Jeremy Ydens had a career day Saturday.
The sophomore left fielder hit two home runs, tallying five RBIs en route to a 15-1 victory for No. 18 UCLA baseball (34-17, 17-9 Pac-12) over Oregon (25-26, 11-15). The righty had two homers his freshman year, and had three on the season coming into Saturday’s game. His two homer day carried the Bruins to their third win a row, with just four games left on the slate this year.
Ydens knocked a solo shot to left field to lead off the first inning, putting the Bruins up 1-0 early. In the fourth, he came up with two men on base and drove them all in on a line drive that cleared the right field wall to give his team a 6-0 lead.
Ydens didn’t carry UCLA on his own, however. A two-run second inning put the Bruins up 3-0. Junior center fielder Daniel Amaral drove a double deep off the left field wall, and was driven in on an infield single by freshman right fielder Garrett Mitchell three pitches later.
The Bruins were able to hold on to their early lead thanks to freshman right-hander Zach Pettway, who pitched six innings and racked up seven strikeouts. It was his seventh game with six or more strikeouts this year, and he allowed just four hits, the first time since Feb. 25 he has allowed four or fewer hits in a start.
The solo home run Pettway allowed in the seventh ended his shutout bid, and it was the 14th homer he has allowed in as many games this season. He was able to drop his season ERA to 3.42, a return to form after his 4 1/3 inning, 7 earned run performance against Washington last week.
Pettway had some help from his fielders as well, with Mitchell ranging across the outfield to make a reaching grab to prevent an extra base hit in the third. Amaral caught a hard-hit line drive and turned a double play, catching the lone runner tagging at first base.
Amaral had a home run of his own in the seventh inning, knocking a solo shot to left to bring the Bruin lead to 9. It was his third home run of the year, after hitting one each in his first two seasons at UCLA.
After hitting a two-RBI double in the sixth, sophomore first baseman Michael Toglia had another in the seventh. Sophomore catcher Will McInerny also added a two-RBI double in the seventh.
The Bruins broke double-digits in runs, hitting that mark in their third game in a row.
UCLA and Oregon will close out the series Sunday at 12 p.m., as the Bruins have a chance to complete a sweep in-conference for the first time since April 22.