No. 1 UCLA baseball pulls away from No. 12 USC in highly anticipated showdown
UCLA and USC were locked in a tight contest for seven innings before the Bruins lit up the Trojans en route to a 12-4 Friday win at Jackie Robinson Field.
For seven innings on Friday night, the much anticipated college baseball showdown between No. 1 UCLA and rival No. 12 USC , lived up to expectations before an overflow crowd at Jackie Robinson Stadium.
There were three home runs, diving catches, two elite starting pitchers competing at a high level and both teams refusing to let the other separate itself. Then came the bottom of the eighth inning. "It was one of those weird innings," UCLA coach John Savage said.
UCLA sent up 12 batters and scored seven runs to turn a tight game into a rout and come away with a 12-4 victory in the first game of a three-game series. "It's a cruddy way to end it," USC coach Andy Stankiewicz said. "We were right there and it went sideways fast.
" UCLA (27-2) took a 5-4 lead in the seventh on an RBI single from Will Gasparino. In the eighth, the Bruins loaded the bases with none out on a walk, hit batter and infield single. Then came a two-run single from Mulvai Levu, an infield single from Roman Martin and a two-run single by Payton Brennan.