In the bottom of the 12th with the game tied at a dozen apiece, a crack came from Payton Brennan’s bat.
The sophomore outfielder sent the ball up the middle for a walk-off RBI single, his second walk-off hit of the season and his seventh hit of the game.
“It was awesome,” Brennan said. “I’m still processing it.”
UCLA baseball (10-12, 4-5 Pac-12) took down UC Santa Barbara (13-8, 4-2 Big West) by a score of 13-12 at Jackie Robinson Stadium on Tuesday night, coming back on numerous occasions to defeat the newly unranked Gauchos.
The Bruins’ offense was nothing short of explosive with all-around lineup success. UCLA put up a combined 19 hits and three home runs. Freshman third baseman Roch Cholowsky drove a two-run homer in the first, while graduate student catcher Quintt Landis and Brennan smacked back-to-back home runs in the seventh, all of which were their first home runs as Bruins.
“It was a long game, a lot of innings, so a lot of dudes got a lot of opportunities and everyone played really well,” Brennan said.
These opportunities were clear as multiple players got upward of five at-bats and eight of the nine starters got a hit.
On the other side of the ball, UCLA went through seven pitchers to get the victory, with no one tossing more than two innings.
Even senior outfielder JonJon Vaughns appeared on the mound and received the win in his second career pitching appearance, eventually ending the contest as the winning run.
“We used a lot of guys today,” said sophomore right-hander Cody Delvecchio. “UCSB is a tough team, and I felt like we did a pretty good job as a staff. Obviously, we gave up a lot of hits, but passing the baton was really good.”
Delvecchio came in for two innings in the seventh and recorded four strikeouts in two shutout frames.
Delvecchio said his mindset going into the game was to help his team.
“I always just got to go pitch to pitch,” Delvecchio said. “No matter what the score is, I’m always going to be there for my squad and compete.”
UCLA’s Tuesday win follows victories over Pac-12 foes Washington State and USC.
The Bruins will now head to Arizona for another conference series. But this season, UCLA has yet to win on the road, going 0-7 so far in 2024.
Delvecchio said the energy from the Bruins’ win over the Gauchos will help carry them into this series.
“We haven’t been so good on the road this year, but we’re looking to get after it,” Delvecchio said. “We’re off a good win tonight, so we’re going to bring that into Arizona.”
It will be a quick turnaround and travel day for the Bruins, as it begins on Thursday rather than their usual Friday night because of the Easter holiday.
“It’s a short in-between games, and it’s just something that we have to get ready to play,” said coach John Savage.
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