UCLA Baseball Knocked Out of NCAA Regionals By Auburn Despite Delayed Comeback
The Bruins’ campaign has come to a close in Auburn as their comeback effort never grew beyond its roots.
UCLA baseball (40-24, 19-11 Pac-12) and No. 14 seed Auburn (40-19, 16-13 SEC) resumed play Monday afternoon after lightning in the area forced the regional final into a weather delay Sunday night. The Bruins were trailing by nine runs with one out in the bottom of the sixth when play was interrupted, needing to rally together to try and replicate their nine run comeback from the Pac-12 tournament semifinal against Oregon State.
However, UCLA was only able to score four runs on day two of the contest, and its postseason elimination was locked in by the eventual 11-4 loss.
After being unable to get a baserunner on in the bottom of the sixth, the Bruins strung together some at-bats to get on the scoreboard in the seventh and ultimately avoid the shutout.
Sophomore center fielder Carson Yates just missed his fourth home run of the regional on an RBI sacrifice fly to left field, and junior catcher Darius Perry followed that up with an RBI single up the middle to cut the lead to 9-2.
Coach John Savage turned to the bench with one out in the bottom of the eighth, removing sophomore outfielder JonJon Vaughns in favor of freshman catcher Jack Holman.
The choice paid off, with the left-handed swing of the Bruins’ pinch hitter crushing a pitch for a no-doubt solo home run over the right field wall. Holman’s blast was the first of his collegiate career.
UCLA was able to tack on one more run in the eighth as Yates lined a fastball into left field for an RBI single. The blue and gold were suddenly only down five as they entered the ninth inning.
Auburn did not roll over, though, as the Tigers rallied for two runs in the top of the ninth against freshman right-hander Alonzo Tredwell. The lead returned to seven runs and the hosts just needed three outs to close the Bruins out.
Tredwell hurled all 3.0 innings Monday afternoon, striking out three batters, allowing two hits and one earned run while tossing 54 pitches – the second-most UCLA’s closer has thrown in his collegiate career.
In the ninth, freshman shortstop Cody Schrier reached on a single, but that was all for the Bruins as the season came to an unceremonious close in Auburn.
The Tigers had a total of 10 hits compared to the Bruins’ eight, but the minuscule difference between the teams did show up in the run column.
Injuries to pitchers Jared Karros, Thatcher Hurd, Jake Brooks and Gage Jump turned UCLA’s strength of pitching depth into a weakness of sorts. The Bruins still had their go-to relief options of Tredwell, left-hander Daniel Colwell, left-hander Jake Saum and right-hander Luke Jewett – all of whom pitched in the Regional Final against Auburn.
Junior righty Charles Harrison did not appear in the Auburn Regional, though, after regularly being the first arm out of the bullpen for Savage.
The Bruins’ loss ends their season and will see the coaching staff turn to the offseason as they try to secure a top-ranked recruiting class in back-to-back years.
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