James Farris wasn’t sharp and his offense failed to support him as Arizona baseball was dominated in the opening game of their three game series against UCLA, 8-0.
The Wildcats’ (15-20, 4-9 Pac-12) three game win streak was ended, while the No. 22 Bruins (19-13, 7-3) snapped their three game losing skid.
“I’m just doing a real bad job [coaching],” UA head coach Andy Lopez said. “I’m not getting them to compete well, swing properly, pitch with two outs properly. It’s just bad coaching.”
UCLA’s lineup had little problem hitting off of Farris (4-4), Arizona’s starter, who took the loss. The senior right-hander gave up five earned runs on 10 hits and hit a trio of batters as well, over 6.0 innings of work.
Friday’s loss was Farris’ third in a row and the third straight outing he surrendered five or more runs.
“[Farris’ performance was] pretty average,” Lopez said. “Once you get two outs, you have to get that third out; four of the first five runs were with two outs. It was bad coaching.”
Junior southpaw Tyler Crawford and the junior righty Tyler Parmenter lasted just 0.2 innings each. But Crawford allowed a pair of earned runs on three hits with a walk and a wild pitch while Parmenter let in an unearned run.
Sophomore righty, James Kaprielian (5-3) was dealing all night long for the Bruins. He tossed seven shutout frames and retired 24 of 28 Wildcats faced.
“ [Kaprielian] mixed pretty well,” Arizona sophomore centerfielder Scott Kingery said. “He got me out twice on a curve ball, but he was really getting us to chase pitches up in the zone.”
Only one of Arizona’s six hits was for extra bases. Seven Wildcats were also left on base Friday compared to UCLA’s 14.
Even worse, not one UA player made it to third base. Freshman utility player Bobby Dalbec was the lone Wildcat to get more than one hit. He was 2-4 from the dish.
“I’ve limited my strikeouts a lot recently; I struck out a lot in the beginning of the year,” Dalbec said. “I think I’ve gotten a lot more mature [hitting] throughout the season, so I’m just going to keep working on it and getting better.”
Saturday night these teams will face off again at Hi Corbett Field. The first pitch is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. and the game will be broadcast on ESPNU. Sophomore right-hander, Cody Hamlin (4-2) will get the ball for Arizona against UCLA’s junior lefty Grant Watson (4-3).
—Follow Joey Putrelo @JoeyPutrelo
