The San Francisco Giants celebrated the career of Brandon Crawford on Saturday at Oracle Park.
Crawford, who played in Westwood from 2006 to 2008, may be the most recognizable former Bruin shortstop in program history.
But Roch Cholowsky may give Crawford a run for his money by the time his baseball career is said and done.
Behind its sophomore shortstop’s 2-for-3, 3-RBI day, No. 14 UCLA baseball (32-11, 16-5 Big Ten) secured a 6-3 victory over Penn State (25-17, 12-12) on Sunday at Jackie Robinson Stadium. Cholowsky drove in the game-winning run with an RBI single in the bottom of the fifth and added some insurance with a two-run homer in the seventh – his third homer in the last three games, coinciding with the Bruins’ three-game sweep of the Nittany Lions.
“Just trying to keep it simple,” said Cholowsky, whose 1.284 OPS is tied for the conference’s top mark. “It’s been helping me a lot, just getting into good counts, too –really just waiting for my pitch. I feel like that’s something that I’ve done a lot better this year than last year.”
But the Bruin offense was far from a one-man show Sunday. After allowing its opponent to score first for the 28th time this season – via an RBI single from Penn State left fielder Jesse Jaconski in the top of the first – the UCLA lineup answered with a two-RBI double from sophomore first baseman Mulivai Levu and an RBI single from sophomore third baseman Roman Martin to put the Bruins up 3-1 in the bottom of the first.
Every Bruin RBI was knocked in by a sophomore Sunday. Last season, the team’s then-freshmen combined for just 113 RBIs. This season, those same players have 241 RBIs through nine fewer games.
“They’re just stronger,” said coach John Savage. “They’re better. They’re more experienced.”
And though Penn State’s first baseman Joe Jaconski would hit a solo shot in the fourth and younger brother Jesse would score on a wild pitch in the sixth, Cholowsky’s late-game heroics proved too much to overcome.
But it wasn’t just UCLA’s sophomore position players getting the job done. Sophomore right-hander Landon Stump rebounded from his start last week – where he allowed six runs in just 3.2 innings pitched – to allow three runs across 5.1 frames with seven strikeouts, a season high.
Redshirt sophomore left-hander Chris Grothues relieved Stump and tossed 2.2 shutout innings without allowing a baserunner. Since his return from a midseason knee injury April 11, Grothues has allowed just one run across 10.1 innings pitched.
[RELATED: Injury-ridden seasons finally behind UCLA baseball, 4 pitchers back on the mound]
Freshman right-hander Easton Hawk pitched the ninth – facing just one over the minimum – to secure his first collegiate save.
“I just want to show up for my team and just do good and do what is expected,” Hawk said.
While Big Ten second-place UCLA was unable to gain any ground on first-place Iowa after the latter swept its weekend series against Indiana, the former’s sweep may still indicate a turnaround from the 4-6 skid it entered the weekend on.
Furthermore, the Bruins have managed to flip the script after last season’s 19-33 campaign. At this point last year, the team was 14-29. After Sunday’s win, the team is 21 games over .500.
Savage said part of this season’s shift can be attributed to the adversity the team faced after being barred from Jackie Robinson Stadium in the fall when a judge ruled UCLA’s lease with the Department of Veterans Affairs for the stadium illegal.
[RELATED: UCLA baseball stadium ordered to close until land is used to serve veterans]
“It started with us getting kicked out of here, and then … we’re at the high schools and went to JCs, and we’re together a lot,” Savage said. “There’s teams that are good that are disconnected, and there’s teams that are good that are connected, and the ones that are disconnected are eventually going to break, right?”
While UCLA won’t get a shot at head-to-head competition against Iowa in the regular season and already faced third-place Oregon last weekend, the Bruins still have three Big Ten series left to claim the regular season title – their next coming against the Trojans.
“A big thing that the coaches tell us is, ‘Imagine how cool it would be if the first year that we are in the league that we go out and win it,’ and that’s been motivation for us the whole year,” Cholowsky said.
Comments are closed.