 1/2 game back in the conference standlings. The Bruins are still in 4th, but are now a full 4 games behind conference leader Washington.
The series preview for the 3 game set can be found here. Tonight's game will be televised on the Pac-12 network, with Roxy Bernstein and J.T. Snow calling the action (which will hopefully have a ton of home team highlights). You can also follow the action with the UCLA audio feed here. And if you want to see whether Morgan Center can provide a stats feed which goes beyond the 5th inning (odds are not looking good), then you can follow the feed here.
This is your Friday night baseball game thread. Comment away with your updates, thoughts from Jackie Robinson Stadium, thoughts not from Jackie Robinson Stadium, and anything else Bruin baseball-related.
Let's turn this ship around. Go Bruins !!