April 1, 2010
LOS ANGELES-- Dean Espy delivered a one-out bloop single to center and No. 2-ranked UCLA (22-0, 1-0 Pac-10) remained undefeated, following a 6-5 series opening win in 10 innings over No. 19-ranked Stanford (12-8, 2-2 Pac-10).
Reliever Alex Pracher (4-1), in his fourth inning of work, took the loss, giving up a leadoff single to Niko Gallego, a sacrifice and a single to center, before Espy delivered the game-winning hit.
Closer Dan Klein (2-0) picked up the win with a scoreless 10th inning and the final two outs of the ninth, an inning, Stanford almost took the lead in.
In a 5-5 game in the ninth, Tyler Gaffney was thrown out at the plate, after a single to center by Jake Schlander would have scored him from second. Instead, Gaffney slipped around third, and then still headed home, nearly leaping over catcher Steve Rodriguez, who applied the tag on Gaffney's rear to keep it tied.
Stanford took a 5-3 lead in the top of the seventh on a base hit by pinch hitter Ben Clowe followed by a fielder's choice. UCLA tied it with a two-run single in the bottom of the inning by Cody Regis at 5-5, the fourth tie of the game.
Stanford had tied it in the sixth at 3-3, scoring its second unearned run following two Bruin errors, as a ground out tied the contest. Cole, the team's ace, gave up three runs on six hits, walking six and striking out five over 5.2 innings leaving the bases full before reliever Mitchell Beacham got a fielder's choice to keep it tied.
It was also tied 2-2, prior to UCLA taking a 3-2 lead in the fourth and 1-1 with each team scoring in its first at-bats.
A wild pitch by reliever Mark Appel led to UCLA's 3-2 lead in the fourth, one of two runs in the inning. Stanford starter Brian Busick, who was making his first start of the season following a 1.26 ERA out of the bullpen, gave up three runs on six hits over 4.1 innings and left the contest after giving up a bloop single to tie it at 2-2.
The Cardinal scored an unearned run in the first to lead 1-0 before Tyler Rahmatulla connected on an opposite field solo homer (3) in the bottom of the inning to make it 1-1. Stanford also led 2-1 in the fourth off a Colin Walsh RBI single.
The three-game series continues on Friday at 6 p.m and Saturday at 2 p.m. RHP Jordan Pries (2-1, 3.44) is scheduled to throw for the Cardinal against UCLA's Trevor Bauer (5-0, 2.33).