UCLA Baseball Tops #5 Vanderbilt, 3-2; Will Face TCU This Afternoon

This afternoon, the UCLA Bruins baseball team hosts the TCU Horned Frogs in their second game of the Southern California College Baseball Classic. First pitch is at 2 pm PT.

Last Time Out

Last night, the #2 UCLA Bruins baseball team defeated #5 Vanderbilt, 3-2. Zach Pettway had another strong start before turning the game over to the Bruin bullpen for the final nine outs.

UCLA got on the scoreboard first in the bottom of the third after Kyle Cuellar walked and then scored on an RBI double to left center by JT Schwartz to give the Bruins a 1-0 lead.

Another walk—this time to Jake Moberg—got another Bruin rally going in the fourth. After Mikey Perez also walked, Jordan Prendiz was hit by a pitch to load the bases. That was enough to chase Vanderbilt starter Kumar Rocker. Sam Hlibocki came in to pitch for the Commodores and, while he managed to get Garrett Mitchell to fly out to left, Moberg tagged and scored to give the Bruins a 2-0 lead. When Perez tried to advance to third, Vandy left fielder Davis Cooper threw to third, but the ball ended up in the UCLA dugout, allowing Perez to score and give UCLA a 3-0 lead.

In the top of the fifth, a throwing error and a single gave Vanderbilt runners on first and second with no outs. After Pettway got Isaiah Thomas to fly out, Parker Noland hit a 2-run double that cut UCLA’s lead to 3-2.

Pettway gave up a two out double in the sixth but was able to leave the runner stranded on second by getting the next batter to ground out to third.

From there, Michael Townsend took over for Pettway and held the Commodores at bay despite giving up a hit in the seventh. Kyle Mora got the first two outs of the eighth before giving up a hit, which resulted in John Savage turning to Holden Powell for the last four outs.

Powell gave up a hit to put the go-ahead run on first before he got the final out of the eighth. Then in the ninth, he gave up a pair of walks but he struck out the final two batters to wrap up the game.

Pettway earned his third win of the year while Holden notched his third save of the season. Rocker suffered his first loss.

Today’s Matchup

#18 TCU lost for just the third time last night when they played Southern Cal at Dedeaux Field. Like UCLA’s game against Vanderbilt, it was a close game which Southern Cal won 2-1.

This afternoon, the Horned Frogs will send senior right-hander Charles King (1-1, 3.86 ERA) to the mound while UCLA’s Nick Nastrini (2-0, 2.63 ERA) will take to the hill for the Bruins.

This game looks like it could be another pitchers’ dual but, again, it looks like UCLA should prevail.


Go Bruins!!