After Thursday night’s loss jeopardized UCLA’s chances at the Big Ten regular season crown, the Bruins evened the series against the Wildcats on Friday night to keep their conference title dreams alive.
Within the first two innings, seven Bruins recorded a hit and five had crossed home plate.
And with its early lead, No. 14 UCLA Baseball (38-15, 21-8 Big Ten) never looked back, defeating Northwestern (25-26, 13-16) by a score of 8-2 at Jackie Robinson Stadium.
“Our energy was better from the get-go,” said coach John Savage. “It was just good to get back.”
In the bottom of the first, sophomore first baseman Mulivai Levu doubled to right field, driving home sophomores left fielder Dean West and shortstop Roch Cholowsky for the early 2-0 lead before Wildcat starter right-hander Matthew Kouser recorded a single out.
And for the second consecutive day, Cholowsky hit a round tripper, with his second-inning two-run shot proving the game winner. The sophomore, who led the team last year with eight long balls, became the first Bruin to reach 20 homers in a single season since Cody Decker in 2009.
“He’s just a special player,” Savage said of Cholowsky, who finished Friday 3-for-4 and a triple shy of the cycle. “He’s had a fantastic year.”
But Cholowsky’s bat wasn’t the only one making noise.
West, Levu, sophomore third baseman Roman Martin and sophomore second baseman Phoenix Call all recorded multi-hit games, with the team’s total coming to 14 — its most in a single contest since April 13.
“Yesterday, we were kind of playing a little scared,” said Martin, who followed up Cholowsky’s second-inning long ball with a hard-hit RBI single. “Just coming out here with the approach to attack was really the main difference.”
The Bruins’ pitching, led by junior right-handed starting pitcher Michael Barnett, also bounced back after allowing nine Wildcat runs Thursday.
Barnett collected eight strikeouts through his 6.1 innings of work – his longest outing and most strikeouts in a single appearance since March 22.
“I knew we needed to bounce back from last night’s game,” Barnett said. “Being a leader on the team, I felt like it was my job to step up and give us a solid outing.”
With a runner on in the seventh, sophomore right-hander Cal Randall was the first out of the Bruin bullpen. And with the help of redshirt senior right fielder AJ Salgado, who robbed second baseman Jacob Hand of a two-run shot, Randall put up a zero in the seventh and struck out two in the eighth, before freshman right-hander Easton Hawk closed out the ninth.
Big Ten standings
With Oregon’s 9-6 win over Iowa, the Bruins are headed into the final game of the regular season in a three-way tie for first place with the Ducks and the Hawkeyes. UCLA will need to win tomorrow’s contest against Northwestern and requires Oregon to lose to Iowa to claim the Big Ten tournament’s No. 1 seed. Any other outcome grants UCLA the No. 2 spot.
“We’ll keep an eye on it, but our main concern is just our games staying with us,” Martin said. “Because I think really the only thing we can control is how we do.”
Sophomore right-hander Landon Stump will take the mound in the Bruins’ regular season finale – also UCLA’s Senior Day –, with the first pitch scheduled at 1 p.m.
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