UCLA Baseball: Bruins Take Game One of Last Home Stand

After beating the Oregon Ducks 12-4 last night, the Bruins look to continue their win streak in their last home stand of the season.

Last night, the Ducks struck first, scoring twice in the second inning after UCLA committed two throwing errors. However, at the bottom of the third, Sophomore Jeremy Ydens tripled to right center which brought in two runs. Shortly after, Freshman Kevin Kendall doubled down the first base line to bring Ydens home, and Kendall would eventually score when Sophomore Michael Toglia singled to right field, making the score 4-2, Bruins.

There would be a scoring drought until the Ducks would put up two in the sixth when Oregon first baseman Gabe Matthews doubled to left center and earned himself two RBIs, bringing home third baseman Spencer Steer and second baseman Kevin Kasser. The score was now tied four-all.

In the bottom of the sixth, UCLA scored a whopping seven runs, beginning when sophomore Jack Stronach scored on an Oregon wild pitch. On a second wild pitch, Junior Daniel Amaral rounded third to home, and freshman Garrett Mitchell would score when redshirt junior Daniel Rosica got on base on a fielder’s choice to the shortstop. Kendall would bring home both Ydens and Rosica on a monster triple down the right field line, and would score himself when Oregon threw yet another wild pitch. Stronach lined out but also earn an RBI in the process, bringing home sophomore Chase Strumpf. At this point, the score was 11-4, Bruins.

Ydens put up his third and final run of the night at the bottom of the eighth which brought the game to its final score of 12-4. Oregon was never able to catch up, largely due to the wild pitching that was helping the Bruins round the bases all night.

Neither team was spotless on defense, so those mistakes will have to be cleaned up this afternoon. UCLA baseball has been up and down this season, and a sweep of the Ducks will give them the boost they need to go into a tough series in Corvallis next weekend and close out the regular season on a high note.

The Bruins will look to continue their win streak today and hopefully clean up some of the errors on defense. Oregon is not a strong hitting team and is middle of the conference in pitching, so this is a good confidence building series before facing Oregon State.

This is your UCLA Bruins versus Oregon Ducks game two open thread.


Go Bruins!