UCLA
10-12
UC Santa Barbara
13-8
Brennan's Historic Night Leads UCLA Past UCSB in Extras, 13-12
March 27, 2024 | Baseball
LOS ANGELES – Sophomore center fielder Payton Brennan rolled a grounder up the middle and off the second-base bag in the bottom of the 12th inning to deliver a 13-12 walk-off win for UCLA over UC Santa Barbara in a wild Tuesday marathon at Jackie Robinson Stadium.
The knock, which easily plated JonJon Vaughns from third base, capped off a historic seven-for-seven performance for Brennan. With the outing, Brennan became the first UCLA (10-12) player to record seven hits in a game since Casey Haerther against Arizona on March 29, 2008.
Brennan's seven hits included his first-career home run in the seventh inning and a double. He added five singles, finishing just a triple short of the cycle. Having entered the game with six hits and a .194 batting average on the season, Brennan nearly doubled his clip by the end of the day as he now sits with a .342 average.
The Rocklin, Calif. native's offensive outburst was one of several notable storylines from a game that featured nearly everything. The four-hour, 44-minute contest saw the teams combine for 41 hits, 31 runners left on base, 14 pitchers used, 485 pitches thrown, six ties, and four lead changes.
The Bruins trailed four separate times over the course of the game, including in do-or-die scenarios in the ninth and 11th innings, but battled back to tie it each time before Brennan's walk-off heroics in the 12th. UCSB dropped to 13-8 with the loss.
All but one of UCLA's starters notched a hit in the game, with six logging multi-performances and several Bruins having notable offensive performances overall.
Freshman third baseman Roch Cholowsky (2-6, three RBIs) and graduate catcher Quintt Landis (2-4, two RBIs) joined Brennan in hitting their first home runs as Bruins. Junior second baseman Duce Gourson reached base six times and scored a pair of runs. Junior shortstop Cody Schrier (2-5) had his second consecutive multi-hit day and twice tied the game with clutch sac flies.
A productive day from JonJon Vaughns encapsulated the chaotic nature of Tuesday's game, as the senior went 2-5 with a pair of walks and three runs scored offensively. He was also the last of seven pitchers used by UCLA in the game, logging two innings of one-run relief. The Pasadena native both scored the game-winning run on Brennan's walk-off hit and earned his first-collegiate win as the pitcher of record. It was just his second-career pitching appearance.
Besides Vaughns, senior righty Chris Aldrich (1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R) and sophomore right-hander Cody Delvecchio (2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 4 K) had standout efforts on the mound.
The Bruins' game-winning rally in the 12th was sparked by a one-out walk from Vaughns. The next play put UCLA on the precipice of victory, as a potential double play ball from Cashel Dugger instead kicked off the heel of the UCSB second baseman's glove for an error to give the Bruins runners on the corners with just one out. Brennan was the next batter, and put a good swing on a 2-2 offering to send it back up the box and end the game.
UCLA twice had to battle back in do-or-die situations in the late innings.
Trailing 11-10 in the ninth, Vaughns again set the table for a run-scoring rally by drawing a walk. He eventually moved to third base after a Brennan infield single and a four-pitch walk to AJ Salgado loaded the bases, allowing him to come across when Gourson was hit by the first pitch of his plate appearance.
Two frames later and facing a 12-11 deficit, leadoff man Dean West worked a walk to get aboard before moving to third on a Brennan base hit into the left-center gap. That allowed West to score easily on a Schrier sac to left field. UCLA would eventually leave the bases loaded in both the ninth and 11th innings.
UCLA used the long ball in two separate run-scoring innings to build leads during regulation.
Cholowsky opened the scoring in the bottom of the first, stinging the first pitch of his AB and sending it over the fence in dead-center field for his first-collegiate homer.
After battling back to tie it at 8-8, UCLA went on to take its second lead of the game thanks to back-to-back homers from Landis and Brennan in the seventh.
All nine UCSB starters had a hit on Tuesday, including a quartet of players who finished with three or more knocks. DH Aaron Parker led the way with a 3-6, four-RBI game, while nine-hitter Jonathan Mendez had four singles and scored three times.
After playing eight straight at home, UCLA hits the road this weekend for a three-game series at Pac-12 rival Arizona starting on Thursday night at 7 p.m. PT. The set will run Thursday to Sunday on account of the Easter Sunday holiday.
WALK-OFF FINAL: UCLA 13, UCSB 12
— UCLA Baseball (@UCLABaseball) March 27, 2024
Payton Brennan finishes off a seven-hit night with a walk-off single to cap a marathon midweek battle with the Gauchos!#GoBruins pic.twitter.com/bqZ1AoKeYv
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Vaughns, JonJon (1-0)
L: Reed Moring (1-3)
Batting:
2B: Aaron Parker 1 ; Zander Darby 1
3B: Zander Darby 1
HR: Jessada Brown 1
RBI: Ivan Brethowr 1 ; Brendan Durfee 1 ; Aaron Parker 4 ; Zander Darby 2 ; Justin Trimble 1 ; Jessada Brown 3
SH: Jonah Sebring 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Ivan Brethowr 1 ; LeTrey McCollum 1 ; Nick Putnam 1 ; Jonah Sebring 1 ; Zander Darby 1 ; Reiss Calvin 1 ; Justin Trimble 1 ; Jessada Brown 2 ; Jonathan Mendez 3
CS: Reiss Calvin 1
HBP: Nick Oakley 1 ; Ivan Brethowr 1 ; Brendan Durfee 1 ; Reiss Calvin 1 ; Jessada Brown 2
Batting:
2B: Cholowsky, Roch 1 ; Landis, Quintt 1 ; Brennan, Payton 1
HR: Cholowsky, Roch 1 ; Landis, Quintt 1 ; Brennan, Payton 1
RBI: Schrier, Cody 2 ; Gourson, Duce 1 ; Cholowsky, Roch 3 ; Levu, Mulivai 1 ; Vaughns, JonJon 1 ; Landis, Quintt 2 ; Brennan, Payton 3
SF: Schrier, Cody 2 ; Levu, Mulivai 1 ; Landis, Quintt 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Salgado, AJ 1 ; Gourson, Duce 2 ; Cholowsky, Roch 2 ; Holman, Jack 1 ; Vaughns, JonJon 3 ; Landis, Quintt 2 ; West, Dean 1 ; Brennan, Payton 1
SB: Schrier, Cody 1
HBP: Gourson, Duce 1
