John Savage Reaches 600 Wins as UCLA Baseball Blows Out Harvard

The Bruins scored 20 runs in the first three innings to run away from the Crimson early.

It didn’t take long for the Bruins to assert themselves Friday night.

Through just three innings, UCLA baseball (11-6, 1-2 Pac-12) had already scored 20 runs, vaulting them ahead of Harvard (7-6, 0-0 Ivy League) en route to a 25-3 victory. The Bruins didn’t exactly pile it on by mashing meatballs, but rather they simply jumped on every opportunity to tally more runs on the board.

UCLA only needed 13 hits to score those 25 runs, thanks in no small part to Harvard’s 14 walks, six hit-by-pitches, four wild pitches and three errors. Make no mistake, though – the Bruin bats were more than efficient at the plate all night long.

It all started with a 10-spot in the bottom of the first.

Freshman second baseman Ethan Gourson opened things up with an RBI single with no outs. The next five runs all came with the bases loaded – three on walks, one on a hit-by-pitch and one on a passed ball.

Gourson came up to clear the bases with a three-RBI double, and junior designated hitter Josh Hahn brought the Bruins to 10 runs with an RBI single.

UCLA's two runs in the second inning came off of one swing, when freshman shortstop Cody Schrier launched a home run that also scored redshirt sophomore catcher Tommy Beres, who drew a seven-pitch walk the prior at-bat.

The Bruins improved on their dozen runs when Beres drew a bases-loaded walk in the third. Schrier singled in two runs, then Gourson grounded to first base and UCLA got another run on a throwing error.

Graduate left fielder Kenny Oyama scored on a wild pitch, Gourson scored on another and then right fielder JonJon Vaughns got the Bruins to the 20-run mark with a double to right center.

The fourth inning was the only one UCLA didn't score in, as they tacked on two more with a Vaughns homer in the fifth, another one on a groundout by freshman left fielder Malaki Knight in the sixth, one on a Hahn leadoff shot in the seventh and the 25th and final run on Hahn's groundout to second.

Schrier went a perfect 4-for-4 with a walk and five RBIs, tied with Vaughns for second-most on the team behind Gourson's six. Those three and Hahn totaled 16 RBIs on their own, powering the Bruins to more runs than they scored in their previous four games combined.

Harvard catching up at any point was going to be far-fetched with that kind of offensive outburst, especially with right-hander Jake Brooks on the mound.

Brooks retired 15 of the 20 batters he faced, only allowing one earned run in his 5.0 full frames of work. Using his eight strikeouts to make quick work of the Crimson, Brooks lowered his ERA to 1.95 on the season.

Redshirt sophomore right-hander Kelly Austin came in to open the sixth and allowed another earned run across his 2.1 innings, and senior left-hander Daniel Colwell closed things out with 1.2 scoreless innings. As a staff, the Bruins picked up 14 strikeouts to one walk, compared to Harvard's pitcher's 14 walks and eight strikeouts.

The one-sided victory didn't just get UCLA back on track after losing the first series of Pac-12 action to crosstown rival USC last weekend – it marked coach John Savage's 600th win since joining the Bruins for the 2005 season.

UCLA and Harvard will wrap up the three-game weekend series with a 2 p.m. contest Saturday and a 1 p.m. showdown Sunday.

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