UCLA falls to USF, 3-0
Entering UCLA after spurning the New York Yankees in the first round of the 2008 Major League Baseball Amateur Draft, Gerrit Cole headed to the Bruins amid a torrent of lofty expectations.
His exit was much quieter.
They stood and they cheered a dignified cheer, an ovation clearly representative of Cole's entire body of work, not his performance on an uneven Friday night at Jackie Robinson Stadium.
Cole surrendered 11 hits and three runs in 7 1/3 innings while receiving little support from his offense as UCLA fell to San Francisco in their opening game of the NCAA Regionals, and now the Bruins must win two straight - beginning today at 2 p.m. with Fresno State - to prolong their season.
"We can't be putting our heads down saying, 'Poor me,'" Cole said. "We're looking forward to coming out here tomorrow and Trevor (Bauer) pitching the way he has. We're a long way from out of this thing."
Cole was dominant at times against the Dons, striking out 11 while frequently working out of self-caused jams. But the fastball that has scouts drooling so much - Cole is a projected top-three pick in Monday's MLB Draft - was abundantly hittable.
Cole labored through a long third inning in which he not only allowed the Dons' first run but tweaked his ankle in the process while trying to field a ground ball. San Francisco added another run in the fifth inning when Nik Balog scored Connor Bernatz from second baseman on a single that caromed off the glove of second baseman Kevin Williams, and the Dons sealed the deal with an eighth-inning RBI by Adam Clear that eventually chased Cole.
"When you're going up against a guy like Gerrit, your only option is to keep it as simple as possible, keep your mind as clear as possible," said San Francisco's Nik Balog, who went 4-for-4 with two RBIs. "There's little-to-no-room for error facing a guy like that."
But once again, Cole was on an island, buoyed by just about zero backing from an offense that has struggled to get his back throughout the season. UCLA managed just two hits through eight innings against Kyle Zimmer while striking out 11 times as Zimmer threw his first career complete-game shutout.
UCLA had several balls go to the warning track in the later innings, but the Bruins were never able to break through. They even loaded the bases with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, only to watch Cody Regis stare at a called third strike.
"We just didn't fight enough pitches off with two strikes," Savage said. "You have to fight those pitches off. You can't stand there with your bat on your shoulder and two strikes."
Now momentum is all UCLA could use, with backs now firmly drilled to the wall.
The Bruins must defeat the Bulldogs behind Trevor Bauer tomorrow, with game-time set for 2 p.m., before facing the winner of USF-UC Irvine on Sunday for a chance to advance to the regionals.
"I told the guys afterward: That's why they call it a tournament," Savage said. "It's not won by one game or lost by one game."
Cole's not done. If they're going to win the regional, he's going to pitch again in all likelihood. Hopefully they can get him the chance to go back out there with hopefully a little more offense for a change.
Wow... first Golf, now Baseball. Two upsets. Neither good. Off day for UCLA. Dang!
I'm confused. Don't we need to win 4 in a row, since this is double elimination? We'd have to win today, eliminating Fresno, then beat the loser of SF/Irvine, then beat the winner of SF/Irvine twice, right?
Am I wrong? Somebody help me out!
Horrible decision not to pitch the NCAA player of the year--Bauer. Now, zero room for error or bad luck. And Cole is done, he will not be able to come back for a start -- maybe one inning of relief.
What difference could bauer have made if the offense scored no runs? If jon gold had pitched ucla would have at least saved cole for the next games.
Because if Bauer pitches, and it's 0-0 in the sixth or seventh, instead of trailing 2-0, you can try to scratch for one run. But down 2-0, puts your offense in a different mode. Going with your No. 2 or No. 1 in the first game is always a tough choice for a coach in the reigonals. The general consensus, though, has always been if you are a top 8 overall seed, then you are most likely facing the Nos. 57-64 seeds, and you can get away with not going with your No. 1. But I'm sure Savage rationalized that UCLA beat this team before, so why not again. And yes, UCLA needs to win the next four, and if they can get to Monday, they get Cole back in there. It's been done before.
@5DOLLAR There is a very good chance Cole would end up pitching tomorrow in the second game, should we get there with Bauer going again on Monday. It's really all hands on deck now and I know Bauer has insisted in the past he could easily go on back to back days if he needed to. I seriously doubt they would start Zach Weiss. Depending on Cole's arm, you might see Weiss pitch the back half tomorrow night though. Gotta get there first though. The saving grace for this team right now is the fact they've been terrible offensively on Friday's all year. Saturday and Sunday is usually when the bats come around a bit more.