UCLA baseball bounces back from first defeat with win over No. 2 Vanderbilt

After their first loss of the season Tuesday, the Bruins are back in the win column.

No. 6 UCLA baseball (12-1) defeated the reigning champions No. 2 Vanderbilt (11-4) 3-2 on Friday in front of a sellout crowd at Jackie Robinson Stadium, bouncing back from an 8-5 defeat suffered in its midweek game in Santa Barbara. Junior right-hander Zach Pettway threw six innings, only allowing one earned run to tally his third win of the season in four appearances.

Coach John Savage said Pettway’s performance against the Commodores was what he expects out of the right on any given Friday night.

“(Pettway’s) done it all season,” Savage said. “He’s our Friday night guy for a reason. His hard work has paid off. I can’t see enough good things about him.”

Making his fourth start of the season, Pettway – who won his second straight Pac-12 Pitcher of the Week award Tuesday – retired the first 12 Commodores he faced before giving up a baserunner. He finished with six innings, allowing two runs – only one of them earned – on three hits along with four strikeouts.

With the win, Pettway improved to 3-0 in 25.2 innings, pitching to the tune of a 1.05 ERA this season.

“I know what I have and what I can offer to our team,” Pettway said. “I’m an aggressive (pitcher) and I go after guys, and I think when I’m doing that, it just helps out our team in general.”

The Bruins had chances to score in the early innings against the Commodores’ starter Kumar Rocker, but left a pair of runners stranded in each of the first two frames.

The Bruins’ breakthrough on the scoreboard came in the bottom of the third inning, when redshirt freshman first baseman JT Schwartz hit a line drive into left center, splitting Vanderbilt’s outfielders. Senior left fielder Kyle Cuellar scored from first for the game’s opening run.

“I just wanted to jump on the first good (fastball) he gave me,” Schwartz said. “(Getting an early lead) is huge. Anytime we get a lead, we can count on (Pettway) and our defense and our pitching.”

And once the Bruins scored the go-ahead run, they didn’t relinquish the lead for the rest of the game.

The Bruins added to the lead in the next inning, when the first three batters reached base, ending Rocker’s night. With nobody out and the bases loaded, junior center fielder Garrett Mitchell hit a sacrifice fly to left field, scoring the second run. The throw back from the outfield went past the cutoff man and past the infield, eventually landing out of play in the Bruins’ dugout. The Vanderbilt error allowed sophomore shortstop Mikey Perez to score as well, giving UCLA a 3-0 lead.

In the top of the fifth inning, Vanderbilt scored its only runs of the game, coming on a one-out, two-run double by third baseman Parker Noland.

After Pettway exited, Savage went to the same three right-handed bullpen arms he’s turned to most this season – right-handers junior Michael Townsend, senior Kyle Mora and junior Holden Powell.

“Our bullpen’s been so good all season,” Savage said. “I just felt compelled to go to the bullpen.”

The trio combined to throw three scoreless innings, working out of jams in the eighth and ninth innings.

Powell entered the game with two outs and a runner on first base in the top of the eighth, but got a strikeout to end the threat.

In the top of the ninth, the Commodores made a late push, getting the tying and go-ahead runs on base. Powell – who had fallen behind in the count to each of those hitters – managed to come back with two strikeouts to close out the Bruins’ 12th win.

The bullpen has now thrown 47.1 innings this season, only allowing six earned runs.

UCLA will play its second game in the Southern California College Baseball Classic on Saturday at home against No. 22 Texas Christian.