UCLA
17-4, 5-1
Arizona at UCLA
13-10, 2-4
No. 1 UCLA Tops Arizona 3-1 to Finish Off Sweep
March 24, 2019 | Baseball
LOS ANGELES โ Michael Toglia and Jack Stronach hit late home runs and Ryan Garcia was nearly unhittable in his first weekend start of 2019 as No. 1 UCLA finished off a weekend sweep of Arizona with a 3-1 victory on Sunday afternoon at Jackie Robinson Stadium.
Garcia and Arizona (13-10, 2-4 Pac-12) starter Andrew Nardi dueled for six scoreless innings in the series finale, but UCLA (17-4, 5-1) broke through with the contest's first run in the bottom of the seventh and then produced a game-winning rally an inning later.
Toglia, batting from the right side against the left-handed Nardi, connected on a 2-2 offering to lead off the bottom half of the seventh, sending it over the fence near the "370" sign in right-center field and making it 1-0 in favor of the Bruins.
With both team's pitchers dealing, it looked like that solitary run might hold up, but the Wildcats answered off the Bruin bullpen in the top of the eighth. Arizona outfielder Justin Wylie served as the catalyst for the game-tying rally, lining a triple into the right-center field gap before coming around moments later on a Dayton Dooney single.
That tie turned out to be short-lived however, as UCLA punched right back with a decisive two-run rally in the eighth. Senior DH Jake Pries kicked it off by singling back up the middle on a 3-2 pitch, then moved into scoring position after Arizona first baseman Matthew Dyer was called for obstructing Pries after a pickoff throw to first got away.
That extra base turned out to be irrelevant, as Stronach instead opted for the big fly, clanging a fly ball off the right field pole for a go-ahead and game-winning home run.
The roundtripper capped off a standout weekend for Stronach, who was 6-12 for the series with five RBIs.
The top of the ninth inning was relatively drama free for sophomore Holden Powell, who allowed only one runner โ via a hit by pitch โ while picking up a pair of strikeouts. With 1 1/3 innings of hitless relief, Powell was rewarded with his first win of the year.
Garcia turned in arguably the strongest statistical start of his career to keep the Bruins in the game over the first six-plus innings of the contest.
He matched a career-high by pitching 7 1/3 innings, and his eight strikeouts were just one off his career-best.
After allowing a walk to the game's leadoff batter, Garcia went on to retire 21 of the final 22 batters he faced, including 11 straight to close out his outing. He went 1-2-3 in four of the six full innings he pitched.
The only hit he allowed, a fourth-inning single, was neutralized by a double play from the next batter. When he exited the game with one out in the seventh, he had faced just one over the minimum.
Garcia now has a 1.20 ERA over 15.0 innings with 19 strikeouts since making his season debut on Mar. 9.
The Bruins hit the road this week after playing six straight at home, though they won't have to go far. UCLA plays a midweek contest at Loyola Marymount on Tuesday night at 6:00 p.m., then takes on crosstown rival USC for a three-game Pac-12 series starting on Friday night at 7:00 p.m. All three of the games against the Trojans will be televised by the Pac-12 Networks.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Powell, Holden (1-2)
L: Sherman, Zach (1-1)
Batting:
3B: Wylie, Justin 1
RBI: Dooney, Dayton 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Wylie, Justin 1
HBP: Wells, Austin 1
Batting:
2B: Perez, Mikey 1 ; Strumpf, Chase 1
HR: Stronach, Jack 1 ; Toglia, Michael 1
RBI: Stronach, Jack 2 ; Toglia, Michael 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Hirabayashi, Jake 1 ; Stronach, Jack 1 ; Toglia, Michael 1
SB: Kendall, Kevin 2
HBP: Mitchell, Garrett 1
