UCLA
9-2
USC
5-5-1
Bruins Top USC, 5-3, to Cap Unbeaten Weekend
March 05, 2023 | Baseball
LOS ANGELES โ Junior right fielder JonJon Vaughns hit a moonshot home run to open the scoring in the second inning and No. 12 UCLA never looked back in a 5-3 win over crosstown rival USC on Sunday afternoon in the finale of the 2023 Southern California College Baseball Classic.
The result capped an unbeaten weekend for the Bruins (9-2), who also captured victories against Tulane on Friday and Sacramento State on Saturday. With the loss, the Trojans dropped to 5-5-1.
UCLA never trailed on Sunday, with Vaughns's two-run blast โ his team-leading fourth of the season โ putting the Bruins ahead early.
The visitors didn't manage to get on the board until the top of the sixth, plating a single unearned run, and the Bruins would immediately respond in the bottom half with a two-spot. USC made it a two-run game after a home run from Nate Clow in the ninth, but UCLA closer Luke Jewett held the Trojans there to seal the win.
Bruin pitchers did a great job of making big pitches all afternoon, limiting the Trojans to just one hit over 10 at-bats with runners in scoring position. That one hit โ a Cole Gabrielson single in the third โ did not result in a run.
UCLA starter Kelly Austin pitched out of trouble for much of his 4 1/3-inning outing.
The senior had his best escape act at the very beginning of the game, allowing a leadoff triple to Austin Overn โ his NCAA-leading seventh of the season โ but recovering to get the next three batters in order, stranding Overn at third.
Austin then teamed up with battery-mate Darius Perry for a strike-em-out, throw-em-out double play in the second, got out of a bases-loaded jam in the third โ thanks in part to a ranging catch from second baseman Duce Gourson on a pop to shallow right field โ and worked around a leadoff double in the fourth.
UCLA had built up a 3-0 lead by the time that USC got on the board with an RBI double from Ethan Hedges in the sixth, and went right back to work to build on that lead in the bottom half of the frame.
A pair of walks set the table for the rally, and redshirt sophomore first baseman AJ Salgado drove in the first run after bouncing the first pitch he saw through the right side for an RBI single. UCLA added another run as the next batter, freshman center fielder Toussaint Bythewood, successfully executed a squeeze play to bring in Carson Yates from third base.
The Clow homer and a pair of soft singles from USC made for some drama in the ninth inning, but Jewett eventually got cleanup hitter Nick Lopez to sky one to medium left field for the game's final out.
Right-hander Eric Hammond drew the start for USC and was saddled with the loss after allowing three runs over three innings.
Senior lefty Jake Saum picked up the win for the Bruins, his first of the year. Senior righty Charles Harrison was a standout out of the 'pen, entering the game and striking out Gabrielson to get the Bruins out of a two-on jam in the seventh before posting a 1-2-3 eighth.
UCLA concludes a five-game homestand on Tuesday, hosting Long Beach State at 5:00 p.m. PT. The game will be streamed live through Pac-12.com.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Saum, Jake (1-0)
L: Hammond, E. (0-1)
Batting:
2B: Olmstead, J. 1 ; Hedges, E. 1
3B: Overn, A. 1
HR: Clow, N. 1
RBI: Hedges, E. 1 ; Clow, N. 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Olmstead, J. 1 ; Aoki, Co. 1 ; Clow, N. 1
CS: Olmstead, J. 1
HBP: Clow, N. 1
Batting:
2B: Holman, Jack 1
HR: Vaughns, JonJon 1
RBI: Holman, Jack 1 ; Vaughns, JonJon 2 ; Salgado, AJ 1 ; Bythewood, Toussaint 1
SH: Bythewood, Toussaint 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Karros, Kyle 1 ; Perry, Darius 2 ; Vaughns, JonJon 1 ; Yates, Carson 1
SB: Karros, Kyle 1 ; Holman, Jack 1
CS: Salgado, AJ 1
HBP: Karros, Kyle 1 ; Perry, Darius 1
PO: Salgado, AJ 1
