UCLA Baseball Evens Series with Southern Cal, Rubber Game Today

The Bruins won yesterday's game with the Trojans, 6-3, and will look for the series win this afternoon.

UCLA left fielder Kyle Cuellar had a single and a double in his first game in over a month. (Photo Credit: Eric Hurd/uclabruins.com)

---

The Bruins evened the series with Southern Cal yesterday when UCLA defeated the Trojans by a score of 6-3. This afternoon, the Bruins will look to win the weekend series when the teams meet for the finale at 4 pm PT. Today’s game will be broadcast on Pac-12 Networks.

Last Time Out

The first three innings of the game yesterday were quiet as neither team was able to score. In the fourth, the Bruins got on the scoreboard first. Matt McLain led off the inning with a single. With two outs, he looked to create a little bingo by stealing second. After Mikey Perez drew a walk, Josh Hahn drove both runners in with an two-RBI triple to center, giving UCLA a 2-0 lead.

In the bottom of the fourth, starter Jesse Bergin gave up a lead off double to Rhylan Thomas. A pair of groundouts to second were able to get Thomas across, cutting the Bruins’ lead in half.

UCLA got the run back in the top of the fifth. Kyle Cuellar led off with a double to left center and he moved up to third when Kyle Karros dropped a bunt down the third base line. He scored when Kevin Kendall drove a ball up the middle for an RBI single.

Bruin starting pitcher Jesse Bergin got into some trouble in the bottom half of the inning when he gave up a walk and a pair of singles to load the bases. Another walk scored a run for Southern Cal and John Savage had seen enough. He brought Jake Saum in to get UCLA out of the jam and Saum did just that with a strikeout and fly out to end the inning with the Bruins up, 3-2.

With one out in the eighth, Noah Cardenas picked up UCLA’s first hit since the fifth when he singled to center. JT Schwartz drew a walk on four pitches to give the Bruins two on with still just one out. Southern Cal catcher Garret Guillemette threw the ball away on a pick-off attempt and both runners advanced on the error. Both Perez and Hahn singled scoring Cardenas and Schwartz, respectively, giving the Bruins a few insurance runs and a 5-2 lead heading into the bottom of the eighth. And, it was a good thing they got those since Southern Cal scored a run in the bottom half of the inning.

Kyle Karros doubled to lead off the ninth for the Bruins and he scored when Kendall hit another single up the middle. That gave UCLA a bit of breathing room, though, Bruin fans might not have thought so following Friday night’s heartbreaking loss in the bottom of the ninth.

This time, though, there would be no comeback for the Trojans as Max Rajcic was able to pitch a scoreless ninth for his first save as a Bruin.

Saum (2-2), who pitched 2-1/3 innings of scoreless relief and allowed just a walk while striking out two, picked up his second win of the season for the Bruins while Chandler Champlain (1-2) took the loss.

At 4 pm PT today, the teams will meet in the rubber game of the three-game series. Jared Karros will get the start for UCLA while Alex Cornwell will take the hill for Southern Cal.

#10 UCLA Baseball (14-7, 3-2)

Opponent: Southern Cal Trojans (10-7, 4-1)
Game Time: 4:00 pm PT, Sunday, March 28, 2021
Where: Dedeaux Field, Los Angeles, CA

Projected Pitching Matchup:
UCLA - Jared Karros, RHP, So. (1-1, 3.86 ERA)
USC - Alex Cornwell, LHP, So. (3-1, 3.71 ERA)

Media:
Live TV: Pac-12 Networks National and Los Angeles with J.B. Long and Wes Clements
Live 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 baseball vs. Southern Cal Trojans game three open thread.


Go Bruins!

---

Thanks again for supporting The Mighty Bruin. Your paid subscriptions make this site possible. Questions, comments, story ideas, angry missives and more can be sent to to @TheMightyBruin on Twitter.