Cal State Fullerton was shutdown by a freshman. UC Irvine took a pair on the chin. Long Beach State lost in 11 innings. UC Santa Barbara and Cal State Northridge combined to give up 30 runs. Only UC Riverside seemed to escape the Southern California Big West blues on Saturday afternoon.
That plus all of Saturday’s other Southern California college baseball action, including some photos from Cal State Northridge, Long Beach State and Cal State Fullerton along with video interviews from Long Beach and Fullerton:
#28 Indiana 2, Long Beach State 1 (11 innings)
The Hoosiers scrapped out an 11th inning win at Long Beach State. (Recap, Photo Gallery & Video Interviews with Tracy Smith and Andrew Rohrbach)
West Virginia 14, Cal State Northridge 11
Cal State Northridge dropped a 14-11 contest in offensive series finale with West Virginia. The two teams combined for 35 hits. There were 11 players with multiple hits. Ryan McBroom led the way for the Mountaineers with a 4-for-6 day with a double, homer and 5 RBI. Shaun Wood was 3-for-5, R, HR, 3 RBI.
Chester Pak was Northridge’s offensive leader: 4-for-6, 2 R, HR, 3 RBI. Ryan Raslowsky added three hits, three runs and three RBI while Nick Blaser also had three RBI.
Here’s CBD photographer David Cohen’s top photos from the game:
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#15 UCLA 3, Cal 1
Kevin Williams, who returned from a shoulder injury last weekend for UCLA (11-7, 2-0), smashed a two-run homer in the seventh inning to break a 1-1 stalemate. It was just the cushion starter Grant Watson needed (8 IP, 2 H, ER, BB, 4 K). David Berg closed it out with his second 1-2-3 ninth inning in as many days.
Wichita State 16, UC Santa Barbara 5
The Shockers (11-5) evened the series by putting a beating on the Gauchos (12-3). Wichita State scored seven runs in the fifth inning and another five in the eighth inning on its was to a 16-5 win. Tyler Baker and Chase Simpson homered while Dayne Parker was 4-for-6 with four RBI.
Pacific 6, Pepperdine 4
Pacific (9-12, 1-1) scored the go-ahead run in the eighth inning and an extra insurance run in the ninth en route to a 6-4 win, evening the WCC series with Pepperdine (13-5, 1-1). Aaron Brown knocked three hits, scored a run, drove in a run and drew a walk. Brett Sullivan had two RBI for the Tigers.
Loyola Marymount 10, Portland 8
LMU (11-8, 2-0) scored in only two innings, but it made those two innings count. The Lions took a 4-0 lead in the first inning, but it was a six-run seventh inning that spurred them to victory after falling behind 8-4. Ted Boeke had a bases-clearing single (with the assistance of an error).
Austin Miller compiled an impressive day (3-4, R, 3B, RBI, BB) despite being caught stealing for the first time in his young collegiate career. Tommy Cheek also had three hits. David Edwards, Jimmy Jack and Boeke each knocked in a pair of runs. Portland’s Ryan Littlefield was 3-for-5 with a homer and four RBI.
San Diego 17, BYU 8
The Toreros (14-4, 3-0) knocked 18 hits in the first four innings, jumping out to a 15-0 lead as they swept BYU (7-14, 0-3). Austin Bailey and Hunter Mercado-Hood both had four hits and a walk. Bailey drove in four runs as well. Louie Lechich (5 IP, 2 ER) improved to 4-1. He also made this fantastic defensive play:
San Diego State 11, Purdue 2
San Diego State (14-4) used a seven-run fifth inning to take its second game against Purdue (1-12) and assure the Aztecs of at least a split of the four-game series. Spencer Thornton broke a 2-2 tie with a bases-clearing three-run triple in the fifth. He finished 3-for-5.
Brad Haynal also had three hits, including a two-run dinger in the sixth inning. Bubba Derby improved to 3-0 on the season, striking out eight in 6.2 innings and allowing only one earned run.
St. Mary’s 6, #8 Cal State Fullerton 0
Cameron Neff pitched his second straight shutout. This time against Cal State Fullerton. (Recap, Photo Gallery & Video Interviews with Eric Valenzuela, Grahamm Wiest and Neff)
Nebraska 7, UC Irvine 4 (Gm 2)
The Cornhuskers (11-7) took a doubleheader sweep from UC Irvine (13-6) to win the series after dropping Friday’s opener. Nebraska took a back-and-forth finale by scoring five runs in its final two at bats.
Stud freshman Ryan Boldt moved to the three-hole and continued to hit well: 2-for-5 with a run and a double while Austin Darby was 3-for-5 with a run and an RBI. Pat Kelly drove in two runs.
Chris Rabago had three hits for the ‘Eaters, who have lost three of four after a 10-game win streak. Jerry McClanahan homered.
Nebraska 13, UC Irvine 4 (Gm 1)
In the first game, Nebraska slugged its way to a 13-4 victory to even the series. Tanner Lubach, Ben Miller and Jake Placzek combined for nine hits and eight runs. Lubach homered and had 4 RBI. But freshman Ryan Boldt was BMOC (big man on campus): 4-5, R, 2 2B, 4 RBI.
Justin Castro had three hits for UC Irvine and Taylor Sparks homered for second straight game, but Nebraska’s Christian DeLeon (2-1) pitched eight innings to get the win.
UC Riverside 3, Stony Brook 2
Trailing 2-0, UC Riverside (10-9) got RBI singles from Francisco Tellez, Devyn Bolasky and Nick Vilter in the sixth inning. It proved to be enough to get Zach Varela (6 IP, 2 ER) the win. Alex Rubanowitz was 2-for-2 with a walk, a run and a stolen base for the Highlanders.
#9 Oregon 7, USC 2
Oregon roughed up USC senior Bob Wheatley, knocking him around for five runs on seven hits in three innings and evened the series with a 7-2 win. The Trojans (10-7, 1-1) managed only four hits with Omar Cotto Lozada’s two-run single highlighting.
Matt Krook walked four, but struck out six and allowed only two hits in 6.1 innings to get the win for the Ducks (13-5, 1-1). Mitchell Tolman was 2-for-5 with two doubles and four RBI. A.J. Balta was 2-for-3 with a two-run homer.
