| Baseball |
|---|
| Maryland — 3 |
| UCLA — 8 |
The Bruins dominated Maryland 8-3 thanks to a masterclass offensive performance from junior third baseman Roman Martin who shined with two RBI’s and two runs scored.
No. 1 UCLA baseball (20-2, 8-0 Big Ten) faced off against Maryland in their second game of the series (11-11, 1-4 Big Ten) at Jackie Robinson Stadium on Saturday, March 21.
Sophomore pitcher Wylan Moss secured the victory for the Bruins and improved his win record to two games. Moss had a stellar performance pitching 3.2 innings and only giving up five hits for Maryland. For the Terrapins, pitcher Evan Smith struggled for Maryland, pitching three innings and gave up eight hits and seven runs against UCLA.
Maryland opened the game up in the first inning with a double to left field by Rylen Stockton in which David Mendez would score, giving the Terrapins a 1-0 lead.
Luckily for UCLA, they would respond quickly at the bottom of the first, scoring four runs total. Martin would hit a double to left field with junior left fielder Dean West running home to tie the score 1-1.
Later in the inning, redshirt junior right fielder Payton Brennan would score his fourth home run of the season, a three-run home run with Martin and junior first baseman Mulivai Levu all rounding the bases to give the Bruins a 4-1 lead.
Maryland would respond immediately in the second inning with a single home run by right fielder Aden Hill that cut UCLA’s lead to three, closing the gap to 4-2 with UCLA in front.
The Bruins would not score again until the bottom of the third with a sacrificial fly ball from junior center fielder Will Gasparino that Levu took advantage of to score once again, UCLA would extend their lead back up to three. Later in the third, junior catcher Cashel Dugger would hit a single up the middle allowing Martin to round the bases and UCLA would pour onto their lead, taking a 6-2 lead over the Terrapins.
Maryland got their third and final run against UCLA in the fourth inning, when catcher Devin Russel would hit a double to left center field and center fielder Nate Hawton-Henley would round home plate and cut the Bruins lead back down to three with a score of 6-3.
The Bruins immediately scored again in the bottom of the fourth inning when Martin was walked with the bases loaded and junior second baseman Phoenix Call scored. This would be Maryland pitcher Evan Smith’s last inning after giving up the seventh run of the game and giving UCLA a four-run lead.
The Bruins would win the game in the eight and final inning, when junior shortstop Roch Cholowsky doubled down the left field line and Call would again score. The Bruins would take a 8-3 lead and win the game.
With the victory over Maryland the Bruins would add to their win column with an impressive record of 20-2 and remain undefeated in Big Ten play with a record of 8-0 and showing why they are the No. 1 ranked team in the country.
The Bruins look to close out the series on Sunday, March 22 against Maryland at Jackie Robinson Stadium and win their fifth series of the season.
