UCLA Baseball Pulls Away Late, Upsets Oregon State in Pitchers Duel

For the second time this season, the Bruins have shut down a top-two crew.

No. 23 UCLA baseball (34-19, 18-10 Pac-12) received its sequence opener in opposition to No. 2 Oregon State (40-12, 19-9) on Thursday night time, crawling its method to a 4-1 victory up in Corvallis. The win, which retains the Bruins within the race for the common season Pac-12 title, comes over two months after they took down then-No. 1 Texas 5-1 in Houston.

In that contest, it was redshirt sophomore right-hander Kelly Austin who picked up the important high quality begin, however on Thursday, it was sophomore right-hander Max Rajcic who opened the ultimate sequence of the common season with one more gem.

The closer-turned-ace went 6.0 innings deep with eight strikeouts, permitting simply two hits and one earned run.

Rajcic received by the primary two innings with out the ball ever leaving the infield. A leadoff single within the third disrupted the sophomore’s early run, however the Beavers did not get one other hit till the sixth inning.

Ending lengthy at-bats with strikeouts and groundouts helped Rajcic grind his approach by Oregon State’s lineup, even when it wasn’t his most effective work.

Rajcic received Pac-12 Pitcher of the Week for his most up-to-date Friday begin in opposition to Washington State, when he tossed 8.0 scoreless frames with 14 strikeouts on 115 pitches. In Thursday’s sequence opener, Rajcic narrowly broke that freshly-set profession excessive in pitches by hurling 116 in two fewer innings.

A part of the rationale Rajcic was much less methodical was Oregon State’s capability to attract walks. Rajcic walked 5 batters on the night time, however the first 4 all got here on full counts. Throughout his earlier seven begins, Rajcic had solely walked two males whole.

The walks got here again to chunk Rajcic a bit within the sixth, when he put two males aboard with free passes and allowed one run to attain on a fielders alternative.

Rajcic was going blow-for-blow with Beavers starter Cooper Hjerpe, who additionally solely allowed one earned run in 6.0 innings whereas hanging out 10, however the Bruins’ starter was working from forward from the get-go.

Freshman shortstop Cody Schrier knocked a gapper to right-center that he legged out for a leadoff triple within the high of the primary. Graduate first baseman Jake Palmer introduced Schrier throughout on a sac fly, and UCLA had snatched the lead simply two batters in.

Hjerpe retired 10 of the following 11 Bruins, although, they usually did not get one other hit till there have been two down within the fourth. Sophomore third baseman Kyle Karros and sophomore designated hitter Daylen Reyes picked up back-to-back singles, however had been in the end stranded because the lead stayed put at one.

After one other 1-2-3 body within the fifth, junior proper fielder Michael Curialle was hit by a pitch and stole each second and third. Freshman second baseman Ethan Gorson gave the Bruins their second RBI sac fly of the night time, getting Curialle residence one a deep fly ball to middle.

Junior catcher Darius Perry recorded a two-out RBI single within the ninth as soon as Hjerpe’s outing was lengthy over, then graduate left fielder Kenny Oyama did the identical so as to add much more insurance coverage and make it 4-1.

UCLA’s bullpen did not even want these additional runs with a purpose to shut out the win, as junior right-hander Charles Harrison and freshman right-hander Alonzo Tredwell solely allowed one baserunner throughout their scoreless seventh, eighth and ninth innings.

Recreation two of the sequence is about for Friday at 6 p.m., whereas the common season finale is on the slate for 12 p.m. Saturday. If UCLA can sweep Oregon State, the Bruins will leap over the Beavers on the high of the Pac-12 standings and will snag the highest seed within the convention event if Stanford loses one in every of its two video games to USC.

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