This post was updated May 30 at 6:07 p.m.
Sir Isaac Newton’s first law of motion says an object in motion will stay in motion.
Saturday seemed to prove that it would take a force a lot stronger than a tournament-opening loss and two-run deficit in the ninth to stop the Bruins in their tracks.
“We’ve kind of developed an identity,” said junior utility Phoenix Call. “We call it the 7-8-9, and so when the seventh inning comes around, we treat it as a new game.”
No. 1 overall seed UCLA baseball (52-7, 28-2 Big Ten) will keep moving, extending its season a day and avoiding elimination Saturday by walking-off Los Angeles Regional No. 2 seed Virginia Tech (30-26, 15-15 ACC) 6-5 at Jackie Robinson Stadium.
Junior corner infielders Mulivai Levu and Roman Martin slugged back-to-back jacks to open the ninth before junior center fielder Will Gasparino literally threw his bat a pitch and legged out an infield single.
And the Hokies’ five-man infield was unable to contain Call – the then-right fielder after starting the game at second base – who delivered the game-ending RBI single.
“When you’re so bought into winning and you’re just trying to do it for your guys in the dugout,” Martin said. “It gets rid of any anxiety that you have.”
UCLA will play the loser of Saturday’s game between No. 3 seed Cal Poly and No. 4 seed Saint Mary’s on Sunday at 1 p.m. and, with a victory, the winner at 6 p.m.
Between Friday’s loss to Saint Mary’s – which made it the first No. 1 overall seed to lose its NCAA tournament opener – and through Saturday’s first eight innings, UCLA went 1-for-27 with runners on base and scored just five runs.
But two timely hits in the Bruins’ next three at-bats with runners all were enough to keep the team’s heart beating.
Senior right-hander Michael Barnett, who missed the national tournament as a freshman, missed the Pac-12 Tournament as a sophomore and took the ball in his team’s regional, super regional and Men’s College World Series opener – all of which ended in UCLA wins – toed the rubber for just the Bruins’ second NCAA elimination game during his tenure.
Barnett completed six innings for the first time since June 7 and pitched into the seventh for the first time since May 16, 2025.
“It was his best game he’s pitched all season,” said coach John Savage.
Though the longball continued to plague Barnett – who entered Saturday with a career-worst 1.25 HR/9 and surrendered three Hokie homers, the last of which ended his afternoon – Savage only needed to rely on his bullpen for three innings, with his team needing to win a double-header Sunday if it wishes to have a chance at advancing to super regionals Monday.
With Gasparino’s one-game suspension served Friday and redshirt junior right fielder Payton Brennan’s injury since Friday, Call has played second base, center field and right field over the past two games.
“Everyone has an identity,” Call said. “I like to do whatever can help the team win, so whether I’m playing right, center – and as long as I can help the team win, then I’m happy.”
The junior utility, who has also laid down three sacrifice bunts over the last two games, may need to continue being a Swiss Army knife in the field.
The Bruins will be without Brennan for a few days, Savage said, after he suffered an oblique injury Friday.
Meanwhile, freshman second baseman Aiden Aguayo, who the coach said rolled his ankle Friday, played the field in the bottom of the ninth.
“Aguayo was taped up,” Savage said. “Shot up – the whole operation – so he did a good job.”
Right-handers junior Cal Randall, freshman Zach Strickland and sophomore closer Easton Hawk all appeared for a second consecutive game. While Randall tossed a clean seventh after walking his first hitter on four pitches, Strickland and Hawk allowed a run each.
Ahead of Sunday’s probable double-header, redshirt senior southpaw Ian May and freshman right-hander Angel Cervantes have yet to appear in the LA Regional, while junior right-hander Landon Stump tossed just a single frame Friday.
May made 12 starts for the Bruins last season, while Cervantes and Stump have made 13 and 14 starts this year, respectively.
