In a double elimination format, the team who wins their first two games is always sitting pretty and at a huge advantage over whoever else they have to play coming out of the loser’s bracket. Earlier in the day, TCU cruised past Florida St. to pick up that first of two wins and in the evening, it was UCLA who had no problem with a Sunshine State team, making easy work of Florida, 11-3.
2010 College World Series: UCLA Manhandles Florida in CWS Opener
What started out as a close game ended up anything but as the Bruins picked up their first College World Series win in school history. That wasn’t the only bit of school history set on Saturday night as starting pitcher Trevor Bauer struck out 11, including his 151st punch out of the season, a new school single-season record. The sophomore battled some early struggles, but from the third inning on, was dominant. By the time he took his seat on the bench, he had thrown seven innings and allowed just three runs on six hits to pick up his 11th win of the season.
At the plate, UCLA got a little from everyone. All nine starters picked up at least one hit to contribute to the 18 hit total. The offense was led by Niko Gallego, who was moved into the lead off spot due to the injury to Tyler Rahmatulla. Gallego had no problem as the table setter though, going 4-5 with a pair of runs scored and stolen base. Beau Amaral went 3-4 with a run and RBI in the contest, while Dean Espy went 3-6 with a couple RBI and a run scored. In the seven and nine spots of the order, UCLA got big production as Justin Uribe went 2-4 with two runs scored and Steve Rodriguez went 2-4 with two RBI and two runs.
UCLA is sitting pretty in the winner’s bracket after a comfortable win, but Florida is on the other side of the spectrum. The Gators struggled all night long, making mental and physical errors a habit, which is unlike their play for the first 62 games of the season. The question becomes how much of that can be attributed to their extreme youth and whether those young players can bounce back when they face elimination on Monday afternoon versus Florida St.
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