Beavers lose pitching duel to UCLA
March 31, 2000 | Baseball
March 31, 2000
CORVALLIS, Ore. - Oregon State's Scott Nicholson lost a pitcher's duel with UCLA's Rob Henkel as the Beavers fell 3-1 in their Pacific-10 baseball opener Friday afternoon at Goss Stadium at Coleman Field. OSU couldn't cash in on several scoring opportunities against the Bruin lefthander, who was Louisville Slugger National Player of the Week last week after striking out 18 Washington hitters on March 24.
The series continues Saturday at 1 p.m. at Goss Stadium at Coleman Field and concludes Sunday at 1 p.m. Both games can be heard on KLOO-AM (1340).
Friday against OSU (16-12 overall, 0-1 Pacific-10), Henkel struck out 11 as he pitched a seven-hitter for UCLA (18-11, 3-1). Nicholson, the Beavers' lefty, allowed 11 hits but just two earned runs while striking out five in a complete-game performance of his own.
"We didn't do a few little things, and it hurt us," OSU head coach Pat Casey said. "Henkel was very good, and Nicholson was very good. But it's tough to win ballgames where you just score one run."
Prior to Friday's game, Henkel had averaged 16.7 strikeouts per game in his last three starts. His Louisville Slugger National Player of the Week honor was his second of the season.
"He pitched very well - he only walked one batter," Casey said. "We had a couple of opportunities where we needed to put the ball in play and we didn't, and UCLA capitalized on the opportunities it had."
The Beavers trailed 1-0 going into the bottom of the third inning, but Will Hudson led off with a single and advanced to third on Bryan Ingram's hit-and-run single to right. Eric Stark then laid down a bunt that sacrificed Ingram to second, Hudson played it safe and stayed at third base to give the Beavers a pair of runners in scoring position with one out and Joe Gerber coming to bat.
But Gerber took a called third strike for the second out, bringing up Josh Carter. Carter hit a grounder that appeared to have a chance to make it into leftfield, but Bruin third baseman Randall Shelley made a diving stop and his throw just beat Carter to first base to end the inning.
UCLA added another run in the top of the fourth inning on Forrest Johnson's leadoff triple and Matt Pearl's one-out double. The Beavers didn't threaten again until the bottom of the eighth, when they scored their only run and threatened to add more.
Again, Hudson led off with a single and went to third when Ingram followed with another single. Stark grounded to Shelley, who started a double play while Hudson scored to pull OSU within 2-1 but that was all the Beavers would get out of the frame.
UCLA tacked on an unearned run in the top of the ninth to make it 3-1 with Matt Pearl delivering an RBI single, then Henkel put the Beavers down in order in the bottom of the ninth. It was just Oregon State's seventh loss in its last 22 games.
Ingram was 2-for-4 for the Beavers while Hudson and Zach Gordon were both 2-for-3. Tim Dryden had a second-inning single to increase his career-best hitting streak to 12 games.
For UCLA, Pearl was 3-for-4 with a double and two RBIS while Josh Canales was 3-for-4 and Chase Utley was 2-for-3 with a double.
UCLA 3, OREGON STATE 1
UCLA 001 100 001 - 3 11 0 Oregon State 000 000 010 - 1 7 1Henkel and Johnson. Nicholson and Ingram. WP-Henkel (5-1). LP-Nicholson (4-4). 2B-Canales (UCLA), Utley (UCLA), Scott (UCLA), Pearl (UCLA). 3B-Johnson (UCLA).
HITS: UCLA 11 (Canales 3x4, Utley 2x3, Scott 1x4, Johnson 1x4, Lyon 1x3, Pearl 3x4), Oregon State 7 (Ingram 2x4, Dryden 1x3, Gordon 2x3, Hudson 2x3). RUNS BATTED IN: UCLA 3 (Atkins 1, Pearl 2), Oregon State 0.
UCLA 3 (18-11,3-1 PAC-10) Oregon State 1 (16-12,0-1 PAC-10)Name (Pos) AB R H BI BB K PO A Name (Pos) AB R H BI BB K PO A -------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------- Canales ss ..4 1 3 0 0 0 0 3 Ingram c....4 0 2 0 0 2 6 1 Utley 2b.....3 0 2 0 0 1 2 2 Stark cf....3 0 0 0 0 0 5 0 Atkins 1b....4 0 0 1 0 1 10 0 Gerber 1b...3 0 0 0 1 3 7 1 Scott lf.....4 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 Carter rf...4 0 0 0 0 2 3 0 Johnson c....4 2 1 0 0 0 11 0 Davis dh....4 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 Lyon rf......3 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 Dryden 3b...3 0 1 0 0 1 1 1 Pearl dh.....4 0 3 2 0 1 0 0 Barden ph...1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Shelley 3b...3 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 Gordon 2b...3 0 2 0 0 0 1 1 Merricks cf..4 0 0 0 0 1 2 0 Hedges lf...2 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 Rob Henkel p.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 Gott ph/lf..1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Hudson ss...3 1 2 0 0 1 4 5 Nicholson p.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
Totals.....33 3 11 3 0 5 27 11 Totals.....31 1 7 0 1 11 27 12
Score by innings: R H E ---------------------------------------------- UCLA 001 100 001 - 3 11 0 Oregon State 000 000 010 - 1 7 1 ----------------------------------------------
E - Gordon. DP - UCLA 2, Oregon St. 2. LOB - UCLA 6, Oregon St. 5. 2B - Canales, Utley, Scott, Pearl. 3B - Johnson. CS - Pearl. SH - Lyon, Stark. SF - Shelley.
UCLA IP H R ER BB SO AB BF Oregon State IP H R ER BB SO AB BF ----------------------------------- ------------------------------------------ Rob Henkel..9.0 7 1 1 1 11 31 33 Scott Nicholson..9.0 11 3 2 0 5 33 36
Win - Henkel 5-1. Loss - Nicholson 4-4. Save - None. HBP - by Nicholson (Utley). Umpires - Home:Roarke Komenick 1st:Dwayne Finley 3rd:Gus Rodriguez Start: 2:08 pm Time: 2:02 Attendance: 824
