Griffin Canning put the Bruins on his back Friday night.
The sophomore right-hander twirled a complete-game shutout to lift UCLA baseball (15-16, 6-7 Pac-12) to a win on the road in a 1-0 pitcher’s duel against Washington (17-12, 7-6) and sophomore righty Noah Bremer.
Both Canning – who went 3-4 with a 3.53 ERA – and Bremer – who went 4-1 with a 2.28 ERA – were named Louisville Slugger Freshman All-Americans last season, and they both showed why on Friday. Canning struck out 10 Huskies and induced another 11 groundouts to capitalize on the single run the Bruin hitters scraped across against Bremer, who also went the distance.
Each team produced six hits, but only the Bruins were able to score.
Their lone run came in the top of the sixth, when the top of the Bruin lineup strung together a series of good at-bats against Bremer. Junior left fielder and leadoff hitter Brett Stephens doubled, moved to third on a single from sophomore first baseman Sean Bouchard and scored on a sacrifice fly from redshirt senior right fielder Eric Filia.
Outside of the sixth, the Bruins only reached second base once in the ballgame, when Stephens stroked another double in the eighth. Stephens, back in the leadoff spot for the first time since March 29, looked like he belonged at the top of the order, going 2-4 with the pair of doubles.
Canning set the tone for the evening in the first inning. After the leadoff batter reached on an infield single and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt, Canning overpowered the middle of the Huskie lineup, striking out both No. 3 hitter John Naff and cleanup man Gage Matuszak.
He would record seven of his 10 punchouts against Naff and Matuszak. In the fourth inning, he struck out Naff, Matuszak and No. 5 hitter Joey Morgan, all looking.
Filia went 0-3 Friday night, marking the first time all season he did not reach base.