UCLA
14-4, 2-1
Oregon State at UCLA
14-3-1, 1-2
No. 2 Bruins Clinch Series Over No. 3 OSU With 9-7 Sunday Win
March 17, 2019 | Baseball
LOS ANGELES โ No. 2 UCLA clinched a series win over No. 3 Oregon State on Sunday afternoon after recording a 9-7 victory in a wild, back-and-forth rubber match at Jackie Robinson Stadium.
After breaking out for four runs in a decisive ninth inning on Saturday night, Oregon State (14-3-1, 1-2 Pac-12) looked like it would carry that momentum over into Sunday as Alex McGarry and Adley Rutschman hit back-to-back solo home runs in the top of the first to put the Beavers up 2-0.
However, UCLA (14-4, 2-1) responded with a five-hit, five-run rally in the bottom half the same inning to take a 5-2 lead.
The two teams would go back-and-forth in the middle innings as well, as Rutschman hit a two-run blast โ his second of the day โ to knot the score at 5-5 in the fifth before the Bruins took the lead for good with a three-run rally in the bottom half of the inning.ย
Oregon State made UCLA sweat in the latter innings of the game, scoring single runs in the seventh and ninth innings to make it a two-run game. The Beavers managed to get the go-ahead run to the plate in their final at-bat, but sophomore closer Holden Powell held them off to finish the game at 9-7 and nail down his sixth save of the year.
"Oregon State is clearly very good, and I thought we responded the right way today," said UCLA head coach John Savage. "At times the series wasn't pretty, it wasn't textbook, but at the end of the day we're fortunate to get out of there with two wins and now we move on."
The Bruins had a balanced day offensively, as seven of nine starters recorded a hit. Junior left fielder Jack Stronach and sophomore shortstop Kevin Kendall had two hits apiece to pace the team.
Junior right-hander Ryan Garcia was the standout on the mound for UCLA on Sunday, recording season highs with 4 2/3 innings and eight strikeouts in a relief role. He allowed just two hits and two runs in his outing, picking up the win in his first decision of the 2019 campaign.
UCLA had steady at-bats and took advantage of a couple OSU miscues in the bottom of the first as part of a go-ahead, five-run rally. The five-run output is the most for the team in a first inning this year and the second-largest in any inning all season (seven in the seventh inning vs. St. John's on Feb. 17).
Sophomore right fielder Garrett Mitchell started the rally with a sun-aided double into left field. Junior second baseman Chase Strumpf followed with a walk, and the Bruins were able to cash in both those runners on ensuing RBI singles from Stronach and junior third baseman Ryan Kreidler. ย
Those two runs proved to be end of the day for OSU starter Sam Tweedyt, who was pulled in favor of lefty Christian Chamberlain with just one out in the first.
The first batter Chamberlain faced, Michael Toglia, hit a potential double play ball that got by the OSU shortstop. The Bruins made the Beavers pay for that mistake with an RBI base hit into shallow center from freshman center fielder Matt McLain and an RBI groundout from junior catcher Will McInerny.
Garcia entered the game with two on and just one out in the first, and promptly made his biggest stop of the game. With the bases loaded and still one out, Garcia struck out OSU's two most productive hitters, gettingย McGarry to swing over a low changeup before freezing Rutschman on an outside-black fastball to escape the inning without any further damage.
That started a stretch that saw Garcia send down nine consecutive batters, a streak that included five punchouts.
After Rutschman's roundtripper in the fifth, the Bruins used the longball themselves to establish the lead for good.
Following a leadoff base hit through the right side from Jake Pries, Strumpf connected on a 3-1 offering from Chamberlain and sent a towering shot over the left field netting to put the Bruins up by a pair. Three batters later, Toglia lofted a high fly ball over the right field fence to make it a three-run game for UCLA. It was Toglia's first homer of 2019 after hitting 11 as a sophomore in 2018.
The Beavers attempted to rally in the top of the ninth, getting the first two batters on via a walk and single, and eventually scoring a run on a sac fly to make it 9-7. OSU got the tying run on and the go-ahead run to the plate after Tyler Malone reached on a fielder's choice with one out, but Powell recovered to retire the final two batters of the game and preserve the victory. He induced a swinging strikeout from Ryan Ober to end the game.
UCLA had a pair of highlight-reel defensive plays in the game.
In the third, Toglia snagged a line drive near the first baseline that was destined for a two-bagger or more. Then in the sixth, Stronach laid out and made a full-extension catch of a liner in the left-center gap to prevent extra bases.
Chamberlain was tagged with the loss for OSU after allowing three runs, two earned, in four innings of relief. McGarry and Rutschman combined to go 5-8 with three home runs, five runs scored, and five RBIs, but the rest of the OSU lineup was just 4-28 (.143) with a single RBI. ย
The Bruins have no midweek this week, and are next in action at home next weekend in a three-game series against Arizona. That set begins with a 6:00 p.m. matchup on Friday, followed by a 2:00 p.m. start on Saturday and 1:00 p.m. finale on Sunday.
Watch highlight's from today's series-clinching 9-7 win over No. 3 Oregon State!#GoBruins | #UCLAvsOSU pic.twitter.com/y2rnOsWzuB
โ UCLA Baseball (@UCLABaseball) March 17, 2019
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Garcia, Ryan (1-0)
L: Chamberlain, C. (2-1)
S: Powell, Holden (6)
Batting:
2B: Casey, Joe 1
HR: McGarry, Alex 1 ; Rutschman, Adley 2
RBI: McGarry, Alex 1 ; Rutschman, Adley 4 ; Philip, Beau 1 ; Casey, Joe 1
SF: Philip, Beau 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Meckler, Wade 1 ; McGarry, Alex 3 ; Rutschman, Adley 2 ; Ober, Ryan 1
HBP: Meckler, Wade 1
Batting:
2B: Mitchell, Garrett 1
HR: Strumpf, Chase 1 ; Toglia, Michael 1
RBI: Strumpf, Chase 2 ; Stronach, Jack 1 ; Kreidler, Ryan 1 ; Toglia, Michael 2 ; McLain, Matt 1 ; McInerny, Will 1
SH: McInerny, Will 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Mitchell, Garrett 1 ; Pries, Jake 1 ; Strumpf, Chase 2 ; Stronach, Jack 1 ; Kreidler, Ryan 1 ; Toglia, Michael 2 ; Kendall, Kevin 1
