For the second game in a row, the UCLA Bruins needed heroics from Mulivai Levu to advance in the Big Ten Conference tournament. Levu delivered a dramatic walk-off three-run home run to hold off the USC Trojans 7-5 on Saturday.
Levu walked off Purdue in the quarterfinals on Friday with a sacrifice fly but ended things with a majestic home run with UCLA down to their final out. After Roch Cholowsky couldn’t score the game-tying run from second base, Levu demolished a pitch out to right field to keep UCLA alive in the conference tournament.
USC fell to 0-4 against UCLA but they showed a lot of fight. After a Dean West home run gave UCLA a 4-3 lead entering the ninth inning with Easton Hawk coming in for the final three outs. Hawk couldn’t work around a UCLA error, with the Trojans tying and then taking the lead.
Aiden Espinoza began the bottom of the ninth with an infield single, on a play that very well could have been ruled an error. Phoenix Call bunted the runner over to second base before Dean West worked a walk. Cholowsky fouled out, leaving things up to Levu, who did not disappoint.
UCLA got 4.2 innings from starting pitcher Michael Barnett but once again the Bruins got a strong performance from their bullpen. UCLA’s bullpen allowed two unearned runs over 4.1 innings from four different arms.
UCLA will face the winner of Oregon-Nebraska in the championship game on Sunday at 12:00pm Pacific Time. It’s familiar territory for the Bruins, as UCLA advanced to the Big Ten tournament championship last year before falling to Nebraska. If the Bruins do face the Cornhuskers, Nebraska will have a significant homefield advantage, with the tournament being played in Nebraska.
This article originally appeared on UCLA Wire: UCLA walks off USC in Big Ten Conference tournament semifinal thriller
Reporting by Dylan McNeill, UCLA Wire / UCLA Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
