This post was updated May 23 at 5:45 p.m.
On back-to-back days at the Big Ten tournament, junior first baseman Mulivai Levu was the walk-off hero.
In the quarterfinal, he had the tie-breaking RBI on a sacrifice fly.
And in the semifinal, Levu blasted a three-run home run to take the lead from the Trojans and advance again.
“Just like yesterday, I tried to calm my heart rate down,” Levu told Big Ten Network postgame. “It was beating, so I just tried to get my breath and hunt for a fastball and luckily got one over the plate.”
No. 1 seed UCLA baseball (50-6, 28-2 Big Ten) walked off No. 4 seed USC (43-15, 20-10 Big Ten) 7-5 in the semifinal of the Big Ten tournament on Saturday at Charles Schwab Field in Omaha, Nebraska. Levu went 3-for-5 and recorded four RBIs on the day in the Bruins’ 27th comeback win of the year to send them to the conference tournament championship.
“If we could put nine hitters up there all the time, we’d put him (Levu) up there every single at-bat,” said junior center fielder Will Gasparino.
The Bruins’ starter, senior right-hander Michael Barnett, went 4.2 innings, allowing three runs and eight hits through 86 pitches. The bullpen stepped in and didn’t allow another run until the ninth inning.
The Trojans plated the first runner of the day in the first inning, as Trojan catcher Augie Lopez reached with a single and advanced on a wild pitch, before heading home on a double.
USC tacked on two more in the third inning with one out. Lopez pushed home a runner from second with a single, then advanced to second himself on the throw to home. He subsequently gave the Trojans a three-run lead when he headed home on a sacrifice fly.
The Bruins tacked on their first run with freshman designated hitter Dominic Cadiz scoring on Levu’s single into right field. UCLA stranded two on base to end the inning after scoring just one run.
Gasparino hit a come-backer at 112 mph off Trojan right-hander Grant Govel in the bottom of the fourth to reach base. He dashed to second on a wild pitch and reached third on a sacrifice fly.
Cadiz dropped a hit into the gap in front of USC center fielder Walter Urbon to score Gasparino and bring the Bruins within one run of the Trojans.
Junior shortstop Roch Cholowsky missed two opportunities for outs on defense in the fifth inning. A hit grazed the bottom of his glove and slid past him, allowing the runner to reach and Lopez – who Barnett walked – to stand on second. Cholowsky then lifted his foot off the base at second as he caught the ball and turned the play to first, losing an out on a double play attempt that would have ended the inning.
Following the failed double play, Barnett made way for right-hander Landon Stump, who stranded two runners with a strikeout to end the inning. Stump had been the Sunday starter this season until the final weekend of the regular season.
USC also made a pitching change in the fifth inning, bringing in right-hander Gavin Lauridsen – who allowed junior outfielder Dean West to reach first amid bunt confusion. But West was wiped off the bases as USC turned a double-play on Cholowsky.
Levu reached base on a single, then attempted to head for home when Martin hit a double into the right field gap. But a relay into the infield made it to Lopez in time for him to tag Levu out at home plate, ending the inning and blocking the Bruins from tying the game.
Right-hander Justin Lee took the mound in the seventh inning, securing two outs and walking two before making way for right-hander Zach Strickland.
Strickland hit the USC batter on his first pitch to load the bases. With a 3-2 deficit for UCLA on the line, he elicited a swinging strikeout on a 3-2 count to strand all three runners.
Savage deployed back-to-back pinch hitters in the seventh inning, and the first one – redshirt sophomore Aidan Espinoza – reached on a bunt.
West entered the batter’s box with a runner on base.
And the junior outfielder fired off a 424-foot long-ball into the stands past right field to take a 4-3 lead.
Following his hit batter in the seventh inning, Strickland recorded four straight outs, before the Bruins’ closer stepped out for the ninth inning.
Sophomore right-hander Easton Hawk – who had previously pitched 25 straight scoreless innings, going back to March 8 – allowed USC to load the bases with a single, an error and a walk, all while recording zero outs.
Martin was inches from snatching a foul ball from USC batter Isaac Cadena, who eventually pushed across the tying run. And the 5-4, go-ahead run for USC scored on a sacrifice fly.
With the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth – courtesy of an Espinoza single and a West walk – Cholowsky stepped up to the plate, 0-for-4 on the day, but he fouled out.
Then came Levu’s moment.
“I have all the confidence in myself to get it done and do a job and luckily came through with it,” Levu said.
His home run gave the Bruins the lead and clinched their spot in the Big Ten tournament final for the second straight year.
UCLA will face the winner of No. 2 seed Nebraska and No. 3 seed Oregon in the championship contest on Sunday at noon.
