Bauer goes the distance...again

Forget the filthy, faded hat and the long toss and the curious warm-up routine: Trevor Bauer is challenging baseball conventions simply by his sheer sustainability.

Bauer raised his nation-leading innings pitched total to 136 2/3, raised his nation-leading strikeout total to 203 and, oh, just about raised UCLA from the dead, going the distance for the ninth straight outing in a 3-1 win over Fresno State in the NCAA Regionals at Jackie Robinson Stadium.

Bauer allowed six hits and struck out 14 Bulldogs - setting the Pac-10 single-season record in the process - while dominating the heart of the order. Fresno State's 3-4-5 hitters went a combined 0-for-12 against the crafty junior with five strikeouts, including three whiffs by three-hitter Dusty Robinson, whose 16 home runs this season matched UCLA's team total.

"I've been watching him for quite a few years; what separates him is he can throw three pitches for strike on any count," Bulldogs coach Mike Batesole said. "When you can do that in college baseball, you have the chance to win a lot of games, which he's done."

Thirteen on the season for Bauer, to be exact, and 34 in his three-year career, the highest mark in team history. This one was much the same: dominating, succinct, with only a modicum of stress. Bauer struck out six Bulldogs more than once and, aside from a sixth inning jam in which Fresno State scored its only run and left two men on base, he was dealing for all 133 of his pitches, 84 of which were strikes.

"I'm pretty wiped out," a typically stoic Bauer said after the game. "I'm the kind of guy who goes out, gives everything they have. I'm pretty drained. Need to get some food."

The Pac-10 pitcher of the year ought to eat a meal fit for a king.

His batters certainly left a lot on the platter.

The Bruins stroked 11 hits and scored three runs - no small feat for a team that hasn't feasted much all season, particularly in the team's 3-0 loss to San Francisco on Friday that saddled likely No. 1 pick Gerrit Cole with his eighth loss of the season (Bauer has eight for his career).

But UCLA also left 14 runners on base and stranded two or more baserunners in 5-of-8 plate appearances.

"We left 14 guys on base, very frustrating that we didn't open it up a little more," UCLA coach John Savage said. "But that's been our style."

It has been a style without much style, though reserve second baseman Trevor Brown did flash some panache in a 2-for-3 day that included a key seventh-inning RBI single that gave Bauer some cushion.

"Being in that kind of role, I feel like I start every day with a clean slate," said Brown, who usually starts against left-handers, like Fresno State's Josh Poytress, who allowed two runs on seven hits in five innings. "I don't have to worry about the night before. The guys who start every day, if they don't have a good day the game before, they have to flush that and move on."

And that's the mentality this UCLA team has now, its season hanging by a thread. With a first-game loss to the Dons, the Bruins were faced with the task of winning four straight games. One down, three to go.

"We haven't been in this position in a while; losing our first game at home. Then you got Fresno State? It's not an easy task," Savage said. "(There are) still a lot of good baseball teams left in this tournament. We can't win the tourney today."