UCLA
16-8
UC Santa Barbara
16-6
UCLA Secures Midweek Win Over UC Santa Barbara, 7-2
March 29, 2022 | Baseball
LOS ANGELES โ UCLA put together a decisive five-run rally in the bottom of the third and the bullpen delivered seven frames of scoreless relief as the Bruins notched a 7-2 win over UC Santa Barbara on Tuesday night at Jackie Robinson Stadium.
The Bruins (16-8) have now won four consecutive midweek contests, and five of their last six games overall. UCSB fell to 16-6 on the year.
Graduate first baseman Jake Palmer, junior right fielder Michael Curialle, and graduate left fielder Kenny Oyama all had pivotal hits during the go-ahead rally in the third. ย
Palmer brought in the first run of the frame with a bad-hop single off UCSB first baseman Kyle Johnson's shoulder. Two more runs came in for the Bruins when junior right fielder Michael Curialle hit a sharp chopper that got past the UCSB third baseman, and Oyama capped the five-spot by ripping a two-run double inside the first base bag to make it 6-2.
All five of the Bruins' runs during that inning came with two outs.
That outburst would turn out to be all the offense UCLA would need, as the relief trio of Jake Saum, Charles Harrison, and Ethan Flanagan held the Gauchos off the board the rest of the way.
Saum started it off by posting three innings of two-hit relief. He rolled up a key double play ball after entering the game in the third inning that limited the damage in that frame to one inning, keeping the Bruins well within striking distance.
After UCLA went ahead in the bottom half, Saum responded by going six-up, six-down with four strikeouts. The Ventura native ended up as the pitcher of record, scooping up the win to move to 2-0 on the year.
Harrison took over in the sixth, facing the minimum over a two-inning outing. He ended up with two strikeouts, including a Backwards-K of Jason Willow to end the sixth.
Flanagan, a freshman left-hander, took the Bruins across the finish line with two innings of shutout relief. He allowed just one baserunner โ a walk with one away in the ninth โ but bounced back to strike out the next two batters and end the game.
Oyama (3-4, four RBIs) and Curialle (2-4, two doubles, two RBIs, two runs) did the heavy lifting offensively for UCLA. Sophomore third baseman Kyle Karros โ making his first appearance since Feb. 19 due to injury โ went 1-4 and scored a pair of runs, scorching a base hit back up the middle in his first plate appearance of the night.
UCLA continues its five-game homestand this weekend, hosting No. 20 Oregon for a Pac-12 series starting on Friday night at 6:00 p.m. PT.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Saum, Jake (2-0)
L: Callahan, JD (1-1)
Batting:
2B: Klassen, Blake 1 ; Johnson, Kyle 2
RBI: Klassen, Blake 1 ; Eng, Mason 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Sprinkle, Jordan 1 ; Johnson, Kyle 1
Batting:
2B: Curialle, Michael 2 ; Oyama, Kenny 1 ; Beres, Tommy 1
RBI: Palmer, Jake 1 ; Curialle, Michael 2 ; Oyama, Kenny 4
Base Running:
RUNS: Knight, Malakhi 1 ; Karros, Kyle 2 ; Palmer, Jake 1 ; Reyes, Daylen 1 ; Curialle, Michael 2
SB: Knight, Malakhi 1
CS: Reyes, Daylen 1
