| Baseball |
|---|
| Oregon — 9 |
| UCLA — 6 |
As the UCLA Bruins jumped out to a 4-0 first inning lead, a sense of deja vu settled over the crowd.
One day removed from an 11-1 drubbing of No. 13 Oregon in the series opener, it felt like more of the same was incoming at Jackie Robinson Stadium.
Yet, in the blink of an eye, fast forward one inning and the score read 4-4.
We had a ball game.
And despite a two home run night from junior shortstop Roch Cholowsky, and the ensuing innings of heated words, numerous ties and lead changes, it was the Ducks who came out on top.
No. 1 UCLA baseball (45-5, 25-1 Big Ten) lost game two of their final homestand to No. 13 Oregon (36-13, 18-8 Big Ten) on Saturday night by a score of 9-6. The loss marks the Bruins’ first conference loss of the year and only their fifth hiccup all season.
UCLA led as late as the eighth inning, following Cholowsky’s seventh-inning homer to put the Bruins up 6-5, his second of the night and 20th of the season.
However, a deficit did nothing to deter the feisty Ducks, who had equalized after trailing twice before already. After freshman reliever Zach Strickland walked a man on board, head coach John Savage called for a four-out save from sophomore reliever Easton Hawk, who ranks second in the nation in saves and hadn’t allowed a run in his last 19 appearances.
Every streak has to end somewhere, though.
Hawk allowed a tying double from shortstop Maddox Molony, which redshirt junior right fielder Payton Brennan couldn’t fully wrap his glove around. After a walk and error on a huge bouncing ball that junior second baseman Phoenix Call couldn’t corral, the closer found himself in a bases-loaded jam.
Hawk’s perfect stretch would finally cease, as No. 9 hitter Jake Brooks lined a bases clearing, go ahead double to left field for a 9-6 lead that Oregon would never relinquish.
Such a result would’ve seemed outlandish after the first inning. UCLA cycled through all nine batters in the first frame en route to tagging Oregon starter Collin Clarke for four instant runs. Cholowsky began the barrage with a solo 426 foot dinger to center field, his 50th homer as a Bruin.
“He’s a superstar,” said Savage on Cholowsky’s big night. “He’s as good a teammate as he is a player, and he’s a true Bruin in every sense of the way we want to develop guys.”
This lineup runs even deeper than just its star. Brennan, junior center fielder Will Gasparino and junior catcher Cashel Dugger kept the momentum and knocked in three consecutive runs on hits to left field.
Amidst the scoring, the umpires paused the game on numerous occasions and issued sportsmanship warnings to Savage and Oregon coach Mark Wasikowski. It already looked as if the Ducks were in over their heads.
However, Oregon on Saturday exhibited a completely different response compared to Friday.
Another diving effort from Brennan in right field wasn’t enough to prevent a bounce, as first baseman Gabe Miranda put Oregon on the board with an RBI double in the second inning. The very next at-bat, designated hitter Naulivou Lauaki crushed a three-run shot to straightaway center, tying the game at 4-4.
Yet, the Bruins would take the lead right back, as Gasparino launched a towering homer in the third inning that narrowly cleared the left field wall and restored a one-run lead.
After the inning’s conclusion, UCLA’s first base coach took exception to Clarke’s language while leaving the field. Both dugouts cleared, albeit partially, and sparked a heated exchange beside the first base line before the umpires broke it up.
Savage downplayed the tension, “A lot of electricity out there, a lot of energy and two really good teams. I don’t put too much stock in that … but it’s the nature of the game.”
Senior starter Michael Barnett took all of his damage in that four-run second inning, and left the mound after 75 pitches and 4.1 innings pitched with three strikeouts.
His replacement, redshirt senior pitcher Ian May, highlighted an ensuing scoreless stretch by tossing 1.2 perfect innings with three strikeouts.
May, who’s spent time as both a starter and a bullpen arm, spoke on adapting to various situations, “Just want to do my part for the team, whatever role that is. Just being ready for when my name is called and giving my best.”
However, the Ducks again refused to go away. May was replaced in the seventh inning by junior reliever Cal Randall, who gave up a walk, a steal of second and balked to place Brooks on third base.
All it took was a ball in play, as leadoff hitter Ryan Cooney’s groundout proved sufficient to score Brooks and tie the game at 5-5, despite Randall not allowing a single hit.
The Bruins would vault ahead again, though, as Cholowsky stood in the box to break a 5-5 tie in the seventh inning. And who else but the nation’s top prospect to line a first pitch laser over the center field wall, his second homer of the night to supply another one-run UCLA lead.
However, the back-to-back Big Ten champions couldn’t respond to Oregon’s four run surge in the eighth, snapping UCLA’s conference win streak at 27 games and officially tying the 1909-11 Illinois team for most consecutive Big Ten wins.
As one of the graduating seniors, May commented on his graduating class ahead of Senior Day, “We’re all a tight group of guys … some of us are on to new parts of life next year so just celebrating the group, but at the end of the day we’re going for the win tomorrow.”
UCLA will return for Senior Day as well as the series and regular season home finale on Sunday, May 10 at 12:00 p.m. PT.
