University of Washington
UCLA
No. 11 UCLA Outlasts UW 5-4 In 13 Innings
March 16, 2015 | Baseball
LOS ANGELES – UCLA's Trent Chatterton hit a sacrifice fly in the 13th inning, ending a game that lasted 4 hours and 34 minutes and sending the No. 11 Bruins to 5-4 series-clinching win over Washington Sunday at Jackie Robinson Stadium.
Washington's Troy Rallings was able to escape a jam in the 12th inning with a runner at third and no outs, but was unable to duplicate the feat in the 13th. After Ty Moore led off the 13th with a single, the next two Bruins' batters both tried to bunt the runners over. Both reached safely on singles when they beat the throw to first. With the bases loaded and five Huskies in the infield, Chatterton lifted a fly ball to right-center that was plenty deep to score Moore from third base.
Rallings (1-1) was the hard-luck loser for the Huskies, who dropped to 13-7 on the season, 1-2 in Pac-12 play. The junior right hander entered the game in the sixth and lasted a career-high 7 and 1/3 innings, throwing 106 pitches and allowing just the one run on seven hits.
The game could have ended numerous times in extra innings, but UW's defense came through in the clutch. In the 10th with two outs, Levi Jordan stole a base hit from Ty Moore, diving to snare the ball in the hole with runners on second and third. Later in the 12th, the defense turned its fourth double play of the game with runners on first and third to end another threat.
The Huskies also had plenty of chances to score in the late innings, but could never find a chink in the armor of UCLA's closer David Berg (1-0). Washington was able to get runners on base every inning, including runners in scoring position three times, during Berg's career high six innings pitched. But, Berg escaped every jam he got into, striking out eight Huskies to earn the well-deserved win.
Brendan Berry gave Washington the early 1-0 advantage smacking his third home run of the season to lead off the second inning. The junior first baseman took a 2-2 pitch from UCLA starter Cody Poteet well over the left field wall for his sixth career homer. It also extended Berry's hit streak to nine games.
Staked to a 1-0 lead, Huskies' starter Josh Fredendall was unable to enjoy it for long. After he walked the first two batters to start the second inning, UW Coach Lindsay Meggs called down to his well-rested bullpen early. Brandon Choate came in for his Pac-12 leading 13th appearance and was able to minimize the damage in the inning by allowing just one of the inherited runners to score on a sacrifice fly.
The Washington offense got right back to work in the third inning, striking for two runs to re-take a 3-1 lead. Catcher Joey Morgan led off the inning with a single up the middle, was sacrificed to second and came around to score on left fielder Matt Jackson's double past a diving third baseman Chris Keck. Jackson didn't spend much time at second base as the next batter right fielder Jack Meggs sent him home on a single to center.
The Huskies allowed the Bruins back into the game allowing three runs to score in the home half of the fifth despite giving up just one hit. The big play of the inning came when with runners on the corners and one out, No. 9 hitter Christoph Bono laid down a sacrifice bunt attempt to third base. Alex Schmidt fielded the ball and threw it to first, but nobody was covering the base, allowing both runners to score and Bono to advance to third.
Spencer Jones, the Huskies third pitcher of the game, looked like he was going to get out of the jam allowing just the tie, but after getting a ground out that held Bono at third, Jones unleashed a wild pitch that allowed Bono to score and make it 4-3 in favor of UCLA.
The Huskies answered right back in the sixth inning to tie the score back up at 4-4. Schmidt walked with one out and came around to score when shortstop Chris Baker doubled into the right-center gap. It was the first of a career-high three hits by Baker.
The score remained 4-4 until the 13th inning.
Washington ended up outhitting UCLA 12-10, but also stranded 12 compared to the Bruins' nine.
Baker was 3 for 6 to lead the Huskies offense. Braden Bishop and Meggs each had two hits apiece.
The Huskies originally had a game schedule for this upcoming Tuesday against Portland, but it has been cancelled due to conflicts with final exams. UW returns to action for a three-game weekend series at Husky Ballpark against California. Friday's first pitch is scheduled for 5:00 p.m.
#11 UCLA 5, Washington 4 (13 innings)
WASH 012 001 000 000 0 –- 4 12 2
UCLA 010 030 000 000 1 –- 5 10 0
LOB: UW 12, UCLA 9. Cody Poteet, Grant Dyer (5), Tucker Forbes (7), David Berg (8) and Darrell Miller, Jr. Josh Fredendall, Brandon Choate (2), Spencer Jones (5), Troy Rallings (6) and Joey Morgan. W – Berg (1-0). L – Rallings (1-1). Sv – none. HR – UW, Branden Berry (3). 3B – none. 2B – UW, Matt Jackson, Chirs Baker; UCLA, Kevin Kramer. Time – 4:34. Attendance – 936.
