March 28, 2003

Box Score

LOS ANGELES - The No. 17-ranked Arizona baseball team lost its Pac-10 road opener, 6-4, to UCLA at Jackie Robinson Stadium on Friday. The loss dropped Arizona to 21-9 for the season and 2-2 in the Pac-10.

Brandon Averill's two-run homer in the bottom of the seventh broke a 4-4 tie and handed UCLA (15-15, 1-0) its first conference win of the year. Reliever Mark Worrell (1-3) was tagged with his third loss of the season after giving up two runs on one hit and four walks in three innings pitched.

UCLA reliever Doug Silva improved to 3-0 for the year after shutting down the Arizona bats to just two hits over the final five innings. He struck out five and walked just one.

Arizona, which out-hit UCLA 9 to 7 in the game, stranded six runners on base, including five in scoring position. Freshmen Brad Boyer and Jordan Brown were the only Wildcat batters to pair hits in the game, finishing 2 for 5 and 2 for 4, respectively.

Arizona and UCLA will meet up for game two of the three-game series on Saturday at 2 p.m. Tucson time. Arizona will send reigning Pac-10 Pitcher of the Week Richie Gardner to the mound against 2002 Pac-10 Freshman of the Year Wes Whisler.