When UCLA baseball played Cal State Northridge on the road two weeks ago, it took two late home runs to propel the Bruins to a 7-3 victory.
But this time around, two early home runs gave No. 6 UCLA (11-1) the offense it needed to sweep the season series and defeat CSUN (11-4), 5-1 Tuesday night at Jackie Robinson Stadium.
The homers gave UCLA a total of 13 for the season and powered the Bruins to their sixth consecutive victory.
“Everything is just gelling right now,” said sophomore first baseman Luke Persico. “I think everyone is just really doing their job and that’s really all we can ask for.”
After the Matadors took the lead with an RBI triple in the opening frame, the Bruins did not take long to respond. Persico hit a two-run homer over the left field wall in the bottom half of the first to give the Bruins a lead that they would not relinquish. It was Persico’s third homer of the year and he is second on the team with 18 RBIs.
“Who would ever think that he’d be playing second base literally every day for us (last year)? That’s how beat-up we were,” said coach John Savage of Persico getting a lot of at-bats and playing out of position during his freshman year. “(But) it helped him a ton. … He’s really grown from his freshman year and that’s what we’re looking for guys to do.”
Senior third baseman Chris Keck followed with a solo shot of his own in the fourth inning to give the Bruins a 3-1 lead. Keck now leads the team with five homers and 20 RBIs for the season.
“I’ve been pretty patient in the box. Sometimes I’ll take some bad swings, but for the most part, I’m getting good counts to hit in,” Keck said. “So it makes it easy to hit when I’m in an advantage count.”
The Bruins added another run in the fourth inning on an error after back-to-back singles put a runner in scoring position.
The final run of the night came on a wild play, as junior right fielder Brett Urabe hit a comebacker to the pitcher, but the throw went all the way to the right field wall. Matador redshirt senior right fielder Chester Pak bobbled the ball, giving Urabe enough time to round the bases and score.
However, junior left fielder Ty Moore was unable to get into the hit column for the first time this season, ending his hit streak at 11 games.
On the mound, freshman pitcher Griffin Canning (2-1) threw six innings, allowing only one earned run, and also struck out a career-high eight batters.
“He is only going to get better,” Savage said. “I think he is more comfortable, but when he gets (really) comfortable, I think you’re going to see a pitcher that really progresses into the top pitcher that we want him to become.”
Redshirt sophomore Tucker Forbes, sophomore Grant Dyer and senior closer David Berg finished out the game with three scoreless innings, combining for five strikeouts.
UCLA will host defending champion No. 1 Vanderbilt and No. 7 TCU Friday and Saturday, and face No. 25 USC Sunday in the Dodger Stadium College Baseball Classic.