UCLA Baseball Stays Alive in Pac-12 Tournament, Knocks Out Washington

Regardless of the dearth of relaxation, the Bruins’ bats did not present any indicators of exhaustion Thursday afternoon.

No. 3 seed UCLA baseball (36-21, 19-11 Pac-12), coming off a primary spherical loss that did not wrap up till almost 1:30 a.m. the evening earlier than, powered its solution to a 14-8 win over No. 7 seed Washington (30-26, 14-16) within the second elimination sport of the inaugural Pac-12 match. The mere 11-and-a-half hours between video games proved to be simply sufficient time for the Bruins to determine issues out on the plate, breaking double-digit runs for the tenth time this season after scoring one run and going 0-for-4 with runners in scoring place Wednesday.

All 10 UCLA hitters who had a plate look obtained on board in a method or one other, and eight of them had hits. The meat of the Bruins’ lineup did lots of the heavy lifting, because the No. 3 by means of 5 hitters mixed to go 12-for-17 with eight runs and 7 RBIs

Sophomore third baseman Kyle Karros anchored UCLA’s offense, going 5-for-5 with 4 RBIs after ending 3-for-3 the evening prior. Karros got here into the postseason batting .263 on the 12 months – together with a .146 common in his ultimate 12 common season appearances – however he bumped that mark all the best way as much as .305 after Thursday.

Nonetheless, it was Washington that obtained on the board first due to a sac bunt and sac fly within the opening inning, and freshman left-hander Ethan Flanagan obtained charged for 2 extra earned runs on a house run by proper fielder Coby Morales within the second.

Flanagan wound up pitching with a lead his subsequent few instances out on the mound, although, as UCLA’s offense put collectively a couple of large innings to tug forward.

Sophomore heart fielder Carson Yates drove in Karros on a single within the second, then Karros drove in two the very subsequent inning. Freshman shortstop Ethan Gourson added an RBI single of his personal within the third, and the three-spot helped the Bruins take their first lead of the match.

Junior proper fielder Michael Curialle went for an RBI double within the fifth, and Karros drove in each Curialle and Gourson two at-bats later to make it 6-3.

After retiring the primary two batters of the fifth, Flanagan gave up a double to heart fielder Cole Miller. Shortstop Cam Clayton adopted that up with a single by means of the proper aspect, however Curialle gunned Miller down on the plate to finish the inning and maintain the deficit at three.

The play went below assessment, although, and after a protracted dialogue and a number of other replays, junior catcher Darius Perry obtained known as for obstruction and the unique name was overturned. Not solely was Miller dominated secure, however second baseman Josh Urps instantly adopted that up with a two-run house run to tie the sport at 6-6.

That marked the top of the day for Flanagan, who was not longer in line for the win regardless of being an inch away from tossing a third-straight scoreless body and protecting his crew up by a number of runs.

The Bruins gave the impression to be sliding, placing out and grounding out to open the subsequent inning, however sophomore second baseman Daylen Reyes doubled down the left discipline line to get issues again on monitor. Curialle made up for not getting the outfield help the prior body by driving Reyes in and placing UCLA again on high 7-6.

Redshirt sophomore right-hander Kelly Austin adopted that up with a scoreless sixth inning, setting the Bruins as much as take a fair bigger lead within the seventh.

Karros led issues off along with his fourth hit of the day, then sophomore heart fielder Carson Yates and graduate left fielder Kenny Oyama obtained on base through stroll and hit-by-pitch to load the bases. Junior Josh Hahn got here in to pinch hit, and he hit an reverse discipline double to left that scored Karros and Yates. Hahn and Oyama scored on a single by graduate first baseman Jake Palmer, and the Bruins went up 11-6.

Austin obtained chased off the mound within the backside half of the inning after permitting a leadoff house run and a single, however freshman right-hander Alonzo Tredwell got here in and compelled a double play and line out to restrict the injury.

UCLA broke it open as soon as once more within the eighth, with the primary 5 batters all reaching safely. Karros and Yates every picked up extra RBI singles – Yates’ approaching a pop up that the shortstop and left fielder misplaced within the solar – and Oyama added one other with a sac fly to left.

Washington tried staging a seven-run comeback within the backside of the ninth, however may solely scrape throughout one on a leadoff inside-the-park homer by third baseman Michael Snyder – the second the Bruins have given up in as many days.

UCLA will play the winner of Thursday evening’s sport between No. 2 seed Oregon State and No .6 seed Cal in one other elimination sport Friday evening. The Bruins misplaced to the Golden Bears within the first spherical of the match late Wednesday evening, however took two out of three on the street in opposition to the Beavers to finish the common season.

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