Feb. 21, 2009
Final Stats
LOS ANGELES, Calif. - Gerritt Cole pitched six innings and allowed only one run off one hit while striking out seven batters to lead No. 12 UCLA to a 5-2 victory over UC Davis during a non-conference collegiate baseball game Saturday afternoon at Jackie Robinson Stadium.
The Bruins won yesterday's season-opener to claim the three-game series and improve to 2-0 while the Aggies open their season at 0-2.
For the second consecutive night, the Bruins received solid contributions from their pitching staff. Along with Cole's performance, relievers Brendan Lafferty and Trevor Bauer pitched the final three innings and allowed only one run off two hits while striking out three. Bauer pitched a perfect ninth inning to capture the save.
All five of the Bruins' runs came in three innings, four of which came in the first two innings. Niko Gallego and Casey Haerther led the Bruins with a two RBIs apiece. Gallego knocked a two-run tripled while Hearther homered to highlight the Bruins' offense.
Junior transfer Jared Thompson scored a run and drove in a run to lead UC Davis. Sophomore Rikki Foster accounted for the other Aggie RBI. Senior Grant Hirneise and junior Ty Kelly were the only other Aggies to get a hit on the day. Kelly also scored a run.
UCLA opened the scoring the first inning off an RBI single from Haerther. Gallego walked and advanced to second base on a wild pitch. Following a walk to Chris Giovinazzo, Hearther singled up the middle to score Gallego from second.
The Bruins opened things up in the second inning with three more runs off just one hit. The inning opened with a hit batsman and a walk. Gallego then tripled them home to put UCLA up 3-0. A sacrifice hit the next at-bat by Giovinazzo scored Gallego and capped the big Bruin inning.
UCLA struck again with another run in the sixth behind a solo home run from Hearther - his second RBI of the game.
The Aggies scored single runs in the fourth and seventh innings to cut the Bruin lead to 5-2. Kelly opened the fourth inning with a single to the right side and advanced two bases on a throwing error by the pitcher. Thompson drove home his first run as an Aggie with a sacrifice fly to right field.
The UC Davis run in the seventh also came off a sac fly. Thompson opened the inning with a single and was followed by a walk to junior Kyle Mihaylo and a single from Hirneise to load the bases. Following a foul out, Foster popped one to left field to bring Thompson home from third.
The series concludes tomorrow afternoon at 1 p.m. Live audio can be accessed through the UC Davis baseball schedule page.
