UCLA baseball stumbles in disappointing series loss to USC

Jackie Robinson Stadium was buzzing Friday evening, with a season-high 2,041 fans on hand to see UCLA baseball jump out to an early lead in its series opener against USC.

The marching band played, and the large number of students that arrived on free shuttle buses erupted when redshirt senior center fielder Christoph Bono launched a solo homer in the second inning.

The park had a very different vibe at the end of the series. More than 2,000 fans showed up for Sunday’s rubber match, but most were either gone or silent by the late innings as the Bruins limped to a 9-0 loss.

By dropping two of three to USC (23-25, 12-12 Pac-12), UCLA (24-25, 11-13) left itself facing a near-impossible path to an NCAA tournament berth. If the Bruins win all of their remaining seven games, they could maybe earn a spot. Maybe.

“We’re not on the bubble,” said coach John Savage. “If we win out, we may be on the bubble, if we win (all) seven, but we’re not on the bubble. If anybody thinks we’re on the bubble, they don’t know what they’re talking about.”

That being said, a series win over the Trojans would have helped the Bruins’ case for inclusion in the 64-team tourney. Instead, UCLA’s No. 88 RPI will drop even lower following the defeat at the hands of USC, whose RPI is 111.

The Bruins scored just seven runs over the weekend. Their lineup weakened by the absence of injured sophomore first baseman Sean Bouchard.

On Friday, after Bono’s early long ball, UCLA surrendered five unanswered runs before junior right fielder Kort Peterson delivered a two-run ninth-inning homer to provide a cosmetic boost to the 5-3 final score.

For most of Saturday’s game, the Bruins looked headed for another loss. But an exciting two-run rally in the eighth inning gave them a 4-3 lead that junior closer Moises Ceja held in the ninth.

“It was good, you win that game so you have the chance to win the series,” Savage said. “So now it’s somewhat of an empty feeling in terms of the way we played today.”

The Trojan bats bludgeoned the Bruins early and often Sunday, tagging freshman starter Kyle Molnar for four earned runs in four innings and scoring against three of the Bruins’ four relievers en route to a 9-0 win.

“(It’s) just really disappointing how we came out and how we responded after such a good game last night,” Savage said Sunday. “We didn’t come out and fight. The fact that we lose this series at home when we needed to win a series is really the most disappointing thing.”

Molnar labored through 72 pitches before coming out of the game with a hamstring injury that he first sustained a couple weeks ago.

“It’s kind of been lingering on, so now we’re going to have to have it evaluated,” Savage said. “He wasn’t particularly sharp, but they hit some mistakes. Every mistake he made, they made him pay. That’s what an experienced team does.”

USC sophomore starter Mitch Hart, a 2015 Louisville Slugger Freshman All-American who dealt with injuries early this year and has struggled since returning, delivered a strong outing for the Trojans on Sunday. Hart tossed six shutout innings, giving up just three hits and a walk.

“I think we had (only) eight quality at-bats throughout the game and a lot of pop-ups,” Savage said. “I call it easy defense. There was no real pressure on their defense. Therefore, we didn’t score.”

The Bruins will host UC Santa Barbara on Tuesday as they look to produce some late-season magic and sneak into the tournament field.

“The season’s not over yet,” Savage said. “If we have any fight, then you would think that we would show up this week.”