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UCLA baseball narrowly defeats Pepperdine to extend win streak in midweek games

A week removed from his first career victory, junior left-hander Daniel Colwell earned his second win, tossing four innings of shutout ball in relief as UCLA baseball downed Pepperdine to stay undefeated in midweek contests. (Andy Bao/Daily Bruin staff)

Baseball


UCLA5
Pepperdine4

By Olivia Simons

April 21, 2021 6:04 p.m.

In their narrowest win in over a month following a 42-run performance this past weekend, the Bruins hung on to remain undefeated in midweek contests.

UCLA baseball (22-11, 9-6 Pac-12) beat Pepperdine (12-14, 5-4 WCC) at Eddy D. Field Stadium 5-4 on Tuesday, giving them a 2-0 record over the Waves this season and a 6-0 record in midweek matchups.

“Coach (John Savage) just sort of instilled in us that Tuesday games are the same –every game is the same in the win column,” said redshirt senior left fielder Kyle Cuellar. “We don’t value weekends more than Tuesdays. We know we’re going to get a team’s best shot on Tuesdays, and I think we just show up prepared for that.”

The Bruins struck first, taking advantage of redshirt junior center fielder Kevin Kendall reaching base after getting hit by the first pitch of the ballgame. A single and a sacrifice fly brought Kendall home to give UCLA an early 1-0 lead.

Junior right-hander Nick Nastrini’s 2021 struggles continued in his start against the Waves. Nastrini began the opening frame with a pair of walks – his first of four in the inning – which resulted in two runs for Pepperdine after a double off the bat of Justin Lutes. The first baseman scored two at-bats later on another double.

Nastrini has allowed 18 earned runs in his last 13.2 innings of work, issuing 25 walks in that span. His outing Tuesday ended in the second after allowing his fifth walk and third hit.

Following the right-hander’s early exit, the Waves failed to get on the board for seven straight innings. Junior left-hander Daniel Colwell was the first out of the pen for UCLA and he quieted the Pepperdine bats, tossing a career-high four shutout frames while facing the minimum. The southpaw allowed one hit – later erased on a double play – and struck out four in his second appearance since earning his first career win April 13 versus Loyola Marymount.

“It was great to just be able to get guys through, get in a rhythm,” Colwell said. “It’s the longest I’ve gone in my college career, and I think the longest since summer ball after freshman year, so it was good to kind of get a hold on all of my pitches and be able to work through guys like that.”

The Bruins gave Colwell the lead in the third inning as freshman third baseman Kyle Karros knocked a leadoff single to left field, extending his hitting streak to six games. Redshirt sophomore first baseman JT Schwartz brought Karros home on a sacrifice fly, and junior second baseman Mikey Perez sent a double down the left-field line to score two runs and put UCLA up 4-3.

Cuellar knocked in the last run for the Bruins via his third of four total hits in the game, the most he has recorded in a game since April 9, 2017. The redshirt senior said since returning to the lineup following a lower abdominal injury, he has been feeling more in control of his game.

“I think in the past couple weeks coming back it’s sort of just been slow and steady game,” Cuellar said. “I feel like it’s all sort of been coming together finally in the third or fourth week since I’ve been back, so I think just getting some more at-bats under my belt I’ve just felt more comfortable.”

Pepperdine threatened to tie the game in the ninth after second baseman John Peck launched the only home run of the contest off of freshman right-hander Max Rajcic. Retiring the side after the long ball, Rajcic earned his second save of the season and closed out the Bruins’ sixth consecutive victory.

“You just got to give (Rajcic) a lot of credit for coming back after that home run,” Savage said. “He struck two guys out, popped a guy out – showed a lot of poise for a freshman. That was good that he got into a tight game and he did it on the road.”

UCLA will next face Oregon for a three-game series in Eugene starting Friday night.

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Olivia Simons | Quad editor
Simons is the 2023-2024 Quad editor. She was previously the 2022-2023 managing editor, an assistant Sports editor on the baseball, women's tennis, men's tennis, swim and dive and rowing beats and a reporter on the baseball and women's tennis beats. She is also a fourth-year student from Oakland, California.
Simons is the 2023-2024 Quad editor. She was previously the 2022-2023 managing editor, an assistant Sports editor on the baseball, women's tennis, men's tennis, swim and dive and rowing beats and a reporter on the baseball and women's tennis beats. She is also a fourth-year student from Oakland, California.
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