UCLA
19-5, 6-2
USC
10-15, 3-5
Ralston Dominant in 7-1 Win Over USC
March 30, 2019 | Baseball
LOS ANGELES – Behind a career outing from redshirt junior Jack Ralston and a pair of early offensive rallies, No. 1 UCLA recorded a series-evening 7-1 victory over USC on Saturday afternoon at Dedeaux Field.
Ralston took a shutout into the ninth for UCLA (19-5, 6-2 Pac-12) and came agonizingly close to going the whole way, but USC's Jamal O'Guinn erased the shutout with a two-out, solo home run.
Still, Ralston established a new career-high with 8 2/3 innings and he absolutely dealt for the entirety of his outing. Until O'Guinn's last-minute roundtripper, no Trojan advanced past second base and he ended the afternoon only allowing six hits and walking one while striking out four.
The Newhall, Calif. native was especially strong against leadoff hitters, retiring eight of the nine he faced over the course of the game. USC got a runner on with less than two outs just three times all game, and Ralston rolled up double plays to negate two of those threats.
With the win, Ralston moved to 4-0 on the year and lowered his ERA to 2.66.
Ralston had a comfortable lead to work with practically the entire game thanks to some early offense from the Bruins, who scored in three of the first four innings including a pair of three-spots.
Senior DH Jake Pries provided all the runs in a three-inning first with one swing of the bat, unloading on a 2-0 fastball from USC starter Isaac Esqueda and sending it into the left field netting for a three-run homer. It was the second big homer of the week for Pries, who had a grand slam in Tuesday's midweek contest at LMU.
The Bruins would go on to plate another three runs in the third inning, stringing together four consecutive hits. Junior second baseman Chase Strumpf started the rally by yanking a double into the left field corner, extending his team-high hitting streak to 15 games. Pries followed with a base hit to put a pair on for UCLA, then junior left fielder Jack Stronach cashed in Strumpf with a solid base hit back up the middle.
Junior first baseman Michael Toglia, batting from the right side against the left-handed Esqueda, capped that inning with a line two-run double into the right-center field gap. Strumpf added a final run for the Bruins an inning later with a sac fly, bringing in sophomore right fielder Garrett Mitchell who had gotten himself into scoring position earlier in the inning with a shift-beating double down the left field line.
After inheriting the 7-0 lead, Ralston would go on to retire eight straight and 10 of 11 starting in the bottom of the fourth.
Junior right-hander Kyle Mora struck out Trojan shortstop Chase Bushor to record the game's final out.
Esqueda, who entered the game with a sub-1.00 ERA, took the loss for USC after allowing six earned over three-plus innings. His ERA ballooned to 2.59 after Saturday's contest.
UCLA and USC conclude the rivalry series on Sunday afternoon at 4:00 p.m. in a Pac-12 Network-televised game. Reigning Pac-12 Pitcher of the Week Ryan Garcia is projected to start for the Bruins.
Here are highlights from today's victory over the Trojans!#GoBruins | #BeatSC pic.twitter.com/H9c1KSuUYW
— UCLA Baseball (@UCLABaseball) March 31, 2019
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Ralston, Jack (4-0)
L: Esqueda, Isaac (2-1)
Batting:
2B: Mitchell, Garrett 1 ; Strumpf, Chase 1 ; Toglia, Michael 1
HR: Pries, Jake 1
RBI: Strumpf, Chase 1 ; Pries, Jake 3 ; Stronach, Jack 1 ; Toglia, Michael 2
SF: Strumpf, Chase 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Kreidler, Ryan 1 ; Strumpf, Chase 2 ; Pries, Jake 2 ; Stronach, Jack 1 ; Cardenas, Noah 1
SB: Kreidler, Ryan 1
CS: Mitchell, Garrett 1
HBP: Cardenas, Noah 1
Batting:
2B: Ramirez, Ben 1
HR: O'Guinn, Jamal 1
RBI: O'Guinn, Jamal 1
Base Running:
RUNS: O'Guinn, Jamal 1
