OMAHA, Neb. — UCLA did its heavy lifting early and held its ground late, a winning combo Saturday afternoon at the Men’s College World Series.
A four-run fourth led the No. 15 Bruins to a 6-4 win over Murray State in the opener for both at Charles Schwab Field in Omaha.
It puts 15th-seeded UCLA into Monday’s 4 p.m. PDT winner’s side of Bracket Two, with a date against either No. 3 seed Arkansas or No. 6 seed LSU – the SEC rivals play in Saturday’s evening session – up next.
The Bruins (48-16) will be there with their sixth consecutive victory thanks to a fast start from the offense – they tallied runs in three of the first four frames on the way to a 6-0 lead – and some timely outs from the bullpen.
Starter Michael Barnett sputtered through the first, walking two before getting a good bounce and a fortunate call to navigate a scoreless opening frame.
UCLA got on the board in the bottom of the inning, but plated just one – a Roman Martin walk with the bases loaded – and left the bases loaded after each of its first four batters reached base against Murray State starter Nic Schutte.
A nation-leading 64th double play of the season got the Bruins out of the second inning, and the offense generated another run in their half.
Cashel Dugger doubled to get the inning going. He moved to third on a Phoenix Call sacrifice, and scored on Dean West’s single to right.
Barnett again worked into and out of trouble in the third, giving up back-to-back singles to create traffic before getting a pair of flyouts to left.
“He threw up three zeroes. I don’t know if they’ve been the prettiest zeroes, but they’re zeroes,” UCLA coach John Savage told ESPN during an interview in the third inning. “At this level, zeroes are zeroes.”
His team again threatened in the bottom of the third, putting runners on first and third. But a Blake Balsz lineout out to left was snagged by Dan Tauken, who took a bad angle initially but made up for it with a reaching grab over his head to keep it 2-0.
Barnett put up the game’s first 1-2-3 inning in the fourth, needing just 11 pitches to get his team back in the dugout quickly.
And the offense responded.
Back-to-back singles by Call and West set up the Bruins in the fourth before sophomore shortstop Roch Cholowsky laid down a safety squeeze for his team-leading 80th RBI of the year.
After Mulivai Levu was hit by a pitch, Martin singled to center to drive in his second run of the game and keep the rally going. AJ Salgado brought home two more before the inning was over with a double to right, pushing the lead to 6-0.
Staked to a big lead, Barnett got a pair of quick outs in the fifth. But a two-out single and four-pitch walk by the next two Murray State batters ended the junior’s outing.
Savage, who told ESPN’s sideline reporter that Barnett exited with leg cramps, turned to a bullpen that hadn’t allowed a hit in 29 at-bats entering the day.
That streak was snapped on the second pitch from right-hander Wylan Moss. Carson Garner singled to right, a run charged to Barnett, to get the Racers (44-16) on the board. They nearly added more, but West made a diving catch in left to prevent any additional damage.
Murray State chipped into the lead again in the sixth, with a Luke Mistone single chasing Moss. Will Vierling greeted reliever Ian May with a single of his own, and Tauken flew out to bring in Mistone and make it a 6-2 game.
Jonathan Hogart and Dustin Mercer started the seventh inning with singles against UCLA’s Jack O’Connor. Long flyouts by each of the next two Racers – including one to the warning track – helped put out the fire before August Souza came on for O’Connor to get the final out of the frame, a lineout to center.
That wasn’t the end of underdog Murray State, though.
The Racers put the first two on against Souza to start the eighth, plating both on a pair of groundouts to pull within two.
But Bruin freshman closer Easton Hawk shut things down in the ninth, punctuating his eighth save of the season with a pair of strikeouts.
UCLA improved to 27-1 this season when scoring first.
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