| Baseball |
|---|
| Michigan — 2 |
| UCLA — 7 |
On Sunday afternoon, the No. 1 UCLA Bruins baseball team (17-2, 6-0 Big Ten) slugged their way to victory against the University of Michigan Wolverines (9-9, 0-3 Big Ten) at Jackie Robinson Stadium, winning by a score of 7-2
The Bruins offense and pitching today was stellar. The Bruins scored one run in every inning from the third to the fifth innings, many of which scored on a small ball approach, but also included a solo home run by junior shortstop Roch Cholowsky.
Right-handed junior pitcher Landon Stump also had a stellar day on the mound in one of his best starts of the season. In five innings of work, he recorded only one hit, one walk and a whopping seven strikeouts. Although Stump struggled very early on in the game to land his curveball in the zone, his command gradually got better and produced several whiffs off of the pitch. He also mixed in a fastball along with a very effective breaking ball which cut through the Wolverines’ lineup, generating a staggering amount of whiffs.
Stump, in a postgame interview, shared his thoughts on why his start went so well: “I kind of stopped trying to be so fine early and I was just trying to use the plate, be in the zone, be ahead and get better counts.”
Stump also shared how relieving it felt to find success after struggling at the beginning of the season: “It definitely felt great. I wasn’t wondering why it wasn’t happening, but I was getting in my own way I would say. I’m not around the zone, and obviously when you get back in the zone and those leverage counts for hitters, they’re gonna make contact…you’re gonna get more whiffs.”
The Bruins were the first to strike in today’s game, with the first hit of the game coming from Cholowsky in the bottom of the first inning, who hit a single through the right side of the infield to advance junior left fielder Dean West to second base. Then, junior first baseman Mulivai Levu was able to advance West to third base on a fielder’s choice, which resulted in Cholowsky being called out at second base.
This was a perfect setup for junior first baseman Roman Martin, who had the opportunity to score in West—and so he did, hitting a sacrifice fly out to left field to drive in West.
During the third inning, the Bruins were able to add another run to the scoreboard in the same fashion as Martin—a sacrifice fly. The inning started with a double by Levu and a single by Martin, followed by junior catcher Cashel Dugger drawing a walk to load the bases. Then, freshman designated hitter Dominic Cadiz was able to hit a sacrifice fly to left field to score in Levu, making it 2-0 Bruins.
Until the fourth, the Bruins were able to score runs, but only off of small ball approaches—not actual hits. This all changed when Cholowsky stepped up to the plate and saw a middle-middle fastball from Wolverines’ pitcher Max Debiec, and absolutely demolished the ball, hitting an electric home run deep to left field that had all of Jackie Robinson Stadium cheering.
The Bruins continued to collect big hits heading into the fifth inning, where Cadiz hit a single through the left side of the infield to drive in Martin, adding yet another run to the board to make it a 4-0 ballgame.
Slowly but surely, the Bruins were punching their way to victory by scoring one run at a time—but the Bruins further broke the game open in the bottom of the seventh inning, exploding in a three run rally that would heavily decrease the chances of a Michigan comeback.
This Bruins rally showed why their offense was so heavily feared—they have the ability to do damage in high-pressure situations. The entirety of the rally began when the Bruins were on their last lifeline with two outs. The rally began with a bases-loaded two-RBI knock into left field by Cholowsky to drive in freshman pinch hitter Trey Gudoy, who had a pinch-hit single, and Dugger. This was followed by another RBI single by Levu, who drove in junior pinch runner Phoenix Call to make it a 7-0 game.
Up until the top of the eighth, it looked like the Bruins might pitch a scoreless game, but Michigan was able to score two runs off of the Bruins with an RBI walk as well as a hit-by pitch. Nevertheless, sophomore right-handed pitcher Easton Hawk was able to close out the game by retiring Michigan’s Cooper Mullens with a heater that got right past him. This sealed the Bruins’ victory of 7-2, sweeping Michigan for the weekend.
Head coach John Savage was very pleased with how the game went, especially with Stump’s incredible start: “I thought we pitched exceptionally well…Stump got back on his feet, it was good to see him…..held his velocity up to 97, threw a lot of strikes…we got a lot of confidence in him….I think he kind of found himself today.”
The Bruins look to carry the success of this weekend’s sweep against Michigan as they take on Pepperdine University at Jackie Robinson Stadium on Tuesday, March 17 at 6 p.m. PST.
