UCLA baseball walks off with a sweep over USC

Cody Keefer finished up a weekend full of runs with a walk-off.

The freshman outfielder hit a two-out, two-run home run to right field in the bottom of the ninth inning to give UCLA a 2-1 victory in Sunday’s weekend finale against USC.

Keefer’s shot finished off a three-game sweep of the Trojans (23-28, 5-16 Pac-10) in which the No. 11 Bruins (37-11, 13-8) scored 28 combined runs in the first two games.

It was the first walk-off home run for the Bruins since their first game of the 2008 season.

“When I first went up there I was going to take until he threw me a strike,” said Keefer, who watched as the count went to 2-1 before teeing off. “He gave me a pitch I wanted, and I turned on it. It just happened.”

It was the second longball of the season for Keefer, and, according to the freshman, the second or third game-ending shot of his career. But the final at-bat was only possible because junior outfielder Brett Krill, who hit a mammoth home run to straight-away centerfield on Saturday, hit a two-out single ahead of Keefer to keep the inning alive.

“You’ve got to give Brett Krill a lot of credit for getting on base with two outs and using the opposite field,” coach John Savage said. “And then (Keefer), we haven’t seen him hit the ball like that in a long time, and I think he’s a player that has a little dramatic in him and he proved that today. “

The heroics were only necessary because the Bruin bats were handcuffed by the USC pitching duo of Kevin Couture and Chad Smith. After crossing the plate 13 times on Friday and adding 15 on Saturday, UCLA was scoreless on just four hits through eight innings Sunday.

It seemed like the Bruins were going to waste a strong performance by starter Rob Rasmussen, who gave up just one run on six hits while striking out eight and walking none in seven innings.

“You’ve got to give them a lot of credit, it was an outstanding game,” Savage said. “Both teams played extremely well, we were very fortunate to win the game at the end. It’s a credit to our team for never giving up.”

Keefer played a key role in the opening inning of the series, singling in a run as part of a four-run first on Friday that set the tone for the rest of the series.

After hitting their way to a 13-7 victory that night, the Bruins came back Saturday to post a 15-2 win on the strength of a pair of five-run innings, stellar defense, and a strong performance from Trevor Bauer. The sophomore starter struck out 11 in eight innings to earn his eighth win.

“I came out and tried to throw the ball over the plate, made sure to make them beat me instead of beating myself,” Bauer said. “The mindset when you (get a big lead) is throw the ball over the plate. My defense picked me up, and we got the job done.”

On Sunday, the Trojans picked up a run in the fourth inning when designated hitter Cade Kreuter hit a solo home run to left center. Kreuter caused a bit of a stir when the Bruins felt that he took his time getting out of the batter’s box and rounding the bases. After Kreuter exchanged words with a couple of UCLA players on his way around the basepaths, both sides were warned.

With the victory Sunday, UCLA has now won 13 of the past 16 games against USC.

“There’s Trojans and there’s Bruins,” Savage said. “I just think that with their tradition and the rich heritage of their program, you can always get up to play them, and they can always get up to play us I’m sure.”

The sweep of its rivals puts UCLA firmly in second place in the conference behind Arizona State with two conference series left to play. For USC, Sunday’s loss is just another blow in a difficult season. In the home clubhouse, however, there was nothing but jubilation in the aftermath of the walk-off win.

“It’s awesome,” Keefer said. “With ‘SC being our rivals and all, you can’t ask for much more.”