UCLA Baseball Evens Series Behind Jesse Bergin's Masterful Performance
After the Bruins' 8-2 win yesterday, UCLA and San Francisco will play the rubber match today 1 pm PT
After a tough loss on Friday night in which the UCLA baseball team (1-1) stranded 12 runners on base, the Bruins bounced back on Saturday afternoon largely on the strength of starting pitcher Jesse Bergin (1-0), who allowed only one hit and no runs in six and one third innings. By that time he left the game, UCLA was up 7-0 and would cruise to a 8-2 win.
That’s not to say that there still were not issues. The Bruins stranded 13 more men on base. That’s 25 runners stranded in two games. Not good.
The bullpen was also shaky, with Adrian Chaidez allowing a run on two hits in 2/3 of an inning and Sean Cullen allowing three hits and a run in the ninth inning, before earning a strikeout to end the game. But UCLA will take the win and move on to the rubber match today at 1 pm PT at Jackie Robinson Stadium.
Last Time Out
After stranding runners at the corners in the first inning, UCLA sent nine batters to the plate in the bottom of the second inning, scoring four runs and giving Bergin all of the cushion he would need.
After Jarron Silva walked, Mikey Perez doubled down the left field line, putting runners on second and third. Jack Filby went down on strikes, but Kyle Karros singled to left, scoring Silva. Kevin Kendall followed that with a single to right, scoring Perez and bringing Karros around to third. Michael Curialle scored Karros with a sacrifice fly to center, putting the Bruins up 3-0 with two outs. After Kendall stole second, Matt McLain doubled him home to extend UCLA’s lead to 4-0. Kyle Cuellar popped out to end the inning.
The Bruins added three more runs in the fifth inning. Noah Cardenas walked and then, after Silva flew out to left, Perez doubled down the left field line again, putting runners on second and third. This time, Filby singled to right, scoring Cardenas. Perez scored on a wild pitch, moving Filby to second. Kyle Karros flew out to right field, moving Filby over to third, where he would score on a Kevin Kendall single, making the score 7-0 UCLA. Curialle struck out swinging to end the inning.
UCLA would tack on one more run in the seventh inning, in true UCLA “small ball” fashion. Filby singled, advanced to second on a passed ball, advanced to third on a ground out, and scored on a wild pitch.
Kendall, McLain, Filby, and Perez all had great games, but the star was clearly Bergin. The righty showed UCLA fans why Head Coach John Savage moved him from last year’s Sunday starter slot to the Saturday position. Bergin retired the first nine batters he faced, and only allowed three base runners in total, on one hit, one walk, and one hit-by-pitch. Bergin struck out six Dons, four swinging.
Today’s Game
The Bruins and Dons will fight for the series win this afternoon at 1 pm PT. Junior right-hander Nick Nastrini, who is 3-1 with a 2.80 ERA in 35-1/3 innings in his UCLA career, will take the hill for the Bruins. San Francisco will counter with Grant Nechak, who is 0-1 with a 4.82 ERA in 18-2/3 innings in his career with the Dons.
#2 UCLA Baseball (1-1)
Opponent: University of San Francisco Dons (1-1)
Game Time: 1:00 pm PT, Sunday, February 21, 2021
Where: Jackie Robinson Stadium, Los Angeles, CA
Pitching Matchup:
UCLA - Nick Nastrini, RHP, Jr. (2020: 2-1, 4.60 ERA)
USF - Grant Nechak, RHP, Gr. (2020: 0-0, 2.88 ERA)
Media:
Live TV/Audio: uclabruins.com with Tim Wilhelm
Live Stream: Pac-12.com and the Pac-12 Now app
Live Stats: UCLA StatBroadcast
Game Notes
UCLA
This is your UCLA v. San Francisco game three open thread.
Go Bruins!
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Ugh. Bruins drop the game and the series. Bullpen explodes, with UCLA allowing 6 runs in the 7th, 8th, and 9th innings, turning a 3-2 lead into a 8-3 beat down. The Bruins only muster five hits and make an uncharacteristic three errors, including an error by pitcher Kyle Mora in the 9th, who allowed four of those six last inning runs by the Dons.
Bruins host Loyola Marymount on Tuesday before UC Irvone comes to town next weekend.