This post was updated May 31 at 10:48 p.m.
The Bruins put themselves on the ropes one too many times.
Known as the comeback kids all year long, they finally dug themselves into a hole they couldn’t climb out of.
No. 1 overall seed UCLA baseball (52-8, 28-2 Big Ten) was eliminated from the NCAA tournament after falling to No. 4 seed Saint Mary’s (36-26, 15-12 WCC) 6-5 Sunday in 10 innings at Jackie Robinson Stadium. The Gaels became the first team all season to beat the Bruins twice.
After a ninth-inning St. Mary’s rally sent the game into extra innings, UCLA’s offense fell flat for the fifth consecutive inning. And the Gaels continued to hit, lacing their 14th and 15th hits of the afternoon to knock off the No. 1 national seed.
“It was a struggle all three games, but it’s nothing to take away from this team,” coach John Savage said. “You win 52 games, preseason number one and never leave that spot. It’s really remarkable, a lot of credit to our captains, our seniors, to the entire program, the assistant coaches. I can’t say enough about the people that I am around and that I’ve coached day in and day out.”
UCLA Athletics did not provide interview availability with the team’s players.
The Bruins came out hot offensively, jumping out to an early lead that they would hold for eight innings of the ballgame.
Junior shortstop Roch Cholowsky took a 2-2 fastball off the elbow for a hit by pitch. Then junior first baseman Mulivai Levu promptly deposited a first-pitch fastball into right field, advancing Cholowsky to third easily.
UCLA would take a 1-0 lead on a single off the bat of junior third baseman Roman Martin, fighting off a two-strike sweeper into center field.
The barrage of hits continued in the second as freshman second baseman Aiden Aguayo led off the inning by punching an inside fastball down the first base line, evading a shift that was predicting him to pull the ball the other way. With the St. Mary’s right fielder shifted well toward the line, fellow freshman designated hitter Trey Gudoy dodged the defense again, perfectly splitting the right-center field gap with a line drive that rolled to the wall and allowed Aguayo to score from first.
UCLA played small ball to extend the lead 3-0, moving Gudoy to third with a sacrifice bunt from junior utility Phoenix Call and then plating the run on a chopped ground ball to the St. Mary’s second baseman off the bat of junior left fielder Dean West.
“We played three days where the ballpark was very hot, and what I mean by hot I mean very offensive,” Savage said.
Meanwhile, freshman right-hander Angel Cervantes – newly tabbed as Savage’s Sunday starter – evaded traffic but managed to keep the St. Mary’s offense at bay. He worked around a single and a hit by pitch in the first with two strikeouts, but three second-inning singles would surrender the first Gael run of the afternoon.
The Bruins gave up two home runs to the Gaels on Friday, and Sunday was no different.
In the third, St. Mary’s catcher Ian Armstrong pounced on a hanging sweeper, sending a mammoth home run over the batter’s eye in center field. And designated hitter Jacob Johnson would do the same in the fifth, blasting an elevated changeup over the left field wall for his third home run of the weekend against the Bruins.
“St. Mary’s, to their credit, I thought played very well – a really good team,” Savage said. “Whenever you see a West Coast team on the four (seed), they’re dangerous. They got good players, good coaches.”
Cervantes would leave after a one-out hit by pitch in the sixth, allowing nine hits and three runs while striking out seven. The right-hander was in the strike zone frequently, throwing 64% of his pitches for strikes with 10 swings-and-misses.
He lasted a career-high 5.1 innings and 94 pitches, giving the UCLA bullpen much-needed length.
“I thought Angel really grew up (this season),” Savage said. “It’s taken Angel a little while to get where he’s got, and it’s fun to watch. It’s fun to call pitches for him. He’s going to be a star. Nobody knows what it takes to develop if you’re not involved with that person, and it’s taken time with Angel.”
With leadoff hitter Tanner Griffith coming up for a fourth at-bat with a runner on first, Savage turned to redshirt junior southpaw Chris Grothues for the left-on-left matchup. But after sailing a fastball to the backstop for a wild pitch, Griffith lofted a slider into center field for a base hit to cut the lead to 5-4. After just one batter, Savage made another trip to the mound, calling on junior right-hander Landon Stump, who worked a 10-pitch fly out to avoid further damage.
For the final four innings, UCLA’s offense went cold as St. Mary’s southpaw Cam Staton shut out the Westwood squad for the second time in three days.
Stump continued in the seventh, allowing a leadoff single to Armstrong to bring Johnson to the plate. For a second, it looked like he got the best of the Bruins one final time, sending a towering fly ball into right field – right where he sent his two Friday night home runs. This fly was a few feet shorter, though, allowing Call to leap and catch the ball just below the yellow line, crashing into the fence.
Three pitches later, Stump induced a tailor-made double play: a chopped ground ball which Aguayo flipped to Cholowsky, who fired across the diamond to end the inning.
In for his third relief appearance in as many days, junior right-hander Cal Randall covered the eighth, striking out the first two Gaels with a flurry of high-90s heaters before coaxing a ground ball deep into the hole, which Cholowsky tracked down with a backhand, firing across his body just in time to nab the hustling runner.
Facing the top of the Gaels’ lineup, Savage stuck with Randall to start the ninth – with sophomore closer Easton Hawk warming in the bullpen. Griffith worked a full count, fighting off a 97 mph fastball back up the middle for a leadoff single, prompting Hawk to enter.
“We have complete faith in Easton,” Savage said. “We wanted to try to steal one and have Easton be available tonight. We’ve played so many one-run games, the games have been so tight, and that took a toll on our bullpen.”
Right fielder Diego Castellanos laid a sacrifice bunt off of Hawk to advance Griffith to second – the game’s tying run. Hawk punched out first baseman Makoa Sniffen, inducing three swings-and-misses on sliders for a strikeout and the second out of the inning.
But with Levu as the only defender on the right side of the infield, Armstrong chopped a ground ball over the first baseman’s head, tying the game at 5-5 apiece.
Hawk unwound for a moment, walking consecutive hitters to load the bases and falling behind 2-1 to shortstop Jared Mettam. With the season on the line, Hawk coaxed a ground ball toward third base, which Martin snagged with one hand, stepping on third to end the inning.
UCLA’s bats would stay silent for a fifth straight inning, quickly going down in order atop the 10th inning. And St. Mary’s ended it in the bottom half of the inning with a groundball getting past the glove of Martin, sealing what had otherwise been a historic season for the Westwood squad.
“It’s a tough clubhouse to leave,” Savage said. “Those guys have been such wonderful Bruins and wonderful teammates. They won over 100 games the last two years – no one in the country has done that.”
