Early lead drives baseball’s win over Mississippi State
By Tyler Drohan
June 24, 2013 9:19 p.m.
With a 3-1 win Monday night over Mississippi State, UCLA baseball won its first-ever game in the championship series of the College World Series.
The Bruins’ win puts them one away from winning the program’s first-ever baseball title.
Sophomore closer David Berg came on in the bottom of the eighth to get the Bruins out of the jam then finished things off in the ninth for his 24th save of the season to set a new NCAA record for saves in a season.
Berg’s strong late performance matched UCLA’s fast start to the game. Junior shortstop Pat Valaika put the Bruins up with an RBI single in the first with sophomore right fielder Eric Filia putting the team ahead 3-0 with a two-out single in the fourth.
Junior starter Adam Plutko ran into trouble in the bottom of the fourth, walking in a run with the bases loaded before getting a fly out to right field to end the threat. Plutko finished with six innings pitched, allowing four hits and one run.
UCLA (48-17) will again face Mississippi State (51-19) in the best-of-three series Tuesday night at 5 p.m. PST, 7 p.m. locally.
