UCLA baseball had already won the series entering Saturday’s game against Oregon, but the Bruins didn’t exactly look content with a series win.
They blew out the Ducks 13-1, pulling off a three-game sweep that pushed UCLA (19-18, 9-9 Pac-12) over Oregon (17-17, 7-8 Pac-12) in the conference standings.
The Bruins batted around in the first to take an early 4-0 lead. Junior third baseman Luke Persico belted an opposite-field homer to right, knocking in redshirt senior right fielder Eric Filia and getting the scoring started.
Senior center fielder Christoph Bono brought in the third run with an RBI single, and senior shortstop Trent Chatterton picked up an RBI on a fielders choice, just beating the throw at first to avoid hitting into an inning-ending double play.
The Bruin offense really broke the game open in the bottom of the fifth inning, sending eleven batters to the plate and putting up six runs. Senior second baseman Brett Urabe, freshman catcher Daniel Rosica, junior left fielder Brett Stephens and junior designated hitter Kort Peterson each came up with RBI base hits to fuel the six-run frame.
It took three different Oregon pitchers to come up with the outs that would eventually end the fifth.
UCLA tacked on three more in the sixth, mostly thanks to a two-RBI double off the bat of Filia.
For the third game in a row, the Bruins got a solid outing of their starting pitcher. Freshman Kyle Molnar threw seven scoreless innings, striking out five, walking one and allowing two hits.
Sophomore Jake Bird and redshirt freshman Nathan Hadley handled the eighth and ninth, respectively. Each threw a solid frame out of the bullpen to seal the victory, holding Oregon to just one run in the ninth.
The Bruins will start up a string of road games this Tuesday against Cal State Fullerton. Then UCLA will travel to Salt Lake City for a three-game set against Pac-12 leading Utah.