UCLA
10-0
Texas A&M
10-2
UCLA Throws One-Hitter to Defeat Texas A&M, 10-2
February 29, 2020 | Baseball
FRISCO, Texas โ The No 8-ranked UCLA baseball team recorded a dominant 10-2 win over No. 21 Texas A&M on Saturday as night as part of the Frisco College Classic.
The game was not as close as the score line may have indicated, as the Bruins (10-0) outhit the Aggies (10-2) 14-1 and never trailed after scoring two runs in the top of the first.
With the win, the Bruins are off to a 10-0 start for the second time in program history (2010) and are undefeated through 10 games for just the third time in program history (2010, 1961).
Led by a strong five-inning start by sophomore Nick Nastrini, UCLA pitchers threw a combined one-hitter in the win. Bruin relievers combined to throw four hitless innings of relief with six strikeouts.
UCLA received strong contributions up and down the lineup, as every starter recorded at least one hit en route to a season-high 14 hits as a team. In addition, the Bruins drew a season-high nine walks against Aggie pitchers.
Jarron Silva (3-5) and Kyle Cuellar (3-4, three runs) co-led the Bruins in hitting, while Jake Moberg (2-5) also had a multi-hit evening. Seven different UCLA players scored runs during the contest.
"We got on a pretty good, legitimate pitcher, so that's pretty impressive," said UCLA head coach John Savage. "I just use the word 'relentless' right now, our guys are doing a good job of putting a little pressure on them every inning, and that's difficult. Seemed like we had a lot of baserunners, a lot of quality at-bats, we pitched well, so just real proud of our guys for coming into a Saturday night and playing well."
The Bruins turned up the offensive pressure early against TAMU with a pair of home runs.
Sophomore shortstop Matt McLain opened the scoring in the top of the first with a two-run shot to left-center field, his third homer of the year.
After the Aggies answered with a run in the bottom half of the first, senior left fielder Kyle Cuellar drove in the eventual game-winning run in the thirdย with a two-run bomb to right-center field, his first roundtripper since his freshman season in 2017.
The Bruins kept it rolling in the middle innings, scoring single runs in the fifth and seventh and putting the game on ice with a four-spot in the sixth.
In that four-run sixth, UCLA batted around and recorded a trio of singles and a pair of walks. The rally was aided by a key Texas A&M error, as their second baseman kicked a potential inning-ending double play with the bases loaded allowing a run to come in and the inning to continue. Another two runs came in after the miscue on a Garrett Mitchell ground ball and a Jarron Silva single off the pitcher's leg.
Nastrini (2-0) picked up a season-high eight strikeouts over his five-inning outing. Despite facing a hostile crowd of 10,021 at Dr Pepper Ballpark, the San Diego, Calif. native limited the Aggies to just a single hit โ a solo homer from Hunter Coleman in the fourth.
The sophomore didn't have a clean inning all day, but did a good job battling out of the stretch - the Aggies were 0-11 as a team with runners on base including an 0-5 clip with runners in scoring position.
Sophomore Sean Mullen, junior Michael Townsend, senior Kyle Mora, and senior Felix Rubi each chipped in scoreless innings of relief. Townsend and Rubi both went 1-2-3 in their frames, and Mora struck out the side in the eighth.
TAMU starter Christian Roa (2-1) was tagged with the loss after allowing five earned over 4 2/3 innings. He walked four batters and struck out seven.
UCLA concludes action at the Frisco College Classic on Sunday morning against Illinois (5-3), who is also 2-0 in the tournament. First pitch against the Illini is scheduled for 9:00 a.m. PT.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Nastrini, Nick (2-0)
L: ROA (2-1)
Batting:
2B: Cuellar, Kyle 1
HR: McLain, Matt 1 ; Cuellar, Kyle 1
RBI: Mitchell, Garrett 1 ; Silva, Jarron 1 ; McLain, Matt 2 ; Cuellar, Kyle 2 ; Cardenas, Noah 1 ; Caulfield, Pat 1 ; Perez, Mikey 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Silva, Jarron 1 ; McLain, Matt 1 ; Schwartz, JT 2 ; Moberg, Jake 1 ; Cuellar, Kyle 3 ; Cardenas, Noah 1 ; Caulfield, Pat 1
SB: Mitchell, Garrett 1 ; Silva, Jarron 1 ; Caulfield, Pat 1 ; Perez, Mikey 1
Batting:
HR: COLEMAN, H. 1
RBI: BLAKE 1 ; COLEMAN, H. 1
Base Running:
RUNS: BLAUM 1 ; COLEMAN, H. 1
SB: DELOACH 1
HBP: DELOACH 1
