| Baseball |
|---|
| Sacramento St. — 3 |
| UCLA — 5 |
UCLA cannot be stopped as they continue to stretch their winning streak and get hot at the plate, as three Bruins find themselves with additions to their home-run totals.
No. 1 UCLA baseball (39-3, 21-0 Big Ten) defeated Sacramento State (19-25, 5-4 Big West) in their second matchup of the weekend series on Saturday, April 25, at Jackie Robinson Stadium.
Senior pitcher Michael Barnett got the start on the mound for the Bruins and pitched five innings. Barnett earned two strikeouts but gave up three hits and two runs, including one home run.
For the Hornets, pitcher Kurt Marton got the start on the mound and pitched four innings. The junior caught the Bruins swinging four times for strikeouts; however, he gave up three hits and one run, of which was a homer.
Sacramento State would take an early 2-0 lead, coming from a home run to left field hit by Jacob Poturnak with Luis Pimentel-Guerrero on second base.
The Bruins would be unable to respond, with junior center fielder Will Gasparino and junior catcher Cashel Dugger striking out and hitting a fly out to end the inning, an unfortunate outcome for UCLA with the bases loaded.
UCLA and Sacramento State traded scoreless outings in the second inning; UCLA remained down two after two.
It was not until the third inning that the Bruins would finally get on the board when star junior shortstop Roch Cholowsky crushed a ball past the left field wall for his first home run of the game and his 15th home run of the season. UCLA would now be down a single run, the score 2-1, Hornets lead.
Barnett and Marton were flawless in the fourth inning, both pitching a zero-run, zero-hit and zero-error inning to keep the score at 2-1.
In the bottom of the fifth inning, the Bruins would tie the game at two, when junior first baseman Mulivai Levu hit his second home run of the series, this time out of the park past the center-field wall.
UCLA took the lead in the bottom of the sixth inning, when Gasparino homered to right field and gave the Bruins the 3-2 lead.
The Hornets would not let the game slip away in the seventh inning, when Ryan Ellis would hit a sacrificial fly ball to left field, which gave way to Jace Jeremiah to steal home plate and tie the game at three.
However, the Bruins would prove too much for Sacramento State in the eighth inning, scoring two clutch runs and taking the lead. A wild pitch from Hornet Colin Hunter would allow Dugger to race to home plate and give UCLA the 4-3 lead.
Then, junior left fielder Dean West singled to center field, and redshirt junior right fielder Payton Brennan would sprint home, scoring UCLA’s fifth and last run of the game, and gave the Bruins a 5-3 lead.
It would all come down to sophomore relief pitcher Easton Hawk to close the Hornets out in the ninth inning. At the first at bat, Cameron Sewell would ground out to second base. A fly-out hit by Brett Ott would follow Sewell. Finally, for the last at-bat of the game, Hawk would catch Ayden Hadley looking for a strikeout and closed the win for UCLA.
With this win, the Bruins extended their winning streak to six games and improved their home record to 25-3, all while winning the series.
The Bruins look to close out the series with a sweep against Sacramento State on Sunday, April 26, 1 p.m. PT at Jackie Robinson Stadium.
