The No. 1 UCLA baseball ended the regular season with a 6-1 win in their series finale against the Washington Huskies at Husky Park in Seattle, Wash. on Saturday.
The Bruins went 2-1 in their series against the Huskies with consecutive wins after being shutout 8-0 in their series opener. In the finale, UCLA’s pitching staff had their best game of the series as they limited Washington to five walks and two hits for a run, while getting 13-strikeouts.
Leaving no chances
UCLA left no chances in the finale with an enormous four-runs in the top of the first with just one hit. The inning started with the bases loaded after two walks and a hit by a pitch. Junior infielder Roman Martin stepped up to the plate and batting a single that sent junior shortstop Roch Cholowsky and freshman infielder Aiden Aguayo running home.
Junior first baseman Mulivai Levu scored from second base right after off of a wild pitch. Martin made it home next after redshirt junior outfielder Payton Brennan grounded out.
Huskies run back
Freshman right-handed pitcher Angel Cervantes allowed a run in the bottom of the second inning off of a sacrifice fly, which helped the Huskies cut UCLA’s lead down to three runs.
Cooling down
Both teams cooled off in the next two innings with Martin being the only player to get a hit over the third and fourth inning. UCLA left runners on base in the third with Cholowsky on third and Martin on second. A runner was also left on base in the fourth with senior outfielder Jarrod Hocking on second base.
Another run in the fifth
UCLA went back to scoring runs in the top of the fifth as Levu stepped up to bat and got on base with a double. Levu ran across home plate as Martin batted a single right after. Those were the only hits in the fifth as the Huskies were silenced by redshirt senior left-handed pitcher Ian May’s shutout.
Final run in the eighth
The Bruins final run came in the top of the eighth by none other than Martin, who hit all four of his at bats. Martin scored two runs and three RBI’s to lead UCLA to a win in their finale.
The win put UCLA at a 48-6 overall record and 28-2 Big Ten Conference record to end the regular season ahead of their post season tournaments.
This article originally appeared on UCLA Wire: No. 1 UCLA baseball ends regular season with a win against Washington
Reporting by Ryan Lorenz, UCLA Wire / UCLA Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
