The Bruins played eight midweek contests against four opponents this season and did not drop a single one.
No. 18 UCLA baseball (31-16, 14-10 Pac-12) defeated Nevada (21-18, 18-9 Mountain West) 11-3 on Tuesday night at Jackie Robinson Stadium. The contest wrapped up the Bruins’ midweek competition for the season, with an 8-0 record in Tuesday games.
“Our program has always preached Tuesday games,” said redshirt junior second baseman Kevin Kendall. “One, because all the games matter the same, and two, (because they) build a lot of confidence and potentially momentum going into the weekend. We put a big emphasis on Tuesdays and luckily we performed pretty well on those days this year.”
The Wolf Pack opened up the matchup with a home run off the bat of second baseman Joshua Zamora – his 11th of the season. UCLA countered Nevada’s long ball with two singles and a couple groundouts to bring Kendall home and tie the score at one apiece in the inaugural inning.
Right-hander Kade Morris retired the first two Bruins he faced in the second, but hit freshman center fielder JonJon Vaughns to give UCLA a baserunner with two outs. Morris quickly experienced the consequences of his askew offering – one of four hit by pitches on the night – as junior shortstop Mikey Perez doubled and brought Vaughns home to give the Bruins a 2-1 lead.
“Whenever the other team’s giving us the free 90 feet, that’s always huge,” Perez said. “Once we start stringing those at-bats together, we can really start rolling pretty quick so that’s always good for us and plays in our favor to keep the lineup and keep the at-bats going.”
Kendall recorded his second consecutive single later in the frame to score Perez from third and stretch the lead to two runs.
The redshirt junior delivered again for the Bruins in the fourth inning with his third hit of the night going for three bases – his third triple of the season – to score two runs, and he eventually came home on an RBI single to bring the score to 6-1.
“There (were) two outs so I was just trying to cash in,” Kendall said. “(There were) guys on base – it was still a tight ballgame at the time so I was just trying to see a pitch up to potentially score them in.”
Freshman right-hander Jake Brooks tossed two frames in his third career start, throwing only 27 pitches after a career-high 42 in relief against UC Santa Barbara on Friday. The freshman allowed the home run in the first but otherwise allowed no hits or walks and struck out two, earning him his second win this season.
Following two innings of shutout relief from sophomore right-hander Charles Harrison, redshirt senior right-hander Kyle Mora made his first appearance since April 3, after being sidelined with an injury. Mora needed only nine pitches to retire the side in his lone inning of work.
“He was sharp,” said coach John Savage. “His velocity was good, his slider was good. He honestly didn’t look like he missed a beat. He looked as sharp or sharper than he was before he got hurt. It’s just another experienced arm that we can fill in and add to our depth.”
The Wolf Pack added a pair in the sixth on their second home run of the night, but the Bruin bullpen kept them at bay for the remainder of the contest.
UCLA loaded the bases in the seventh via a double, a hit by pitch and an intentional walk. Junior catcher Noah Cardenas – who the Wolf Pack opted to pitch to instead of sophomore designated hitter Josh Hahn – doubled to left center, tacking on a pair for the blue and gold.
The Bruins put a runner on every bag for the second time in the frame and capitalized on the third- and fourth-hit batsmen in the game, followed by a walk and a wild pitch to hand them three extra runs – none of which came on hits – and the 11-3 victory.
“We take Tuesdays very seriously,” Savage said. “It is the beginning of the week and the guys really played well on Tuesdays. During this time of wins, Nevada has a very good RPI – they’re on the verge of winning the Mountain West – so this is a big win in the big picture.”
