UCLA
8-0
Pepperdine
7-1
No. 8 UCLA Bests Pepperdine 8-2
February 26, 2020 | Baseball
LOS ANGELES โ No. 8 UCLA wrapped up a perfect homestand with an 8-2 victory over Pepperdine on Wednesday night at Jackie Robinson Stadium.
The win gave the Bruins their eighth consecutive win to open the 2020 campaign, all at home. The Waves entered the game with an undefeated record, dropping to 7-1 with the loss.
Junior left fielder Garrett Mitchell and redshirt junior Jarron Silva provided plenty of offense at the top of the lineup, combining to go 5-9 with three RBIs and three runs scored. Mitchell had a team-high three hits with a pair of runs while Silva went 2-3 and drove in three.
Led by a second strong start from freshman Jared Karros, Bruin pitchers combined to hold the Waves to just one earned run over nine innings. UCLA has allowed just seven runs over its first eight games and has a 0.76 team ERA.
The Bruins never trailed on Wednesday, as Silva put themย up early with a two-run homer in the first. Pepperdine made it close after plating a run in the top of the sixth to make it 2-1, but UCLA pulled away with a four-spot in the bottom half of the seventh.
"Pepperdine is a pretty good team, but I thought Karros was really good," said UCLA head coach John Savage. "Kind of the same outing he had last week โ throwing strikes, down-angle fastball, good change, repeatable curveball. He's advanced for his age in terms of pulse for the game and his competitiveness. He set the tone for the evening, then Silva came up with the big hit to put two on the board early."
After Mitchell led off the bottom of the first with a ground single up the middle, Silva teed off on a 3-1 fastball and sent it over the right field wall for his first hit of the campaign. The roundtripper came after a monster performanceย on Tuesday night against Keio โ he was 3-4, finished a homer short of the cycle, and had five RBIs โ that didn't count because it was an exhibition.
The game was close over the first six-and-a-half innings, but the Bruins put the game on ice with a big seventh inning.
Sophomore second baseman Mikey Perez sparked that rally with a bunt single to the right side, starting a string of five straight Bruin batters to reach base including four via base hits. Silva and redshirt freshman JT Schwartz both had run-scoring singles during that spree, and another two runs came in before the inning was over on sac flies.
Karros dominated the Waves during the second start of his career, going 1-2-3 in four of the five frames he pitched and recording a season-high eight strikeouts.
He started the game by going nine-up, nine-down his first time through the order, a streak that was snapped by a bloop single from leadoff hitter Wyatt Young in the fourth. Karros bounced back to record a zero in that frame.
Standouts in the bullpen included junior righty Michael Townsend โ who got the Bruins out of a two-on jam in the sixth before recording a zero in the seventh โ and Holden Powell, who struck out the side in order in the ninth.
UCLA will play its first games away from home this weekend, heading to Texas for the Frisco College Classic at Dr Pepper Ballpark. The Bruins open the tournament against Oklahoma State on Friday at 1:00 p.m. PT. UCLA will also face Texas A&M and Illinois at the Frisco Classic.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Karros, Jared (2-0)
L: GROEN (1-1)
Batting:
RBI: COOK 1 ; MODLIN 1
Base Running:
RUNS: COOK 1 ; JOHNSON 1
SB: MALINCHAK 1
Batting:
2B: McLain, Matt 1
HR: Silva, Jarron 1
RBI: Silva, Jarron 3 ; McLain, Matt 1 ; Schwartz, JT 1 ; Moberg, Jake 2 ; Cardenas, Noah 1
SF: Moberg, Jake 1 ; Cardenas, Noah 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Mitchell, Garrett 2 ; Silva, Jarron 1 ; Prendiz, Jordan 1 ; McLain, Matt 2 ; Perez, Mikey 2
HBP: Cuellar, Kyle 1 ; Cardenas, Noah 1
