UCLA
35-7
UCLA at Pepperdine
19-18
No. 1 UCLA Defeats Pepperdine 8-5
April 30, 2019 | Baseball
MALIBU, Calif. โ No. 1 UCLA remained unbeaten in midweek contests in 2019 after defeating Malibu 8-5 on Tuesday afternoon at Eddy D. Field Stadium.
For the second consecutive Tuesday, the Bruins (35-7) scored in six consecutive innings. After being held off the board in the first, UCLA put up at least one run in every frame until the eighth, building up a lead as large as 6-0 at one point.
Pepperdine (19-18) made it close after a four-run sixth inning made it a two-run game, but that was as close as the Waves would get as the Bruins out-scored them 2-1 the rest of the way.
Four UCLA players โ including the top three hitters in the lineup โ had multi-hit days as the Bruins put up double digits in the hit column as a teamย for the fifth time in the last six games.
Leadoff hitter Garrett Mitchell had three hits for the second straight game and scored two runs, while Ryan Kreidler doubled twice and scored twice. Chase Strumpf was 2-3 and reached base four times โ extending his team-high reached base streak to 33 games โ and Matt McLain rounded out the offense with two singles in four at-bats.
Pepperdine was led by first baseman Brandt Belk, who hit a three-run homer in the sixth to power his team's biggest rally of the day. At 2-3, he was the lone Wave with multiple hits.
The Bruins used seven pitchers to get through the game, combining to allow just two earned runs.
Freshman right-hander Sean Mullen, who was making his first career start, got the Bruins off on the right foot by allowing just one hit over three shutout innings.
After the Waves posted a single run in the sixth, a quartetย of relievers โ Felix Rubi, Nate Hadley, Kyle Mora, and Holden Powell โ teamed up to shut out Pepperdine the rest of the way.
Mora and Powell were especially effective in the late innings, as Mora struck out a pair as part of a 1-2-3 eighth while Powell tossed a scoreless ninth to lock down his league-leading 13th save of the season. Nate Hadley received the win to improve to 7-1 on the year after throwing a scoreless seventh.
Senior DH Jake Pries opened the scoring for UCLA in the second inning, driving a liner over the left-center field fence for his seventh home run of the season.
Kreidler helped UCLA put up a two-spot in the next frame, doubling in a run before coming in on a Jack Stronach sac fly. He posted a two-bagger in the fifth inning as well, igniting a two-run rally that knocked in the eventual game-winning run for the Bruins.ย
UCLA, which is 14-4 in Pac-12 play, heads east this weekend for a three-game series at Arizona State starting on Friday night at 7:00 p.m. The Pac-12 Networks will televise all three games of the series.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Hadley, Nathan (7-1)
L: SALAZAR, Raul (1-4)
S: Powell, Holden (13)
Batting:
2B: Kreidler, Ryan 2 ; Strumpf, Chase 1
HR: Pries, Jake 1
RBI: Mitchell, Garrett 1 ; Kreidler, Ryan 1 ; Strumpf, Chase 2 ; Stronach, Jack 1 ; Toglia, Michael 1 ; Pries, Jake 1 ; Kendall, Kevin 1
SF: Stronach, Jack 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Mitchell, Garrett 2 ; Kreidler, Ryan 2 ; Strumpf, Chase 1 ; Stronach, Jack 1 ; Pries, Jake 2
SB: Mitchell, Garrett 2 ; McLain, Matt 1
HBP: Pries, Jake 1 ; McLain, Matt 1 ; McInerny, Will 1
Batting:
2B: YOUNG, Wyatt 1
HR: BELK, Brandt 1
RBI: BELK, Brandt 3 ; DICKSON, Mitchell 1 ; YOUNG, Wyatt 1
Base Running:
RUNS: MCAFEE, Quincy 1 ; BELK, Brandt 1 ; WILLS, Cory 1 ; LUTES, Justin 1 ; YOUNG, Wyatt 1
SB: WILLS, Cory 1 ; LUTES, Justin 1
CS: BELK, Brandt 1
