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UCLA Athletics

2016 Bruins Victorious in Alumni Game

Baseball

The Bruins used five home runs to claim a 21-2 win over the Alumni.

LOS ANGELES – The 2016 UCLA Baseball team claimed a resounding victory over the alumni team, 21-2, on Saturday afternoon at Jackie Robinson Stadium. The Bruins totaled five home runs and got a solid effort from the pitching staff to lead the team to victory.

The 2016 Bruins jumped out to an early 4-0 lead in the top of the first behind a two-run homerun from sophomore first baseman Sean Bouchard. Brett Urabe got the game started with a double over the left fielder's head and was brought home by the next batter, Brett Stephens, who singled to center. Eric Filia then singled and Luke Persico supplied the game's second run with a sac-fly to plate Stephens. Then, with one on, Bouchard drove a fastball over the fence in right-center field to give the 2016 Bruins an early four-run advantage.

The fifth inning saw the 2016 team extend their lead to seven after Persico launched a homerun of his own to left field. After two runners reached in front of him, the junior third baseman took an off-speed pitch deep over the fence in left to give UCLA a comfortable, 7-0, advantage.

After adding two runs in the sixth, the 2016 Bruins combined for three homeruns and an RBI triple from Urabe in the seventh to push their lead to 14 runs. Stephens launched the two-run home run in the inning, while Zander Clarke and Filia each pitched in solo shots.

The 2016 Bruins would go on to add seven more runs in the eighth to reach 21 runs.

Steve Rodriguez drove in two runs with a single through the right side of the infield in the bottom of the ninth, but that would mark the only runs of the game for the alumni.

Sophomore Griffin Canning threw four shutout innings, allowing just one hit, while freshman Kyle Molnar also threw four shutout innings, allowing two hits in the win.

The UCLA Bruins will open the season on Friday, February 19 when they host the North Carolina Tar Heels at 6:00pm PT. Season and single game tickets are available and can be purchased by visiting uclabruins.com/tickets or by calling 310-UCLA-WIN. Fans can also listen to all 56 games live on uclabruins.com.