Mulivai Levu walk-off magic helps UCLA prevail over USC

No matter one’s allegiance, both fan bases could surely agree on one thing. More of this, please — particularly next month on the same field. In the continued revival of a crosstown college baseball rivalry, UCLA and USC packed a week’s worth of drama into one game inside the stadium that will host the College World Series.

UCLA’s Mulivai Levu delivered a three-run walk-off home run Saturday against USC at the Big Ten Tournament. The Trojans built a big early lead Saturday during the teams’ Big Ten Tournament semifinal at Charles Schwab Field in Omaha, Neb. The Bruins erased it.

Then, facing a closer who hadn’t given up a run since early March, USC broke through to take the lead. Ultimately, UCLA possessed the final counter. Mulivai Levu ’s three-run walk-off homer with two out in the ninth inning vaulted the top-ranked Bruins to a crazy 7-5 victory, giving him his second magical moment in as many days.

“We just don’t give up,” Levu, who hit a walk-off sacrifice fly against Purdue on Friday, told the Big Ten Network. “We’re never out of it, we’re never doubting ourselves. ” UCLA’s 27th comeback win of the season nudged it into the championship game Sunday against either second-seeded Nebraska or third-seeded Oregon.