University of California, Los Angeles, Athletics
UCLA
18-8, 7-5
Utah
11-17, 3-10
Austin Leads UCLA Over Utah, 5-3
April 06, 2023 | Baseball
LOS ANGELES โ A pair of early multi-run rallies held up as No. 22 UCLA recorded a 5-3 win over Utah in Thursday's Pac-12 series-opener at Jackie Robinson Stadium.
The Bruins (18-8, 7-5 Pac-12) opened the scoring with two runs in the first, and stretched the lead to 5-0 with a three-spot in the third.
That offense turned out to be plenty for starting pitcher Kelly Austin, who turned in one of the finest performances of his career.
The senior set career bests in both innings (seven) and strikeouts, becoming the first Bruin pitcher this season to hit the 11-K mark. He allowed just four hits and two earned runs, and went without walking a batter for the second time this season.
Utah (11-17, 3-10) really only got to Austin in the fourth, collecting three hits โ all singles โ and scoring two runs.
He was dominant before and after that frame, going nine-up, nine-down to start the game and limiting the Utes to one hit and one unearned run over the final three frames of his outing.
By the end of his evening, Austin had struck out a batter in six of his seven innings, including four frames with multiple strikeouts. His best work came in the sixth, when he struck out the side in order.
UCLA went ahead for good with a two-run rally in the first, stringing together four consecutive singles to plate the two runs. All but one of the base hits in that sequence, a Darius Perry liner up the middle, went to the opposite field. Perry's knock drew first blood, which was followed immediately by a Jack Holman bouncer through the left side to bring in Cody Schrier.
The Bruins added to the lead in the third, loading the bases with nobody out and cashing in all three runners. Duce Gourson and Schrier got the rally started with back-to-back doubles, and Perry followed by working a walk to fill the bags.
UCLA wouldn't need a hit the rest of the inning to bring in that trio, with Holman wearing a pitch to force in a run, Carson Yates driving in another with a sac fly to center, and another coming in on an RBI groundout.
The late innings were mostly drama-free for the Bruin bullpen.
Charles Harrison had to work back from a bloop double to lead off the eighth, getting the next three batters in order to strand him on third.
Freshman righty Cody Delvecchio followed with a 1-2-3 ninth to pick up his first-career save.
UCLA and Utah continue the series on Friday night at 5:00 p.m. PT.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Austin, Kelly (3-1)
L: Lugo-Canchola, E. (2-2)
S: Delvecchio, Cody (1)
Batting:
2B: Webster, Bruer 1
RBI: Cop, Davis 1 ; Kiernan, Jayden 1 ; Webster, Bruer 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Duffalo, Dakota 1 ; Cop, Davis 1 ; Frei, Landon 1
Batting:
2B: Gourson, Duce 1 ; Schrier, Cody 1 ; Hahn, Josh 1
RBI: Perry, Darius 1 ; Holman, Jack 2 ; Yates, Carson 1 ; Bythewood, Toussaint 1
SF: Yates, Carson 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Gourson, Duce 2 ; Schrier, Cody 2 ; Perry, Darius 1
SB: Hocking, Jarrod 1
HBP: Holman, Jack 1 ; Yates, Carson 1 ; Hocking, Jarrod 1
