OMAHA, Neb. – A classic nursery rhyme came to life Monday and Tuesday.
After a three-run first inning outburst, the Bruins seemingly fell asleep as rain began to trickle in Monday night.
And after a weather delay turned into a postponement, No. 15 seed UCLA baseball (48-17, 22-8 Big Ten) struggled to wake up Tuesday morning, falling 9-5 to No. 6 seed LSU (50-15, 19-11 SEC) at Charles Schwab Field in the Bruins’ second game of the Men’s College World Series. With the loss, UCLA will play No. 3 seed Arkansas (49-14, 20-10 SEC) in an elimination game Tuesday night – the Bruins’ first doubleheader of the season.
“Just seemed like we were swimming upstream,” said coach John Savage. “We were just trailing a little bit on the mound mostly. … We stayed in the ball game. … Gave us a chance at the end of the game, but we just couldn’t contain them enough at the end of the day.”
The Bruins tagged right-hander Anthony Eyanson for three runs in the first inning, seemingly having the Tigers on the ropes, but LSU did more than just tightrope out of danger.
After recording a groundout to begin his evening, sophomore right-hander Landon Stump surrendered four straight base knocks – no bigger than first baseman Jared Jones’ three-run wall-scraper that capped off a four-run frame.
“We let too many balls out of the plate, and they’re not going to miss those,” Savage said. “Any good, solid middle lineup College World Series team is going to hit those.”
Stump would steady in the second – retiring the side in order with some help from sophomore shortstop Roch Cholowsky – but Savage cut his starter’s day short after the sophomore walked two straight to begin the third.
And with redshirt sophomore southpaw Chris Grothues able to keep just one inherited runner from scoring, Stump would finish with five earned runs on just 56 pitches.
After the game was paused with LSU leading 5-3 after three innings Monday night, right-hander Casan Evans got the nod from LSU coach Jay Johnson to begin the second day of action – and the freshman ran with the opportunity.
Keeping in Eyanson’s rhythm from the second inning on, Evans faced just two over the minimum over his first four frames, striking out five and walking none, before the Bruins’ bats finally woke up in the eighth.
After recording just four baserunners from the second inning till the seventh, the Bruins drove home two in the eighth after driving Evans from the game with a one-out single and hit-by-pitch.
The Tigers opted for southpaw Cooper Williams with four straight left-handed batters coming up for the Bruins, but he retired just one of the four, allowing redshirt sophomore center fielder Payton Brennan and sophomore designated hitter Blake Balsz to cut the lead to three.
Wylan Moss took the mound for the Bruins Tuesday but struggled for a consecutive outing in Omaha. The freshman right-hander faced just six batters and only retired two – instead charged with two runs. After posting a 2.47 ERA heading into the MCWS, Moss has allowed three runs in just a single inning pitched over two appearances.
“They (Stump and Moss) went out there – they were competing,” said sophomore catcher Cashel Dugger. “Just some days you have it better than others.”
Savage expended his typical seventh, eighth and ninth inning arms – right-handers junior Jack O’Connor, graduate student August Souza and freshman Easton Hawk, respectively – for a combined 41 pitches, allowing one run Tuesday.
But not only did UCLA run out eight pitchers to the mound against LSU – including long-relief option redshirt junior southpaw Ian May and sophomore right-hander Cal Randall – Arkansas right-hander Gage Wood saved his team’s bullpen Monday, no-hitting Murray State in the MCWS’ first since 1960.
“We have about five or six guys that didn’t pitch either yesterday or today,” Savage said. “So we’ll pick one or two – we’ll pick some guys out of that lot. And it’s always, ‘Can a guy come back right – morning and afternoon?’”
Cholowsky, Perfect Game’s College Player of the Year, continued to struggle on the national stage, going 0-for-5 with a strikeout. While the shortstop continues to elicit awe for his play on the dirt, he is 0-for-13 across his last three games in Omaha and hasn’t recorded an extra-base hit in eight straight games.
Meanwhile, Brennan – who was 13-for-25 in the NCAA tournament heading into Monday and arguably the team’s hottest hitter – went 0-for-4.
Maybe – fortunately for both – any woes against the Tigers could be made up for against the Razorbacks.
“It’s the World Series. I mean, you got to deal with anything that comes your way,” Savage said. “We have to deal with it, so we’ll be fine. We’re big boys.”
