UCLA baseball evens series with 6-1 victory over Gonzaga

Sean Bouchard hit just two home runs in the entire 2016 season.

On Saturday, he matched that total with a pair of two-run blasts as UCLA (3-2) notched a 6-1 victory over Gonzaga (3-3) to even the series at one apiece.

The junior first baseman struck first in the opening inning. After senior left fielder Brett Stephens smacked a triple to right-center field, Bouchard smoked a first-pitch curveball well over the fence in left field to put the Bruins up 2-0.

“I’ve noticed throughout the weekend so far they’ve been throwing guys first pitch off-speed especially (with runners) in scoring position,” Bouchard said. “So just going up there and knowing in the back of my mind – I’m probably going to get an off-speed pitch. Thankfully it was a hanging curveball and I just put a good swing on it.”

UCLA added a run in the fourth off a solo homer from freshman second baseman Chase Strumpf before Bouchard notched his second home run, an opposite-field shot that barely landed over the right field fence. The Bruins then extended their lead in the eighth on an RBI single by sophomore center fielder Daniel Amaral.

Bouchard credited his power stroke to his recent weight training. The 6-foot-3, 215 pound veteran said the regimen was established when assistant coach Bryant Ward joined the team last season.

“I’d say about the last 15 months – gaining weight and working on my body has been a priority, not just for me, but a lot of guys on the team,” Bouchard said. “It’s kind of been a little bit of a different culture around the team with coach Ward coming in. That’s been a big focus for us.”

Even with Bouchard’s field day at the dish, UCLA still struggled to tally runs with players in scoring position. After a 0-for-9 day on Friday, the Bruins went 2-for-10 with runners in scoring position Saturday.

[Related: UCLA baseball drops game to Gonzaga in tight 10-inning loss]

“Sometimes guys try to do too much and one thing we’ve been working on the last few days is stay small – it’s not all about you – get the next guy to the plate whether it be a walk or a sacrifice fly,” Bouchard said. “We’ve only had a couple of hits, but our at-bats are getting a lot better. We’re hitting the ball hard and having more competitive at-bats.”

In an encore from his promising start last weekend, junior pitcher Jake Bird dazzled once again on the mound, amassing seven strikeouts with just four hits allowed through six scoreless innings. Thus far, UCLA’s starting pitching has allowed just one earned run through 29 innings – a 0.31 ERA.

“When you got guys like that throwing up scoreless innings and giving up two to four hits every night, it makes our job pretty easy,” Bouchard said.

The Bruins will send sophomore Jon Olsen to the mound Sunday to try to claim the series from the Bulldogs. The right-hander tossed three scoreless innings in his last outing for UCLA against UC Riverside.