May 31, 2013
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LOS ANGELES, Calif. - Trailing by three runs in the final inning, San Diego State scored once and had the tying run at the plate, but saw its comeback fall short as it dropped a 5-3 decision to No. 10 UCLA Friday evening at the NCAA Regional at Jackie Robinson Stadium. With the loss SDSU saw its record drop to 31-30 while the Bruins improved to 40-17.
San Diego State got on the board first with a run in the top of the second that came without the benefit of a hit. After a leadoff walk to Ty France, Matt Muñoz's bunt was mishandled by UCLA pitcher Adam Plutko for an error. Brad Haynal successfully sacrifice both runners up one base before Jake Romanski's fielder's choice score France from third.
The lead was short-lived, however, as UCLA answered back in the next frame on a double by Pat Gallaher, single by Brenton Allen and a sacrifice fly from Kevin Kramer.
Aztec starter Ryan Doran ran into more trouble in the bottom of the fourth although part of it was down to some good fortune for the home team. A slow roller that hit the first base bag and bounded away was followed one batter later by a bad-hop single to short to put runners at first and third with one out for the Bruins. A walk then loaded the bases for Gallagher to deliver a two-run single which was followed by a sacrifice fly by Allen to give UCLA a 4-1 lead.
Romanski responded for San Diego State as he led off the next inning with a solo home run to left, his third of the season, to make it 4-2.
Doran's night ended in the bottom of the sixth when he was lifted in favor of Mike Robards. Doran's final line would read 5.2 innings pitched allowing four runs on nine hits with a walk and two strikeouts. With his teammates unable to comeback from the deficit the senior right-hander would be charged with the loss to fall to 8-4.
UCLA added a run in the eighth to up its lead to 5-2 before calling on closer David Berg in the ninth. Berg, who came into the game with a 0.70 earned run average over 64 innings, gave up a one-out double to Tim Zier who was driven home by Greg Allen's two-out double to cut the deficit to 5-3 before a strikeout ended the contest and Berg had recorded his 19th save. The win went to Plutko who improved to 8-3 on the year.
SDSU's Allen finished the night with three hits including a single, double and triple with an RBI. Romanski had two hits, two RBI and two runs scored while France continued his hot hitting with a single and double.
With the loss, San Diego State drops into the loser's side of the bracket and will face an elimination game on Saturday when it meets the University of San Diego at 2:00 p.m. (PT) at Jackie Robinson Stadium.