University of California, Los Angeles, Athletics
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Arizona St
No. 3 ASU Comes Back To Defeat UCLA 10-8
April 21, 2000 | Baseball
April 21, 2000
Tempe, Ariz. - Arizona State scored seven runs in the eighth inning on three home runs, erasing an 8-3 Bruin lead, as the third-ranked Sun Devils defeated the No. 21 UCLA baseball team 10-8 in the first game of a three-game Pac-10 series at Packard Stadium in Tempe, Ariz. Thursday night.
UCLA falls to 24-17 overall and 7-3 in league action, while Arizona State improves to 34-9, 10-3 in the Pac-10.
The Bruins jumped all over ASU starter Jon Switzer, scoring eight runs off nine hits for a 8-1 lead by the end of the fourth. UCLA got on the board first in the second inning on a home run to left center by junior designated Adam Berry, and added two more in the third on junior catcher Forrest Johnson's two-run double.
The Sun Devils scored their first run in the bottom of the third on an RBI bloop single in shallow left field by designated hitter Jonah Martin.
The Bruins then answered with five runs in the top of the fourth when junior designated hitter Adam Berry led off with a double. Switzer then hit back-to-back batters in junior center fielder Charles Merricks and sophomore third baseman Randall Shelley to load the bases.
Junior shorstop Josh Canales grounded into a force out at second, scoring Berry before junior right fielder Matt Pearl knocked in two more with a double to right center. Junior second baseman Chase Utley added to the hit parade with a two-run homer, giving the Bruins what looked to be a solid 8-1 lead.
UCLA starting pitcher Rob Henkel threw six innings, and allowed just two runs on six hits, while walking four and striking out six. He was relieved by junior Jon Brandt in the seventh, who blew a save opportunity allowing eight runs (five earned) on eight hits through 1.2 innings.
ASU left fielder Mitch Jones, the Pac-10 home run leader, hit the first of his two home runs of the night, in the bottom of the fifth off Henkel, and the Sun Devils added their third run of the game in the seventh on an RBI double by first baseman Jeff Phelps.
Then ASU erupted for seven runs in the eighth off Brandt, beginning with an RBI ground out by pinch-hitter Phil Downing. Then catcher Casey Myers slugged a two-run shot to left center to cut the Bruin lead to 8-7, before Jones tied the score with a solo shot to left center. ASU second baseman Brooks Conrad put the finishing touch on the game, belting a two-run home run and giving the Sun Devils an 10-8 lead they would never relinquish.
Brandt suffered the loss to drop to 4-5, while ASU reliever Ty Johnson (1-0) earned the victory. Sun Devil closer Eric Doble picked up his seventh save of the season.
The top three hitters in the Bruin lineup combined for eight hits, four runs and four RBI. Lead-off man Pearl was 3-for-6 including a double with two runs scored and two RBI. Utley was 3-for-5 with a home run, a run scored and two RBI. Junior first baseman Garrett Atkins was 2-for-4 with a run scored.
Also boosting the Bruins were Johnson and Berry, Johnson going 2-for-5 with a double and two RBI and Berry going 2-for-4 with two runs, and an RBI including his third homer of the year.
ASU shortstop Dennis Wyrick was 4-for-5 with two RBI, while the heart of the lineup Casey and Jones each went 2-for-4 with two runs and two RBI.
The Bruins will look to get back into the win column tomorrow night, as the three-game series continues tomorrow with a 7 p.m. start time at Packard Stadium in Tempe. Sophomore right-hander Josh Karp is scheduled to take the mound for the Bruins and will face ASU junior right-hander Chad Pennington.
