UCLA
6-10, 1-3
Washington State
9-7, 1-3
UCLA Defeats Washington State in Series Opener, 4-1
March 15, 2024 | Baseball
LOS ANGELES โ The UCLA baseball team used a big sixth inning to record a 4-1 win over Washington State in Friday night's Pac-12 series opener at Jackie Robinson Stadium.
The result marked the first win in league play for the Bruins (6-10, 1-3 Pac-12). Washington State dropped to 9-7, 1-3.
The Bruins were led offensively by freshman catcher Cashel Dugger (3-4), who notched his first-career three-hit performance, and freshman second baseman Roman Martin, who had a pair of knocks and an RBI.
Junior righty Luke Jewett delivered six innings of one-run ball to pick up the win and even his record at 1-1 on the year. Sophomore righty Cody Delvecchio and graduate right-hander Rashad Ruff shut down the Cougars the rest of the way, allowing just one baserunner combined over three relief innings.
All of the game's scoring occurred in the sixth inning, as Casen Taggart got WSU on the board in the top half with a solo homer before UCLA responded with the game-winning rally in the bottom half.
The Bruins batted around in that decisive frame, with seven batters reaching via walk or base hit. Freshman left fielder Dean West sparked the rally after leading off with an infield single off the glove of the shortstop in the 5-6 hole.
After that leadoff knock, the next three UCLA batters reached on walks to force in a run and tie it up at 1-1. The last two batters of that stretch โ junior DH Jack Holman and freshman third baseman Roch Cholowsky โ had to battle back from 1-2 counts to force the free pass. WSU starter Grant Taylor was pulled after the walk to Cholowsky, as the Bruins still had the bases loaded with nobody out.
UCLA continued to rally against reliever Kaden Wickersham, as redshirt junior AJ Salgado greeted him by slapping a grounder to the left side to plate the go-ahead run on a fielder's choice.
Dugger and Martin followed with back-to-back RBI singles to cap the inning's scoring.
Meanwhile, the trio of Jewett, Delvecchio, and Ruff combined to limit the Cougars to just one run in the game on seven hits.
Jewett held WSU off the board for the first five innings of the game, going toe-to-toe with Taylor in an early-game pitcher's duel.
The Ladera Ranch, Calif. native cruised in the early going. He went 1-2-3 in the first and third innings, struck out a pair to negate an error in the second, and rolled up a 5-4-3 double play ball in the fifth to wipe out a leadoff single. He was on his way to a sixth scoreless inning when Taggart went yard on a two-strike, two-out fastball.
After UCLA's go-ahead rally was followed by a leadoff walk in the top of the seventh, Delvecchio entered the game and retired three straight โ including back-to-back strikeouts against his first two batters โ to provide a shutdown inning. He followed up with an eight-pitch, 1-2-3 eighth inning before handing off to Ruff to close it out.
Ruff allowed just a two-out infield single as part of a scoreless ninth, securing his third save of the year.
Taggart and Cole Cramer led WSU with two hits apiece.
UCLA and Washington State continue the series on Saturday afternoon starting at 2 p.m. PT.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Jewett, Luke (1-1)
L: Taylor, Grant (3-1)
S: Ruff, Rashad (3)
Batting:
HR: Taggart, Casen 1
RBI: Taggart, Casen 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Taggart, Casen 1
SB: Taggart, Casen 1 ; Cramer, Cole 1
Batting:
2B: Cholowsky, Roch 1 ; Dugger, Cashel 1
RBI: Cholowsky, Roch 1 ; Salgado, AJ 1 ; Dugger, Cashel 1 ; Martin, Roman 1
Base Running:
RUNS: West, Dean 1 ; Levu, Mulivai 1 ; Cholowsky, Roch 1 ; Salgado, AJ 1
