Cal State Northridge was off to its best start in 13 years. But UCLA baseball is off to an even hotter one.
After hitting five home runs over the weekend against Hofstra, the No. 9 Bruins (4-0) added three more in a 7-3 victory over the Matadors (4-1) in its first midweek and road game of the season.
That gives UCLA a total of eight homers so far this season, matching its total from all of last season. It took the Bruins 13 games last season before they hit their first dinger.
“It’s funny,” said freshman second baseman Sean Bouchard. “It’s kind of been a running joke in the last couple days that we’ve matched the amount of home runs already in the first four games.”
Senior third baseman Chris Keck started the party with a shot over the right field wall in the second inning to give the Bruins a 1-0 lead.
However, in the middle innings, UCLA looked like its old self, relying on its small ball principles of moving runners over to manufacture runs.
Junior left fielder Ty Moore doubled in the fourth inning and subsequently moved to third on a sac fly. He then scored on a wild pitch to give the Bruins a 2-0 lead.
In the fifth inning, UCLA took a 3-1 lead after sophomore designated hitter Brett Stephens got on base via a hit-by-pitch and redshirt junior shortstop Kevin Kramer doubled him home.
Freshman pitcher Griffin Canning made his first career start for the Bruins, allowing three earned runs in 4.1 innings, but he also had six strikeouts.
“He just looked like a veteran out there. He did his job,” said junior catcher Darrell Miller Jr. “We look forward to him contributing like how he did tonight.”
With the game tied at three, UCLA’s relievers held down the fort until the bats got hot again in the eighth inning. Miller Jr. and Bouchard both hit the first home runs of their UCLA careers – each of them being two-run shots to cap a four-run inning for the Bruins.
“I don’t know how long this power surge will last, but we’re definitely enjoying it for now,” Bouchard said.
UCLA now has scored a total of 50 runs in four games, which is already 25 percent of last year’s total, when the team scored 200 runs in 56 games.
The only thing that can apparently cool off the Bruins right now is the weather.
It was announced during the game that this weekend’s series against the University of North Carolina will not be played in Chapel Hill due to snow and ice, along with extreme low temperatures making the conditions unplayable. The teams are still discussing potential alternatives.
“We’re working on a few things, but nothing will be decided until midday (Wednesday),” said coach John Savage. “Hopefully, we’ll have something for you and be able to let you know what the game plan is for this weekend.”