| Baseball |
|---|
| UCLA — 8 |
| Mississippi St. — 7 |
They say it only takes one swing of a bat to change a game, but when your team is in the ninth inning, trailing by two runs and down to its last out against a top five baseball program in the country, that swing carries a significant amount of pressure.
Not for junior shortstop Roch Cholowsky.
Standing in the box after junior left fielder Dean West was hit by a pitch, the top prospect in the nation rocked a no doubt 439-foot homer into the Texas sky, tying the game at 5-5 to bring on extra innings. Cholowsky’s home run catapulted the Bruins to an eventual 10th inning win to put the cherry on top of an undefeated weekend at the Amegy Bank College Baseball Series.
The No. 1 UCLA baseball team (9-2, 0-0 Big Ten) defeated No. 4 Mississippi State (11-1, 0-0 Southeastern) in 10 innings by a score of 8-7 in the final game of a three-game tournament at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas. The Bruins went 3-0 to win the Amegy Bank College Baseball Series after previous victories against Southeastern Conference opponents No. 20 Tennessee and No. 23 Texas A&M.
Despite only hitting .222 compared to the Bulldogs’ .359, UCLA stepped up in clutch situations, offensively and defensively, to hand Mississippi State their first loss of the season.
Junior center fielder Will Gasparino opened the scoring for UCLA in the third inning with a two-run missile to left field, his NCAA-leading 10th home run of the season. Gasparino was later named tournament MVP after contributing four home runs, seven RBIs and hitting 5-11. Junior catcher Cashel Dugger tacked on a third run an inning later with an RBI single, which proved enough to chase Bulldog starter Duke Stone.
Bruin junior starting pitcher Landon Stump was also chased in the fourth inning after allowing a two-run homer to first baseman Reed Stallman. Senior reliever Ian May would allow one more run in the inning to tie the game at 3-3.
UCLA surrendered the lead in the seventh inning via a sacrifice fly from right fielder Jacob Parker, and designated hitter Noah Sullivan tagged freshman reliever Elai Iwanaga for a solo home run in the next inning, leaving the Bruins in a perilous position for the ninth inning.
After Cholowsky’s heroics at the top of the ninth, sophomore reliever Easton Hawk pushed the game to extra innings, courtesy of a would-be game-winning hit becoming a ground rule double, stranding the runners at second and third. Still in a jam with no outs, Hawk fired two strikeouts and forced a groundout to ensure another inning.
In the top of the tenth inning, the Bruins managed to load the bases with two outs after Gasparino was intentionally walked. A wild pitch permitted redshirt junior right fielder Payton Brennan to slide home, handing UCLA a one-run advantage. In the same at-bat, redshirt sophomore pinch hitter Aidan Espinoza provided crucial insurance with a two-run triple, pumping the Bruins’ lead to 8-5.
The Bulldogs weren’t quite buried yet, however, cutting the deficit to one after Hawk surrendered Stallman’s second two-run homer of the game. Again, with no outs, Hawk steadied the ship with back to back strikeouts before a game-ending lineout ensured Mississippi State was undefeated no more.
UCLA will return to Jackie Robinson Stadium on Tuesday, March 3 at 5:00 p.m. PST to host the Cal State Fullerton Titans.
