About Author: Shotgun Spratling

Description: Shotgun Spratling covers the Southern California area where he attended 75 games during the 2012 season. He attended grad school at USC where he covered USC sports for Neon Tommy, South LA Intersections, Annenberg TV News, KSCR and the Trojan Vision debate show Platforum Sports. He has worked with the Princeton Devil Rays minor league team, written for daily and weekly newspapers and done freelance work for publications such as ESPN, NBC Los Angeles and the SC Playbook magazine. After being a 3-sport letterman in high school, he was a 4-year letterman at Division III Maryville College where he concluded his collegiate career by inducing a ground out to end the 2007 Great South Athletic Conference Tournament and gave the Scots the GSAC championship. He also spent the 2010 summer in Cape Town, South Africa covering sports for the Cape Community Papers during the first FIFA World Cup held on African soil.

Posts by Shotgun Spratling

CBD Photo Gallery: J.D. Davis Powers Fullerton Win

– May 24, 2013Posted in: 2013 Season Coverage, Big West, CBD Photo Gallery

Photos Courtesy of David Cohen.

It’s hard to overlook J.D. Davis on the ballfield. The sophomore is an imposing 6-foot-3, 215 pounds.

However, on the Cal State Fullerton roster, Davis is just another cog in the machine. He contributes on the mound, but Davis isn’t one of the three lights out weekend rotation starting pitchers. While he is a two-way player, he isn’t an All-American stud likely to go in the first or second round of the MLB Draft this year. And though he has home run power, he didn’t hit back-to-back walk-off homers this year.

Instead, Davis is just another key run producer in the middle of the lineup for a top five team primed to make a run at Omaha. On Thursday afternoon, Davis made his contribution in a big way, leading No. 3 Fullerton (46-8, 21-4) to a 5-2 win in the opener of the final Big West series of the season at Cal State Northridge’s Matador Field.

Davis crushed a two-run homer in the third inning to put the Titans ahead for good and he finished off the game with a quick 1-2-3 ninth inning for his third save of the season.

Koby Gauna got the start for Fullerton as typical opening game starter Thomas Eshelman was rested with the Titans having already locked up the Big West title last weekend. Gauna made the most of the opportunity, going seven strong innings for the win. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Big West, Cal State Fullerton, Cal-State Northridge, CBD Photo Gallery

CBD Visit: Bruins Put Gauchos On The Ropes

Shotgun Spratling

– May 22, 2013Posted in: 2013 Season Coverage, Big West, CBD Interview, CBD Photo Gallery, CBD Visit, Interviews with Coaches, Interviews with Players, Pac 12

LOS ANGELES – Around Southern California, several teams are seeing their NCAA Tournament hopes dwindle, stretch runs wind down and some seasons outright ending. But not UCLA.

The Bruins keep trucking on, winning one tight game after another. They have won 11 of 13, including sweeping their last three weekend series. On Tuesday evening, the Bruins (38-15) kept things rolling, improving to 15-1 in one-run games this season with a 2-1 victory over UC Santa Barbara (31-23) at Jackie Robinson Stadium.

Freshman Cody Poteet, who has been an extreme pitcher as of recent — either pitching really well or not making it through an entire inning, allowed only one hit and one run in six strong innings.

“I think he showed everybody how good he’s going to be,” UCLA head coach John Savage said. “He could have gone out there in the seventh inning. He had 72 pitches in six innings and that’s pretty pitch efficient. I was excited by what we saw from Poteet tonight.” Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Big West, CBD Interview, CBD Photo Gallery, CBD Visit, Interviews with Coaches, Interviews with Players, Pac 12, UC-Santa Barbara, UCLA

CBD Visit: Irvine Blows Late Lead, Potentially At-Large Bid

Shotgun Spratling

– May 21, 2013Posted in: 2013 Season Coverage, Big West, CBD Interview, CBD Visit, Interviews with Coaches, Interviews with Players

FULLERTON, Calif. — Though it is now a distant memory, Carlos Lopez was originally set to be an Irvine Anteater. When he was a sophomore in high school, Lopez committed to play for Dave Serrano at Irvine. But when Serrano took the Cal State Fullerton job, Lopez followed his head coach across town to Fullerton.

Fast forward a few years, several if you ask anyone how long it seems Lopez has been wearing a Titans uniform, and you get Lopez’s penultimate weekend of baseball against the team he once planned to play for.

On Sunday afternoon, Lopez capped a weekend of baseball Fullerton coach Rick Vanderhook said was “absolutely unheard of,” by crushing a three-run walk-off home run to give Fullerton (45-8, 20-4) a 7-5 victory and a three-game sweep of UC Irvine (31-20, 13-11).

The final play: Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Big West, Cal State Fullerton, CBD Interview, CBD Visit, Interviews with Coaches, Interviews with Players, UC-Irvine

CBD Visit: Bruins Sweep USC Behind Berg & Valaika

Shotgun Spratling

– May 21, 2013Posted in: 2013 Season Coverage, CBD Interview, CBD Visit, Interviews with Coaches, Interviews with Players, Pac 12

LOS ANGELES — Sophomore David Berg set the UCLA school record with his 16th save of the season and pushed his scoreless streak to 34 2/3 innings pitched on Sunday.

The scoreless 1 1/3 innings he pitched in the series finale at Dedeaux Field was also his third save of the weekend as UCLA (37-15, 20-7) swept rival USC.

The Trojans (19-33, 10-17) were in all three games, but couldn’t get over the hump, losing back-to-back one-run contests before Sunday’s 5-2 defeat. They dropped Friday night’s game when the turf monster bit them on a flukey play where the “earth moved and sod came up” as USC head coach Dan Hubbs described it. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: CBD Interview, CBD Visit, Interviews with Coaches, Interviews with Players, Pac 12, UCLA, USC

CBD Photo Gallery: Carlos Lopez Hits Walk-Off Homer Again

Shotgun Spratling

– May 20, 2013Posted in: 2013 Season Coverage, Big West, CBD Photo Gallery

FULLERTON, Calif. — Cal State Fullerton fifth-year senior Carlos Lopez really didn’t want to ground into a double play in his final regular season at bat at Goodwin Field.

With the tying run on second and a man on first with one out in the bottom of the ninth, Lopez wanted to try to drive a pitch. If he didn’t get a hit, he wanted to give the next man a chance. But most importantly, he didn’t want to end the game with a double play.

Lopez did end the game, but instead of hitting into a double play, he did the improbable — walloping a 1-1 changeup from Evan Brock high over the right field fence for his second walk-off home run in as many days.

Lopez’s dramatic blast gave Fullerton (45-8, 20-4) a 7-5 victory and a series sweep of Big West rival UC Irvine (31-20, 13-11). The win combined with Cal Poly’s sweep of Cal State Northridge gave the Titans their fourth consecutive Big West title and 27th conference championship in 39 years. It also earned Fullerton the conference’s automatic bid for the NCAA Tournament. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Big West, Cal State Fullerton, CBD Photo Gallery, UC-Irvine

CBD Photo Gallery: Berg at 33 1/3 Scoreless As Bruins Best USC 7-6

Shotgun Spratling

– May 19, 2013Posted in: 2013 Season Coverage, CBD Photo Gallery, Pac 12

LOS ANGELES — David Berg’s first career save was of the three-inning variety. It sent UCLA to the College World Series last season.

While it wasn’t a postseason performance, Berg faced a tough situation on Saturday afternoon at Dedeaux Field. Facing off with the Bruins’ rival, Berg collected his longest save of the season on Saturday afternoon at Dedeaux Field to give UCLA a 7-6 victory and a Pac-12 series win.

Berg entered in the seventh inning of a 7-6 game with the tying run 90 feet away and quelled the USC rally. The Trojans had scored three runs against relievers Cody Poteet and Zack Weiss to trim away a 7-3 lead.

“It was 7-3 and then all of a sudden it was 7-6. I don’t like using him in the seventh,” UCLA head coach John Savage said, “but we felt with two outs and runners at first and third, we felt we had to go to our guy.”

As he has done all season, Berg shut the door, using his stellar defense to his benefit. With runners on the corners, Berg got one of USC’s hottest hitters, Greg Zebrack, to hit a hard grounder to the hole on the left side where shortstop Pat Valaika made yet another solid play, cutting the ball off and firing to first to nab Zebrack by a step.

USC was able to get the tying run in scoring position in the eighth inning, but Berg was able to induce two more grounders to Valaika, who made a pair of solid plays — charging a slow hopper up the middle and backhanding a short hop in the hole — and UCLA was out of the inning. The sidewinding closer finished off the 2 1/3 innings save for his 15th save of the season tying the UCLA school record that was set last season by Scott Griggs. He also pushed his scoreless streak to 33 1/3 innings, dating back to March 30. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: CBD Photo Gallery, Pac 12, UCLA, USC

CBD Photo Gallery: Turf Monster Helps Bruins to 2-1 Win

Shotgun Spratling

– May 18, 2013Posted in: 2013 Season Coverage, CBD Photo Gallery, Pac 12

LOS ANGELES — It isn’t an otherworldly being the Ghostbusters are chasing. It isn’t a crazed swamp creature that ends up on your front lawn. But the turf monster is something all ballplayers fear for it can strike at any moment and when it does, there’s usually little that can be done.

Even a senior playing a rivalry game on the day of his graduation isn’t immune. The turf monster reared its ugly head and took a bite out of USC second baseman Adam Landecker helping UCLA to a 2-1 victory Friday night at Dedeaux Field.

Landecker became a turf monster victim with two runners on base in the ninth inning of a tie game. The runners took off running as Brent Wheatley delivered a pitch to Kevin Kramer, who hit a hard grounder to Landecker’s right. Landecker slid to stop the ball and tried to pop up to his feet. When he did, a huge sod patch gave way and popped up with him.

The senior appeared to lose his balance as he tried to rise to his feet with the earth giving way while he simultaneously tried to pull the ball from his glove. Instead the ball shot out of his glove to his side. The botch was all speedy pinch runner Brett Urabe needed to get home with the winning run. All-American closer David Berg pitched a perfect bottom of the ninth to lower his ERA to 0.63 and record his 14th save of the season. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: CBD Photo Gallery, Pac 12, UCLA, USC

CBD Photo Gallery: Riverside Rallies From Eight-Run Deficit

Shotgun Spratling

– May 15, 2013Posted in: 2013 Season Coverage, Big West, CBD Photo Gallery, West Coast Conference

RIVERSIDE, Calif. — Kris Bryant’s nation-leading 29th home run and an 11-3, sixth-inning lead were not enough for San Diego on Tuesday night at the Riverside Sports Complex. UC Riverside rallied from an eight-run deficit to take a 12-11 victory in ten innings. And with the win, the Highlanders may have played spoiler for San Diego’s chances to receive an at large selection in the NCAA Tournament.

Devyn Bolasky scored in six consecutive plate appearances, including tallying the game-tying run in the ninth inning and the game-winner in the 10th inning. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Big West, CBD Photo Gallery, San Diego, UC-Riverside, West Coast Conference

SoCal Weekend Wrap: Conference Battles

Shotgun Spratling

– May 14, 2013Posted in: 2013 Season Coverage, Big West, CBD Column, Mountain West, Pac 12, West Coast Conference

Taylor Sparks led Irvine to a big series win.

There were some matchups with big postseason potential implications this weekend as 10 of the 11 SoCal squads took to the diamond. The Big West featured some crucial matchups with four teams chasing after Cal State Fullerton.

This week’s action featured seven pitchers throwing complete games, yet the Pitcher of the Week did not. San Diego’s Kris Bryant hit five round trippers last week. He hit his nation’s best 26th, 27th and 28th homers over the weekend, but he didn’t earn the Hitter of the Week honor this week. Instead, he was bested by a teammate.

We provided you with live updates on Twitter (@SoCal_CBDaily) throughout the weekend, but here’s a recap of all the weekend action:

Read the rest of this entry »

CBD Visit: Two-Way Robby Nesovic Leads Gauchos to 6-2 Win

Shotgun Spratling

– May 12, 2013Posted in: 2013 Season Coverage, Big West, CBD Interview, CBD Visit, Interviews with Coaches, Interviews with Players

NORTHRIDGE, Calif. — Robby Nesovic pitched six strong innings and pitched in a pair of hits, including a two-run double, to help UC Santa Barbara take a 6-2 win at Cal State Northridge’s Matador Field Saturday afternoon.

The Gauchos (27-20, 12-8) took advantage of three Northridge errors to score an error-asssisted run in the third inning and another in the fifth inning. Joey Epperson also hit a solo homer to left field to lead off the fifth inning, giving Nesovic a 3-0 lead. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Big West, Cal-State Northridge, CBD Interview, CBD Visit, Interviews with Coaches, Interviews with Players, UC-Santa Barbara

CBD Photo Gallery: Gauchos Escape Late Jam, Take Series

Shotgun Spratling

– May 12, 2013Posted in: 2013 Season Coverage, Big West, CBD Photo Gallery

Photos Courtesy of David Cohen.

NORTHRIDGE, Calif. — Cal State Northridge brought the tying run to the plate with the bases loaded and no outs in the eighth inning, but couldn’t get the big hit it needed against UC Santa Barbara. Santa Barbara reliever Greg Mahle wriggled off the hook and the Gauchos (27-21, 12-8) took the series with a 6-2 win Saturday afternoon at Matador Field.

Mahle struck out pinch hitter Kyle Ferramola and got a lineout and a groundout to end the inning. He turned the ball over to Santa Barbara closer Dylan Hecht, who pitched a clean 1-2-3 ninth inning to close out Northridge (30-20, 14-6) and give Robby Nesovic the victory. Nesovic pitched six scoreless innings before being removed after walking the first two batters in the seventh inning.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Big West, Cal-State Northridge, CBD Photo Gallery, UC-Santa Barbara

CBD Photo Gallery: Santa Barbara Scores Six in Ninth to Take Pitcher’s Duel

Shotgun Spratling

– May 11, 2013Posted in: 2013 Season Coverage, Big West, CBD Photo Gallery

Photos Courtesy of David Cohen.

UC Santa Barbara busted out with six runs to break a scoreless tie in the ninth inning Friday afternoon at Matador Field. The Gauchos (26-20, 11-8) took a 6-1 win in the series opener at Cal State Northridge in a crucial Big West series for both ball clubs.

After Northridge closer Josh Goossen-Brown got a lineout and allowed a 1-2 single to Tyler Kuresa to start the ninth inning, he lost his control. He threw only one more strike to the final five batters he faced.

Cameron Newell singled on a 3-1 pitch. Marc Venning was hit by a 2-0 pitch, loading the bases. Luke Swenson broke the scoreless tie with a four-pitch walk. Jackson Morrow singled home two runs on a 1-0 pitch and Goossen-Brown hit Joey Epperson with his final pitch in a 2-0 count.

The Gauchos added three more runs after Goossen-Brown’s departure with Brandon Trinkwon delivering a two-run single and coming around to score on a passed ball and a wild pitch. Nate Ring knocked a solo homer in the bottom half of the inning to get the Matadors (30-19, 14-5) on the board, but it was too little, too late. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Big West, Cal-State Northridge, CBD Photo Gallery, UC-Santa Barbara