UCLA
4-3
UC Irvine
4-2
No. 8 UCLA Blanks UC Irvine, 4-0
February 28, 2021 | Baseball
LOS ANGELES โ Junior right-hander Nick Nastrini and a trio of Bruin relievers threw a combined three-hitter to lead No. 8 UCLA to a 4-0 victory over UC Irvine in Sunday's rubber match at Jackie Robinson Stadium.
The shutout gave the Bruins (4-3) the series after a 4-3 victory on Friday night and a 7-3 loss at UCI (4-2) on Saturday afternoon.
Nastrini picked up the win for the Bruins after an outstanding six-inning effort. The San Diego native allowed just one hit during his outing โ a fifth-inning single from Jake Palmer โ and finished the day with seven strikeouts.
Nastrini did walk five batters over the course of the game, but really only faced trouble in the third inning. In that frame, Nastrini walked the bases loaded with two outs but bounced back to strike out UCI first baseman Adrian Damla on three pitches and end the threat.
He was at his best in the fourth, getting three swinging strikeouts as part of a three-up, three-down inning. He ended his day with a 1-2-3 top of the sixth, inducing three consecutive fly balls for easy outs.
The Bruins scored the go-ahead run in the first inning, and clutched onto that one-run lead until posting a three-spot in the seventh.
Senior DH Pat Caulfield scored the game-winning run for UCLA. He led off the bottom of the first with an infield single, moved to third on back-to-back walks to Matt McLain and Noah Cardenas, then came across on a sacrifice fly.
The Bruins padded the lead in the seventh, with Jarron Silva driving in Michael Curialle with a pinch-hit RBI single before freshman third baseman Kyle Karros scored a pair with a booming double off the left field wall. That two-bagger served as the game's lone extra-base hit.ย
Bruin right-handed relievers Michael Townsend, Kyle Mora, and Sean Mullen all turned in scoreless innings of relief to complete the shutout. All three had to battle back after letting the leadoff hitter reach base, but none allowed more than the single baserunner.
UCLA returns to action on Tuesday evening, hosting Cal State Fullerton for a midweek contest. First pitch is scheduled for 5:00 p.m.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Nastrini, Nick (1-0)
L: Pinto, Nick (0-1)
Batting:
SH: Castro, Jacob 1
Base Running:
HBP: Cosgrove, Jake 1
PO: Cosgrove, Jake 1
Batting:
2B: Karros, Kyle 1
RBI: Curialle, Michael 1 ; Silva, Jarron 1 ; Karros, Kyle 2
SF: Curialle, Michael 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Caulfield, Pat 1 ; Curialle, Michael 1 ; Silva, Jarron 1 ; Filby, Jack 1
SB: Kendall, Kevin 1 ; Cardenas, Noah 1 ; Silva, Jarron 1
CS: Caulfield, Pat 1
