UCLA Baseball Earns Series Win against Washington State, Faces LMU Tonight
After two tight games on Friday and Saturday, the Bruins blew out the Cougars, 16-7, for the series win on Sunday.
The UCLA baseball team (27-15, 14-10) earned the series win over Washington State on Sunday with a high-scoring 16-7 win over the Cougars in Pullman, Washington. It was only UCLA’s second series win on the road over Pac-12 competition this campaign. Previously, UCLA had only earned a Pac-12 road series win over Southern Cal in late March.
This week, UCLA will play four non-conference games beginning with today’s midweek game versus Loyola Marymount, followed by a three-game weekend series versus UC Santa Barbara at Jackie Robinson Stadium. First pitch this evening is at 6 pm PT.
Last Time Out
After losing a tight game on Friday night and coming from behind to win on Saturday, UCLA won comfortably over Washington State on Sunday, by the score of 16-7.
The Bruins scored in seven of nine innings, including a three-run first inning, a five-run fourth inning, and a three-run sixth inning. The game was actually tight after two innings, as the Cougars answered UCLA’s three-run first inning with four runs in the bottom of the frame, and each side scored one additional run in the second inning. After two, UCLA trailed 5-4.
The Bruins would edge ahead of the Cougars in the third inning, with pair of runs to make the score 6-5, and then blew the game open in the fourth, plating five runs and sending ten batters to the plate. All of UCLA’s hits were singles in the fourth, with a walk, an error, and a wild pitch adding to Wazzu’s misery. After four, the Bruins led 11-5.
Although the Washington State would score two runs in the bottom of the fourth inning, to cut the lead to 11-7, that would be all for the Cougars. UCLA would add five more insurance runs.
Bruin starter Jessie Bergin was not effective, pitching 4-1/3 innings and allowing seven earned runs on seven hits. The junior’s ERA climbed from 3.86 to 4.66.
The Bruin bullpen, however, was excellent. In 4-2/3 innings, the combination of Adrian Chaidez, Michael Townsend, and Max Rajcic allowed three hits and no runs with four strikeouts and four walks.
JT Schwartz and Jarron Silva provided the much of the offensive firepower for UCLA. Schwartz went 4-5 with three RBI and two runs scored. Moberg went 3-4 with three RBI and one run scored. Every Bruin in the lineup with the exception of JonJon Vaughns, who had several great moments earlier in the series, had either an RBI, scored a run, or both.
Loyola Marymount
The Lions are having a down season this year. The squad is 16-25 and sits in sixth place in the West Coast Conference.
Today will be the fourth time this season that the Bruins and the Lions clash, with UCLA winning all three previous games, all of which took place at Jackie Robinson Stadium. The squads face each other today at LMU, the first time UCLA has squared off against the Lions in their home ballpark.
Loyola Marymount’s numbers are not great. They are hitting only .245 as a team, average less than four runs per game, and only have 14 home runs on the season. The pitching staff has a collective ERA of 5.46.
Today, LMU will send freshman lefthander Will Grimm (1-1, 14.73 ERA) to the mound. Grimm has appeared in three games and started one in his college career, the latter of which was a loss to Southern Cal in which he allowed seven hits and six earned runs in 2-2/3 innings.
UCLA will counter with freshman righthander Jake Brooks (0-0, 6.97 ERA). Brooks has made eleven appearances this season and started one game, the 13-6 win over the Lions on March 23rd. Brooks did not have a great outing, going an inning and a third and allowing five earned runs on five hits. Luckily for Brooks and the Bruins, UCLA plated eight runs in the first inning of that contest and won the game, 13-6.
With the inexperience on the mound, today’s game could be a high scoring affair.
UCLA Baseball (27-15)
Opponent:Â Loyola Marymount Lions (16-26)
Game Time:Â 6:00 pm PT, Tuesday, May 11, 2021
Where:Â Page Stadium, Los Angeles, CA
Live TV:Â None
Live Audio:Â uclabruins.com
Live Stream:Â WCC Network
Live Stats:Â UCLA StatBroadcast
Probable Pitchers:
UCLA -Â Jake Brooks, Fr. RHP, (0-0, 6.97 ERA)
LMU - Will Grimm, Fr. LHP, (1-1, 14.73 ERA)
Game Notes:
This is your UCLA baseball vs. Loyola Marymount midweek game open thread.
Go Bruins!!
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Bruins lead 6-0 in the fourth inning.