Throughout the season, the UCLA baseball team came out week after week with solid wins, never seeking attention for their success. The question going into this weekend was whether they would be able to sustain their success with the added pressure of a being No. 2 national seed.
The Bruins stayed true to form, coming away with three wins and an NCAA regional title this weekend. UCLA will advance past the first round of postseason play and will likely host a super regional at Jackie Robinson Stadium next weekend.
UCLA defeated Creighton 3-0 on Friday and a hard hitting New Mexico team 7-1 on Saturday to stay in the winner’s bracket throughout the weekend. Their 13-5 win over Creighton on Sunday crowned UCLA the winner of their regional.
Friday and Saturday saw strong pitching performances from UCLA’s sophomores Adam Plutko and Nick Vander Tuig. They both carried no-hitters until late innings.
“Adam gave his best outing of the year, quite honestly. And we needed it. In a series where you are talking about multiple games in a few days, you are talking about saving your bullpen, and Adam did it as well as you could,” coach John Savage said.
The complete game shutout pitched by Plutko was crucial in Friday’s win since the offense, facing Creighton’s best in junior left-hander Ty Blach, was less than explosive.
Vander Tuig got a handle on New Mexico’s hot hitting team Saturday, dealing them 11 strikeouts over eight innings.
UCLA had established themselves as the dominant team in the Los Angeles Regional by the time the final game, a rematch against Creighton, came around.
“We knew we’d have to play an almost perfect game to take the regional,” said Creighton coach Ed Servais.
Sunday did not bring the same precision pitching as the two previous nights as an erratic Zack Weiss took the mound.
His pitches soared over the head of junior catcher Tyler Heineman and even dribbled past the plate at times, but Weiss found a way to close out innings. He allowed only three runs in five innings pitched.
“Zack was on the ropes, he wobbled and hung in there, then handed the ball over after the fifth to our strength, our bullpen,” Savage said.
A well-rested Bruin pen came in and did their job after that, with freshman David Berg in for the sixth and seventh. Redshirt sophomore Ryan Deeter and junior Scott Griggs finished up in the eighth and ninth.
However, a strong pitching staff wasn’t necessary on Sunday ““ UCLA had a 10-run lead over Creighton before the seventh inning stretch, including two home runs from junior right fielder Jeff Gelalich.
“It’s a great feeling, I mean you don’t think about it during the game, focusing on the task at hand, but hopefully we can carry this momentum into next weekend,” Gelalich said.