June 21, 2010

Game 6 Notes

College World Series Schedule and Game Stories

College World Series Capsules

CBI Live
Cole fans 13 as Bruins bounce Horned Frogs

By Phil Stanton

CollegeBaseballInsider.com Co-Founder

OMAHA, Neb. – This Cole heated the entire stadium.

Sophomore right-hander Gerrit Cole (right) struck out 13 in eight innings as sixth-seeded UCLA defeated TCU 6-3 in Game 6 of the 2010 College World Series Monday evening in front of 23,345 fans at Rosenblatt Stadium.

The Horned Frogs (52-13) will face Florida State on Wednesday at 6 p.m. CT in an elimination game. That winner will meet the Bruins (50-14) on Friday afternoon at 3:30 p.m. CT and will have to beat UCLA again on Saturday to advance to the championship series.

Cole (11-3) was nearly untouchable through six innings. He allowed one hit, a single in the second. He faced one over the minimum.

“Gerrit was as solid as you can be all night long,” said UCLA head coach John Savage. “He threw three pitches for strikes and you just can’t say enough about Gerrit’s performance.”

Trailing 5-0, TCU finally got to Cole in the seventh. Jason Coats and Matt Curry had consecutive one-out singles. With two away, Jantzen Witte had a base hit to load the bases. Taylor Featherston, who had struck out in his first two at-bats, sent a 3-2 pitch into the gap in left center for a bases-clearing triple to narrow the margin to 5-3. With the crowd cheering wildly, Cole rebounded to strike out Aaron Schultz and leave Featherston stranded at third.

The Bruins added an insurance run in the bottom of the frame. Beau Amaral had a ground-rule double, moved to third on a passed ball and scored on a sacrifice fly by Niko Gallego to push the lead to 6-3.

Cole struck out two more in the eighth to complete his night’s work.

"Cole showed why he's an All-American with the way he pitched after the seventh inning," said TCU head coach Jim Schlossnagle. "That was really, really impressive."

Cole allowed five hits and three runs with two walks. He threw 122 pitches.

“To come to Rosenblatt in the final year,” Cole said, “playing in the College World Series, even if you go 0 and 2, you can’t really ask for anything more. It’s just an unbelievable experience. And coming off the mound in the eight inning, it kind of leaves you speechless.”

Closer Dan Klein worked around a one-out single in the ninth to record his 10th save.

The Bruins starting the scoring in the first as Amaral drew a leadoff walk and scored on a base hit by Blair Dunlap.

Amaral’s RBI single an inning later drove in Dean Espy as the Bruins took a 2-0 advantage.

UCLA flexed its muscles in the third as Cody Regis ripped a two-run homer to left and Jeff Gelalich added a solo shot to right as the Bruins extended their lead to 5-0.

Amaral went 3 for 3 with a walk, two runs and one RBI.

Curry finished with two hits for the Frogs.

(photo by Kimberly Lajcik)