UCLA
3-0
St. John's
0-3
Bruins Top SJU 11-1, Finish Off Series Sweep
February 17, 2019 | Baseball
LOS ANGELES โ The No. 3-ranked UCLA baseball team defeated visiting St. John's 11-1 on Sunday afternoon, finishing off a sweep in the season-opening series for both teams. The Bruins had previously squeaked out a 3-2 Opening Day win before taking home a comfortable 9-0 victory on Saturday.
Freshman right-hander Jesse Bergin led the charge for UCLA (3-0) on Sunday, logging one of the finest debut outings by a Bruin pitcher in recent years. Pitching into the sixth inning, he allowed just two hits while striking out nine. The one run he did allow was unearned.
Paired with the 3 1/3 innings of shutout relief provided by the bullpen, UCLA has now gone the first 27 innings of the season without allowing an earned run. Sunday represented UCLA's first two-hitter since Feb. 19, 2017 (1 vs. San Jose State).ย
Offensively, UCLA built a 4-1 lead by the fifth inning, and then put the game away with a seven-run seventh. The Bruins' top performers with the bat included junior second baseman Chase Strumpf (3-4, three extra-base hits) and sophomore right fielder Garrett Mitchell (3-4, two RBIs).
"I thought we played pretty complete baseball this weekend," said UCLA head coach John Savage. "We played good defense, had some timely hitting, and pitched pretty well. Today, Jesse threw multiple pitches for strikes and, for his freshman debut, was pretty good. Struck out nine, walked one, get into the sixth inning - I think anyone would take that."
St. John's (0-3) opened the game's scoring in the third inning, as shortstop Rudy Aguilar plated a run with an RBI double to left-center.
That lead turned out to be short-lived however, as UCLA came back to tie it in the bottom half of the frame as Michael Toglia brought in Jeremy Ydens with an RBI single up the middle.
Junior third baseman Ryan Kreidler keyed the Bruins' go-ahead rally in the fourth, yanking a soft liner down the left field line to set up a two-on, nobody out situation. Garrett Mitchell converted one run by fisting a single into shallow right field, and then Will McInerny brought in another with a sac fly to medium center.
The Bruins broke open the game in the seventh, stringing together five hits and taking advantage of two SJU errors to put up a seven-spot. Mitchell and Jeremy Ydens chipped in RBI singles for the first three runs of the rally, and then junior utility player Kyle Cuellar drove a two-run double into the right-center gap.
After the Cuellar two-bagger, Strumpf provided the exclamation point of the inning with a long home run to dead center, his third extra-base hit of the game and UCLA's first roundtripper of the year.
Bergin was locked in from the outset of the game, going six-up and six-down over his first two innings with four consecutive strikeouts. He struck out the side in order in the second, freezing the first two batters on fastballs before getting Ryan Hogan to chase a slider in the dirt to end the inning.
Though he allowed the single unearned run in the third, he bounced back to allow just one hit the rest of his outing, in the process becomingย the first Bruin in the John Savage era (since 2005)ย to record nine strikeouts in his collegiate debut. The only pitcher to approach Bergin's mark was Gerrit Cole in 2009 (seven).
As effective as Bergin was, the bullpen was just as strong in the latter half of the game. A trio of Bruin righties โ Nate Hadley, Kyle Mora, and Holden Powell โ teamed up to retire 10 consecutive batters to close the game. Mora was especially strong, striking out four in his two innings of work. Powell finished off the game by inducing a swinging strikeout from Brandon Miller.
UCLA finishes off a four-game homestand on Tuesday night, hosting Loyola Marymount (1-1) at 6:00 p.m.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Bergin, Jesse (1-0)
L: LaSORSA, Joe (0-1)
Batting:
2B: AGUILAR, Rudy 1
RBI: AGUILAR, Rudy 1
Base Running:
RUNS: WETTERAU, Colin 1
SB: BARTELS, Carson 1 ; WETTERAU, Colin 1
Batting:
2B: Ydens, Jeremy 1 ; Cuellar, Kyle 1 ; Strumpf, Chase 2 ; Kreidler, Ryan 1
HR: Strumpf, Chase 1
RBI: Ydens, Jeremy 1 ; Cuellar, Kyle 2 ; Strumpf, Chase 2 ; Toglia, Michael 1 ; McLain, Matt 1 ; Mitchell, Garrett 2 ; McInerny, Will 1
SH: McInerny, Will 1
SF: McInerny, Will 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Ydens, Jeremy 2 ; Hirabayashi, Jake 1 ; Strumpf, Chase 2 ; McLain, Matt 1 ; Pries, Jake 2 ; Kreidler, Ryan 1 ; Mitchell, Garrett 1 ; Silva, Jarron 1
SB: Ydens, Jeremy 1 ; McLain, Matt 1 ; Pries, Jake 1 ; Mitchell, Garrett 1
HBP: Ydens, Jeremy 1 ; McLain, Matt 1 ; Pries, Jake 1 ; Perez, Mikey 1
