Aside from the absurdity of playing the Big Ten Tournament in the Midwest when Southern California’s ideal weather is available, the top-ranked UCLA baseball team had to deal with something more dangerous on Friday.
Lots of gritty stuff for the Purdue Boilermakers.
Trailing after a few errors and trailing going into the eighth inning, the Bruins finally summoned some magic, like those princess strings in the sky before the first pitch finally revealed their treasure.
After tying the score with two runs in the eighth inning and loading the bases with one out in the ninth, Mulivai Levu’s sacrifice fly capped UCLA’s 4-3 comeback in a dramatic quarterfinal victory at Charles Schwab Field in Omaha, Neb.
The Bruins came out of their dugout to crowd Levu, who had also started their meeting earlier.
“We have a strong body and we all connect well and we don’t give up,” Levu told the Big Ten Network after helping his team improve to 8-4 when trailing after seven innings.
UCLA (49-6) benefited from an infield error and a throwing error that put two runners on to start the ninth inning. Leadoff hitter Dean West then gave up both runners in scoring position, prompting Purdue (37-20) to intentionally walk Roch Cholowsky to load the bases.
Levu then lofted a 2-and-1 pitch into right field, easily scoring shortstop Jarrod Hocking from third base for the game-winning run.
“We got lucky,” UCLA coach John Savage said, “and Vai did a great job picking up the ball and hitting it wide.”
What does it mean
The comeback avoided a bad, embarrassing loss that would have sapped much of UCLA’s momentum going into the regular season as the nation’s top-ranked team.
It also set up a game against USC in the semifinals. The Bruins swept the three-game series between the teams when they met in April at Jackie Robinson Stadium.
A place to change
With two outs in the eighth, UCLA had nobody on base and trailed by two runs.
Levu then ripped a single to the right side of the field before Dean Martin crushed the ball over the yellow line on the wall in left-center field.
Martin initially thought he had a run-scoring triple — then a home run — before being called back to third.
Payton Brennan followed with a single to center to tie the score, setting the stage for a magical ninth inning.
Did you see that?
Purdue’s Brandon Rogers wore a baseball cap in the dugout — a tradition to celebrate his team — after hitting a homer in the UCLA bullpen over the left field wall in the seventh inning.
MVP: Mulivai Levu
Levu went 2 for 3 with a walk in addition to driving in the winning run.
What was his reaction when he stepped to the plate in the bottom of the ninth?
“Go out there, get my heart rate down and try to get the job done,” Levu told the Big Ten Network. “I wasn’t trying to do much, I was just trying to put the ball in so that the third man could score.”
Next
The Bruins will face crosstown rival USC in the semifinals at noon Pacific on Saturday.
