It wasn’t easy but the UCLA Bruins are headed to the Big Ten Conference tournament semifinals after walking-off the Purdue Boilermakers on a Mulivai Levu sacrifice fly on Friday in their tournament opener.
Purdue led for most of the game, taking a 2-0 lead in the top of the third inning partially thanks to an error by UCLA. The Bruins started Wylan Moss, who lasted 3.1 innings with three walks, one strikeout and one earned.
Logan Reddemann did not return in the game for UCLA, with five relievers combining for 5.2 innings of one run ball. The Bruins bullpen kept an energetic Boilermaker offense at bay, keeping things close for the quiet UCLA lineup.
Shortstop Roch Cholowsky led off the sixth inning with a single and was brought home by outfielder Payton Brennan on a sacrifice fly to cut the lead in half. Purdue outfielder Brandon Rogers pushed the lead back to two in the seventh inning with a home run.
The game’s craziest half inning occurred in the bottom of the eighth. Third baseman Roman Martin came to the plate with one on and two out and nearly delivered a game-tying home run. The ball was called a home run after Martin initially legged out a triple, but after review Martin would have to settle for just the triple.
Will Gasparino would knock in Martin to even the game at 3-3 heading into the ninth inning. Easton Hawk pitched a clean ninth inning for UCLA, giving the Bruins a chance to win it in the bottom of the frame.
Back-to-back errors by Purdue to begin the half inning gifted the Bruins a rally. Dean West moved the runners over with a sac bunt, Purdue answered by intentionally walking Cholowsky to load the bases with one out.
Levu didn’t try to do too much, delivering a fly ball to right field that was plenty deep enough to score the game-winning run.
The win sets up a matchup versus the USC Trojans in the semifinals on Saturday with a start time of 12:00pm. UCLA has handled USC this season, going 3-0 while scoring a combined 31 runs over the three games.
This article originally appeared on UCLA Wire: Mulivai Levu walks it off for UCLA in 4-3 Big Ten tournament win
Reporting by Dylan McNeill, UCLA Wire / UCLA Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
