UCLA
9-12, 4-5
USC
8-15, 4-5
UCLA Posts 6-3 Rubber Match Win Over USC
March 24, 2024 | Baseball
LOS ANGELES – The UCLA baseball team used a pair of early three-spots to capture a series-clinching 6-3 win over USC in Sunday afternoon's rubber match at Jackie Robinson Stadium.
The Bruins (9-12, 4-5 Pac-12) rallied from a Friday night loss to capture the weekend set over the Trojans (8-15, 4-5).
Sunday's game featured a weather delay of approximately 90 minutes, with the game in the bottom of the seventh inning, due to rain and lightning in the area.
Redshirt junior right fielder AJ Salgado (2-4, two RBIs) and junior shortstop Cody Schrier (2-4) each had multi-hit days to pace the Bruins offensively, while freshman first baseman Mulivai Levu added a clutch two-run single in the third inning. Junior center fielder Malakhi Knight had the biggest single swing of the game, popping a two-run homer to center in the fourth inning that ultimately served as the game-winning hit.
The Bruins used four pitchers in the contest, with none surrendering more than one run. Freshman third baseman Roch Cholowsky was a standout on the defensive end, making a trio of highlight-reel defensive plays at the hot corner.
USC mustered just four hits as a team, with Carson Wells's fifth-inning solo homer serving as the visitor's lone extra-base hit of the afternoon.
The Trojans opened the game's scoring with an unearned run in the second inning, but UCLA would respond to go ahead for good with a three-run rally in the bottom of the third.
Senior left fielder JonJon Vaughns sparked that rally with an opposite-field single to open the frame, and he would later come around to score from third when Salgado shot a base hit through the left side of the USC infield. The Bruins would continue to rally after that knock, with the next two batters reaching on a walk and HBP to load the bases before Levu rolled a grounder back up the middle to plate a pair and make it 3-1.
UCLA came back with another three-spot the very next inning on a rally highlighted by the Knight homer, which went off the top of the batter's eye in dead center field. The Bruins added another run moments later when Schrier lined a double into the left field corner before coming across on a Salgado triple off the top of the wall in right-center field.
Armed with a 6-1 lead through four, Bruin pitchers largely kept the visitors in check for the rest of the afternoon, giving up just three hits over that span.
Freshman righty Landon Stump drew the start but ultimately received a no-decision after exiting the game at the end of the fourth inning. He gave up just one hit during his outing, and the one run against him was unearned.
Freshman righty Luke Rodriguez bounced back from Wells's home run to retire the next three batters in the fifth, and was ultimately rewarded with the win.
Junior righty Cody Delvecchio followed with two innings of one-run ball, and graduate closer Rashad Ruff – who entered the game off the rain delay – shut the door by retiring all six batters he faced. Ruff recorded his fifth save of the season.
UCLA concludes a season-long eight-game homestand on Tuesday night, hosting UC Santa Barbara for a midweek tune-up starting at 6 p.m. PT.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Rodriguez, Luke (1-3)
L: Feikes, Jared (1-1)
S: Ruff, Rashad (5)
Batting:
HR: Wells, Carson 1
RBI: Overn, Austin 1 ; Wells, Carson 2
SH: Hedges, Ethan 1 ; Brown, Chris 1
SF: Overn, Austin 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Takeuchi, Kevin 1 ; Brown, Chris 1 ; Wells, Carson 1
Batting:
2B: Schrier, Cody 1
3B: Salgado, AJ 1
HR: Knight, Malakhi 1
RBI: Salgado, AJ 2 ; Levu, Mulivai 2 ; Knight, Malakhi 2
SH: Dugger, Cashel 1 ; Knight, Malakhi 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Schrier, Cody 1 ; Salgado, AJ 1 ; Gourson, Duce 1 ; Dugger, Cashel 1 ; Vaughns, JonJon 1 ; Knight, Malakhi 1
SB: Schrier, Cody 1 ; Gourson, Duce 1 ; Cholowsky, Roch 1
HBP: Cholowsky, Roch 1 ; Dugger, Cashel 1
