With UC Santa Barbara, Pepperdine and Cal State Northridge not having lights at their fields, it opens up the possibility of being able to catch multiple games in one day when those teams play at home and then other Southern California squads host night games.
But not having lights also opens up the possibility of games being suspended, postponed or even called due to darkness. That was the case on Tuesday when UCLA visited Santa Barbara and ended up going into extra innings where the game came to a completely unsatisfactory conclusion after 12 innings.
That plus more in Tuesday’s Southern California college baseball roundup that features photo galleries from Fullerton, Pepperdine and LMU:
UCLA 5, #23 UC Santa Barbara 5 (12 innings)
UCLA and UC Santa Barbara figuratively kissed their sisters on Tuesday afternoon at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium. With the game going into extra innings and John Savage’s desire to use every pitcher on his roster, the game was called at 7:35 p.m. due to darkness.
The Bruins scored four runs in the second inning, chasing UCSB starter Andrew Vasquez, but the Gauchos evened it up with a run in the bottom half of the inning and a Tyler Kuresa three-run bomb the next inning.
Ty Moore put UCLA back ahead in the fourth inning with an RBI single, but Santa Barbara evened it up an inning later on an Andrew Calica RBI single. That would be it as the bullpens took over and shut down the offense, allowing only seven hits combined over the final seven innings.
UCLA used eight pitchers, including weekend rotation starters Grant Watson and Cody Poteet. All-American closer David Berg returned from a bicep strain to pitch 1.2 innings after missing the last two and a half weeks. The Gauchos relied on bullpen mates Greg Mahle and Dillon Tate, who put up zeros for the final six innings.
Ty Moore continued his recent hitting success for UCLA, going 4-for-5 with a run and three RBI. Brian Carroll was 2-4, 2 R, RBI, 2 SB. Joey Epperson reached four times for UCSB.
#25 Pepperdine 11, #4 Cal Poly 4
Cal Poly had won 26 of 28 games prior to Saturday’s game at Long Beach State. The Mustangs had only lost five games at that point and hadn’t lost more than once in a single week. Since then, they have lost three in a row, falling 11-4 at Pepperdine’s Eddy D. Field on Tuesday.
Coming off a nine-day layoff due to a scheduled break for finals week, the Waves’ offense didn’t skip a beat putting up two runs in the first inning, two in the second and three in the third. Cal Poly starter Slater Lee lasted only 1+ innings. He faced eight batters, allowing four hits, a walk and four runs.
But it didn’t matter who Larry Lee put on the mound. Pepperdine pounded out hits against all four pitchers it faced, knocking around 18 hits. Each pitcher allowed at least twice as many baserunners as innings pitched.
The Waves appeared to be happy finals were over as they were locked in. Brad Anderson led the offensive onslaught, going 3-for-4 with three RBI, two runs, a double and a towering seventh inning home run to left field. Aaron Barnett hit four base knocks while Austin Davidson reached four times and drove in two runs.
Cal Poly, on the other hand, did not look like the squad that started the season 36-5. The Mustangs were uncharacteristically sloppy, committing three errors. They struck out 10 times and left 10 men on base.
Leading hitter Mark Mathias was out with a heel injury, forcing Larry Lee to replace him in the leadoff spot with Chris Hoo. Lee also moved Peter Van Gansen into the two-hole severely shortening one of the deepest lineups on the West Coast. Rather than being a sneak-attack strength like it normally is, Cal Poly’s 7-8-9 starters were 1-for-7 on Tuesday.
CBD photographer Shotgun Spratling provides some of photos from really sunny Eddy D. Field Stadium:
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UC Irvine 6, USC 2
For two months, UC Irvine (29-14) has struggled during the mid-week due to a lack of pitching depth, but for the second time in that stretch the Anteaters defeated USC. Since March 4, the ‘Eaters have only one mid-week win against a team other than USC, but a four-run seventh inning broke a 1-1 tie and pushed them to victory Tuesday night.
USC (24-18) tied the game in the sixth inning on a Blake Lacey RBI single, but Irvine immediately responded. A single, sacrifice bunt and Connor Spencer RBI single put the ‘Eaters back ahead. An error that scored a run, an RBI single and the classic Mike Gillespie safety squeeze added to the lead.
Grant Palmer was 3-for-5 with two runs while Spencer and Taylor Sparks both reached three times. Jonathan Munoz drove in two runs. Lacey was 3-for-4 for USC.
San Diego 6, #28 Cal State Fullerton 5
San Diego left fielder Austin Bailey fired a throw in from the left field corner and shortstop Kyle Holder relayed the ball to the plate. Clay Williamson slid in to the plate hard, but Toreros catcher Jesse Jenner absorbed the blow and held onto the ball. Cal State Fullerton’s tying run had been hosed at home plate with one out in the ninth inning.
AJ Kennedy made it to second on the double, but San Diego closer Josh Goossen-Brown induced a groundball to first base to end the game and give the Toreros a 6-5 victory.
USD scored four runs in the fourth inning and two runs the following frame on three hits and an error in both innings. The Toreros then watched as Fullerton chipped away at a 6-2 lead with single runs in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings.
But the Titans were never able to get the big hit, settling for a pair of RBI groundouts and a bases-loaded walk. Instead, they left two men on in the sixth, the bases loaded in the seventh and the tying run on third in the eighth inning.
San Diego had five different players drive in a run while Connor Joe went 2-for-4 with two runs. David Olmedo-Barrera was 2-for-4 with a run and an RBI for Fullerton. Keegan Dale reached all four plate appearances, going 1-for-1 with three walks.
CBD photographer David Cohen was on hand for the action at Goodwin Field. Here’s his top photos from the game:
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UC Riverside 8, UNLV 2
UC Riverside (19-21) got three runs and five RBI from the bottom third of its lineup in an 8-2 win over a solid UNLV club (28-16). Cody Hough reached three times & drove in two while the Highlanders got four solid innings from sophomore southpaw Cody Rogina — the longest outing of his young career.
Loyola Marymount 7, San Diego State 0
Brenton Arriaga threw a career-high 6.1 innings, allowing only two hits to lead Loyola Marymount (24-16) to a 7-1 mid-week victory over San Diego State.
The Lions scored two runs on an Austin Miller RBI double down the left field line in the third inning and never looked back. Brice Savage crushed a Cody Thompson slider a third of the way up the tree line for a two-run homer the next inning.
LMU added three more runs in the sixth inning on RBI singles from from Cassidy Brown, David Fletcher and Miller, pushing the lead to 6-0. The Aztecs (31-14) had an opportunity to chip away at the lead in the seventh inning. They loaded the bases and chased Arriaga from the game with one out, but Tyler Adkison hit a soft liner to third base and Ty France got doubled up at second base to end the threat.
Miller finished the game with four hits and three RBI while Brown was 2-for-3 with two runs, a double, a walk and an RBI. Savage reached twice, scored twice and drove in two runs. Jimmy Jack and David Fletcher also added two hits for the Lions. Greg Allen was the only San Diego State batter with multiple hits, though, Tim Zier did reach three times.
LMU head coach Jason Gill talks about the complete team effort in the victory and Arriaga’s development throughout the season:
Here’s CBD photographer Shotgun Spratling’s top shots from Loyola Marymount:
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Cal State Northridge 9, Bakersfield 8
Cal State Northridge (16-28) scored more than six runs for the first time since March 15 to take a road victory at Bakersfield (17-26). In the eighth inning, William Colantano tied the game with an RBI single. After an error loaded the bases, Chester Pak delivered the go-ahead RBI with a sacrifice fly to score Brett Balkan.
Michael Coates pitched two innings without allowing a hit to pick up his first win of the season and Shay Maltese threw up a zero in the ninth for his sixth save. Colantano reached three times, scoring once and driving in two runs. Alexis Mercado had three hits, two runs and an RBI in his first start since March 18. For Bakersfield, Max Carter was 3-for-5 with three runs, two doubles and an RBI.
