No. 1 UCLA Earns 8-3 Win at Cal St. Fullerton

Tuesday, April 23

Fullerton, CA

6:00 PM

UCLA

31-7

UCLA at Cal State Fullerton

16-20

UCLA

Cal State Fullerton

Garrett Mitchell hit his third homer of the season to help UCLA to an 8-3 win at CS Fullerton (photo: Scott Chandler)

Photo by: Scott Chandler

No. 1 UCLA Earns 8-3 Win at Cal St. Fullerton

April 23, 2019 | Baseball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

FULLERTON, Calif. – No. 1 UCLA scored in six consecutive innings for the first time this season to defeat Cal State Fullerton 8-3 on Tuesday night at Goodwin Field in non-conference action, securing the best record through 38 games in program history.

With the win, the Bruins improved to 31-7 overall on the year and remained unbeaten at 8-0 in midweek games. UCLA's 31 wins through 38 games bested the previous program record of 30, set in 2010.

The Titans dropped to 16-20 with the loss.

The Bruins led 5-0 through five-and-a-half innings on Tuesday after scoring in three consecutive frames starting in the fourth. CSF got within two after a two-spot in the bottom of the sixth, but the UCLA bullpen limited them to one run the rest of the way.

On the offensive side, UCLA proceeded to score in each of its final three at-bats, finishing off the game with a six-inning scoring streak. The Bruins' longest previous streak was five innings against Arizona on Mar. 22.

Freshman catcher Noah Cardenas was 3-5, his second-straight three-hit game, to pace the UCLA offense. Senior DH Jake Pries and sophomore right fielder Garrett Mitchell each launched key two-run home runs, while Chase Strumpf was 2-4 with an RBI.

Pries opened the game's scoring in the fourth inning, launching a fly ball over the left field fence for a two-run home run. The big fly, his fifth of the season, scored Strumpf who had doubled to lead off the inning. The Bruins stretched the lead to three an inning later, using a Jack Stronach single and three walks from CSF reliever Kyle Luckham to bring in another run.

Mitchell's two-run blast gave UCLA a comfortable five-run lead in the top of the sixth. The roundtripper, his third of the season, was originally ruled an RBI triple, but after an umpire conference it was deemed that the fly ball caromed off the netting above the fence. Two of Mitchell's three homers this year have come in midweeks.

An RBI groundout from Kevin Kendall in the seventh gave UCLA its sixth run – the Bruins are 23-0 this season when reaching the six-run plateau – before Strumpf came through with an RBI single in the eighth. Senior Jake Hirabayashi, who entered the game after the Seventh Inning Stretch, capped the scoring for the Bruins with an RBI double in the ninth.

UCLA starter Jesse Bergin put the Bruins in a good position to win, holding the Titans off the board for the first five innings of the game.

He ended the day with a solid line of five-plus innings, three hits, one earned run, three walks, and three strikeouts.

The only run charged against him came after he left the game, as he was pulled following a leadoff walk in the sixth inning.

The Studio City, Calif. native retired eight straight at one point from the second through fifth innings. He faced the minimum in the first – picking off a runner after he reached on an error – and then had true 1-2-3 innings in the third and fourth.

He did a nice job of dancing out of danger in the fifth, inducing a lazy flyout and a soft comebacker after CSF managed to get back-to-back singles with one out.

The UCLA bullpen did its job in the final third of the game, holding CSF to just one run.

Senior righty Nate Hadley had a quick 1-2-3 in the seventh, then junior right-hander Kyle Mora had a trio of strikeouts in the eighth. Holden Powell closed it out, allowing just an unearned run in the ninth.

UCLA hosts its penultimate regular season home series this weekend, welcoming Pac-12 rival Utah (12-22, 4-14 Pac-12) for a three-game set at Jackie Robinson Stadium starting on Friday night at 6:00 p.m.