UCLA 8, UW 1

SEATTLE - Casey Haerther went 3 for 4 and broke a scoreless tie with a three run homer in the top of the sixth and the UCLA Bruins went on to defeat the Huskies before 1,743 fans at Husky Ballpark on a sunny Saturday afternoon.

The Bruins evened the three game series at a win apiece and improved to 5-6 in the Pac-10 and 21-17 overall while the Huskies dropped to 5-6 in conference and 25-15.

Cam Nobles, the Husky starter, shut out the Bruins on only one hit through five innings but then got into trouble with two outs in the sixth. Jermaine Curtis walked and Brandon Crawford lined a single into right field before Haerther stepped up to the plate and launched a towering fly ball on the first pitch from Nobles well over the scoreboard in left field for his seventh home run of the season and a 3-0 Bruin lead. The next batter, Mickey Weisser, lined a double to right field and scored on a throwing error by shortstop Doug Cherry on a grounder by Tim Murphy.

The Huskies got their only run in the bottom of the seventh to make the score 4-1. With one out Andy Lentz lined a double over the head of center fielder Chris Giovinazzo and scored on a single into center by Cherry. Pinch hitter Julien Pollard followed with another single to give the Huskies runners at first and second. At that point the Husky rally fizzled as the next batter, Ty Rasmussen struck out into a double play.

The Bruins broke the game open and made it 7-1 with three runs in the top of the eighth. Haerther lined his second double of the game into right center field, advanced to third on a wild pitch by Geoff Brown, and scored on a single by Weisser. Murphy then sacrificed pinch runner Raul Duran to second but catcher Brett Wilcox threw the ball away after fielding the bunt, allowing Duran to take third. Brent Dean then drove in Duran with a sacrifice fly to right field, but in attempting to get Duran at home, first baseman Troy Scott threw the ball past Wilcox, allowing Murphy to move to second and he eventually scored on a single to center by Niko Gallego.

UCLA completed the scoring in the ninth. With one out Brandon Crawford walked, moved to second on a wild pitch by Tyler Cheney, took third on another wild pitch, and scored on a sacrifice fly to center by Duran.

On the mound, Nobles suffered the loss for the Huskies to drop to 3-3. He gave up four runs, three earned, on five hits and two walks in six and one third innings. He struck out four. For UCLA Charles Brewer got the win to improve to 5-4. He gave up the one run on five hits and two walks in six and a third innings. He struck out six. Matt Drummond pitched two and two thirds innings for UCLA to earn his second save of the season. He gave up one hit and three walks while striking out three.

The Huskies and Bruins return to Husky Ballpark for the finale of the three game series on Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. In a matchup of left handers Nick Haughian will start for the Huskies and Gavin Brooks for the Bruins.