By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay
Roman Martin delivered a two-run triple in the bottom of the eighth inning Saturday night as the the 15th-seeded UCLA Bruins scored a 5-2 victory over the UTSA Roadrunners in Game 1 of the Los Angeles Super Regional.
Playing in the first Super Regional in program history, UTSA jumped out to a 2-0 lead on the co-champions of the Big Ten Conference. Mason Lytle opened the game at UCLA’s Jackie Robinson Stadium with a leadoff home run.
In the second inning, the Roadrunners surprised everyone when Caden Miller stole home for the second run of the game.
From there, the Bruins settled down and scored two runs to tie in the third. The big hit was a run-scoring double by Mulivai Levu. In the fourth, UCLA struck again against UTSA starter Zach Royse by loading the bases on three singles. One of them was a slow roller that died on the infield grass near the third-base line.
With bases loaded and one out, Dean West gave the Bruins a 3-2 lead on a sacrifice fly to left.
UCLA pitching turned out to be the story in the middle innings and beyond as UTSA’s prolific offense could generate little momentum. In the end, the Bruins held the Roadrunners scoreless from the third through the ninth. UCLA’s bullpen held UTSA hitless for four of the last five innings.
Starter Michael Barnett (12-1) earned the victory by working six innings, giving up two runs on six hits. Relievers Jack O’Connor, August Souza and Easton Hawk combined to hold the Roadrunners hitless in one inning apiece to close the game. All night, Bruins pitching filled up the strike zone, not walking one batter.
The Roadrunners, who have relied on free passes to manufacture big innings this season, received only one against UCLA — when Barnett plunked Andrew Stucky with a pitch in the second.
It was a heartbreaking day for Royse (9-5). After earning the victory against Kansas State last Friday in the first game of the Austin Regional, he took the loss against the Bruins. He pitched five innings and allowed all three runs on nine hits. Royse struck out three and walked three.
After Connor Kelley entered for Royse in the sixth inning, he struggled and put two runners on base. One with a walk. Another with a hit by pitch. At that point, Rob Orloski entered and retired three straight batters. First, he forced UCLA star Roch Cholowski to pop up, and then he retired Levu and Martin to escape trouble.
Orloski, a sophomore from Idaho, continued to pitch well through the seventh, sending three straight batters back to the dugout. But in the eighth, the UTSA righthander’s control started to falter.
On consecutive batters, he walked Phoenix Call and hit West with a breaking ball, putting runners at first and second. Getting tough again, he retired Cholowski and Levu on a fly ball and an infield pop up, respectively. With two out, he was nearly out of trouble when Martin worked the count to three balls and two strikes.
Ultimately, Martin won the battle, bashing a drive into the gap in right center. UTSA right fielder James Taussig looked like he might have a play on the ball, but it sailed past him, bouncing to the wall as Call scored from third base and West raced all the way around to score from first.
With the victory, UCLA now can clinch a trip to the Men’s College World Series with a victory Sunday. For UTSA to win the Super Regional, it will need to win Sunday and Monday to advance to the eight-team MCWS in Omaha, Neb.
Records
UTSA 47-14
UCLA 46-16
Schedule
Los Angeles Super Regional
Game 2 — UTSA at UCLA, Sunday, 2 p.m.
Game 3 (if necessary) — UTSA at UCLA, Monday, TBA
Notable
UTSA’s James Taussig, the most outstanding player in the Austin regional, went hitless on four at bats. He flied out, grounded out twice and struck out in the eighth inning.
The eighth was a big inning for Bruins pitching as Souza, throwing nasty sliders, shut down the top of the Roadrunners’ batting order. He struck out Lytle and Taussig to start the inning and then retired Norris McClure on a ground ball.
Lytle, who finished one for four, entered the Super Regional leading the team with a .369 average. Taussig followed at .358. Taussig has been one of the team’s hottest power threat lately, hitting safely in 25 of 27 games entering the Super Regional.
He also was held without an RBI for only the ninth time in is last 36 games.
Quotable
In the postgame news conference, UTSA coach Pat Hallmark issued an opening statement, saying that the difference in the game was UCLA’s error-free defense and its pitching that didn’t allow a walk.
“I thought UCLA pitched and defended fantastic,” he said. “That was the difference in the game, was their defense. They didn’t give us anything. Zero errors. Zero walks by them. Just tip my hat to those guys, and we’ll be ready to play tomorrow.”
Hallmark credited UCLA starter Michael Barnett for throwing strikes.
“Barnett’s good,” Hallmark said. “The challenge was all the strikes he was throwing. We needed to get him early in the count and we just didn’t. We just fouled ’em off, or we didn’t just quite smash it early in the count.
“He did a really good job throwing strikes early in the count, and then once he gets ahead, if you don’t smash one of those early ones, he’s not going to throw you one centered when he’s ahead. So, hitting becomes harder.”