| Baseball |
|---|
| Texas A&M — 1 |
| UCLA — 11 |
The name “Bruins Offense” should strike fear into the hearts of opposing teams, and the Bruins’ game against the Texas A&M Aggies at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas proved exactly that point.
The UCLA Bruins baseball team (8-2) blew the Texas A&M Aggies (9-1) out in a crushing 11-1 victory, with stellar performances by the Bruins in practically every metric.
The pitching was stellar, with senior right-handed pitcher Michael Barnett pitching five innings of one-run ball, getting four strikeouts. The senior starter was able to limit the Aggies to one hit, being a solo home run off the bat of the Aggies’ Jake Duer.
The Bruins got on the board first off of a small ball approach, with base hits from junior first baseman Mulivai Levu, junior left fielder Dean West and a sacrifice fly by redshirt junior right fielder Payton Brennan to bring in junior shortstop Roch Cholowsky and junior third baseman Roman Martin.
To top off the inning’s scoring, junior catcher Cashel Dugger had a two-RBI single that drove in Levu and Martin. The Bruins ended the inning with a 4-0 lead and set the tone for how dominant they would be against the Aggies’ pitching staff.
The Bruins scored two runs in the second and one run in the fifth, although the bats from both teams remained quiet during the third and fourth innings.
During the second, Martin had a two RBI single to drive in junior center fielder Will Gasparino and freshman designated hitter Dominic Cadiz, and during the fifth, West hit an RBI single to center field to allow Cadiz to score from second base.
Just when it seemed that the Bruins would start to slow down in terms of adding runs, they sped up and delivered another four run rally to extend the lead to ten. Brennan hit a double to drive in Levu, and Gasparino hit a mammoth three-run home run to left center field, his third home run since yesterday’s game against Tennessee.
The Bruins look to build on the stellar performances from their pitching and offense as they face No. 4 Mississippi State on Sunday, March 1 at 12:30 p.m. PST.
