UCLA
11-6, 1-1
Arizona
13-5, 1-1
UCLA Drops Saturday Game to Arizona, 7-3
March 20, 2021 | Baseball
LOS ANGELES โ No. 17 Arizona evened the series with No. 11 UCLA on Saturday afternoon with a 7-3 victory at Jackie Robinson Stadium.
The Bruins (11-6, 1-1 Pac-12) rallied to tie the game at 3-3 after scoring in both the sixth and seventh innings, but the Wildcats (13-5, 1-1) responded with run-scoring rallies in each of the next two frames to re-establish the lead. Arizona hit four home runs in the contest.
Each of the top six hitters in the UCLA lineup recorded a hit on Saturday, led by junior catcher Noah Cardenas (2-3) and junior center fielder Kevin Kendall (2-5, double, run).
UCLA fell behind in the second inning after Jacob Berry and Kobe Kato hit back-to-back solo home runs. Berry and Kato produced another run in the fourth after hitting consecutive doubles to make it 3-0.
The Bruins came back to tie the game with a single run in the sixth and a two-spot in the seventh.
Sophomore first baseman JT Schwartz scored the first run for UCLA, reaching with a leadoff walk in the sixth and later scoring on an RBI groundout from sophomore right fielder Michael Curialle. Schwartz had moved from first to third on a Noah Cardenas base hit that was mishandled by the center fielder, allowing him to move up an extra base.
The first two batters of the seventh inning reached โ Kyle Karros on an error and Kendall with an opposite field base hit โ and the Bruins were able to cash both those runners in after a sac bunt moved both into scoring position. Junior shortstop Matt McLain and Schwartz followed with run-scoring singles to make it a 3-3 game.
That deadlock turned out to be short-lived, as Arizona responded with a go-ahead run in the eighth, then plated another three runs in the ninth on another set of back-to-back homers, this time from Ryan Holgate and Jacob Blas.
Kato ended the day as Arizona's top offensive performer, going 3-4 with two RBIs.
UCLA and Arizona will decide the series with a Sunday rubber match, scheduled for a 1:00 p.m. start.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Cooper, Riley (1-0)
L: Mora, Kyle (1-1)
S: Vannelle, Vince (3)
Batting:
2B: Williams, Donta 1 ; Berry, Jacob 1 ; Kato, Kobe 1
HR: Holgate, Ryan 1 ; Blas, Jacob 1 ; Berry, Jacob 1 ; Kato, Kobe 1
RBI: Holgate, Ryan 2 ; Blas, Jacob 1 ; Berry, Jacob 1 ; Kato, Kobe 2 ; Susac, Daniel 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Williams, Donta 1 ; Boissiere, Branden 1 ; Holgate, Ryan 1 ; Blas, Jacob 1 ; Berry, Jacob 2 ; Kato, Kobe 1
HBP: Blas, Jacob 2
PO: Williams, Donta 1
Batting:
2B: Kendall, Kevin 1 ; Curialle, Michael 1 ; Karros, Kyle 1
RBI: McLain, Matt 1 ; Schwartz, JT 1 ; Curialle, Michael 1
SH: Perez, Mikey 1 ; Karros, Kyle 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Kendall, Kevin 1 ; Schwartz, JT 1 ; Karros, Kyle 1
HBP: Cardenas, Noah 1
