UCLA baseball defeats Cal, secures season’s 4th conference series win
No. 13 UCLA baseball freshman left-hander Gage Jump throws a pitch in a game April 16. Jump pitched 4.2 innings of one-run ball against California in the Bruins’ series-clinching win over the Golden Bears on Sunday in Berkeley. (Finn Chitwood/Daily Bruin)
Baseball
| No. 13 UCLA | 6 |
| California | 3 |
By Jared Tay
April 25, 2022 2:33 p.m.
BERKELEY — Gage Jump’s first batter stared back at his foe on the mound.
The Bruins’ freshman left-hander wound up on a two-strike pitch, and the Golden Bears’ first baseman Nathan Martorella took a swing, launching Jump’s fastball over the right-field wall. Admiring his no-doubt home run, Martorella took a few steps toward first base and flipped his bat high in the air.
It twirled end over end and landed with a thud as Martorella trotted around the bases.
“It wasn’t the greatest start you look for,” Jump said. “But it was one hit, one run.”
After allowing the lead-off home run, Jump came back to post nearly four innings of shutout ball, paving the way for No. 13 UCLA baseball (27-12, 11-7 Pac-12) to earn a 6-3 win over California (19-20, 10-11) in a Sunday matinee game at Evans Diamond. The two teams split the first two games of the series Friday and Saturday, and Sunday’s win clinched the weekend series for the Bruins – their fourth win out of six conference series this season.
On the next batter he faced after the lead-off score, Jump said he told himself to take a deep breath and regain his composure.
“In the fall, we worked on creating focal points to calm ourselves down,” Jump said. “Getting to the next breath to calm myself down was huge.”
He struck his batter out.
Two Golden Bears later, Jump breathed. Kicked. Dealt. Strike out.
“It’s great seeing him (Jump) healthy and back out there,” said freshman shortstop Cody Schrier. “He’s such an electric pitcher, and he knows that. He’s always out there with so much confidence.”
The second inning saw Jump record two more strikeouts, facing four total batters in the inning. The Golden Bears wouldn’t crack the hit column again until the next inning, when Cal’s right fielder Dylan Beavers pushed a 93 mph fastball the opposite way for a double.
With Evans Diamond hosting numerous Little League clubs from across the Bay Area on Sunday, nearly every seat in the stadium was full, making for a record-setting attendance in Berkeley.
Yet Jump gave the home crowd little to cheer about, as he posted zeros from the second inning until his exit in the fifth. In his last inning of work, his fastball still registered 94 mph on the gun, helping him to record two outs in the frame.
“He’s oozing with talent,” said coach John Savage. “We need to corral some things, but when he figures it out, look out. He’s going to be exceptionally good at UCLA.”
Jump was susceptible to the base on balls, however, and his fifth walk was the one that ultimately ended his start. Savage pulled him one out away from potentially recording his first collegiate win as a starter.
“It was his pitch count,” Savage said. “It was a pretty easy decision. Obviously, you’d like to get him through five, but at the end of the day, it’s about health and his future.”
The crowd began to stir when junior right-hander Charles Harrison entered in relief and loaded the bases. But the UCLA lead remained intact, as Harrison got ahead of the third batter he faced, striking him out and stranding all three runners.
Harrison’s pitching kept a three-run lead alive that the Bruins had built in the early innings. In the top of the second inning, junior left fielder Michael Curialle answered the Golden Bears’ opening home run with a solo shot of his own, his fifth of the season.
“He’s (Curialle is) really hard to pitch to, and you don’t know where to play him,” Savage said. “When a guy is hitting for that sort of damage, it’s very clear that he’s hot and feeling really good about his swing.”
The blue and gold struck twice in the next inning when Schrier slid across the plate on a botched throw from the catcher to second base, and Curialle doubled to tack on another score that pushed the lead to two. Another run came across an inning later, and insurance runs in the late going helped to seal the 6-3 win.
Throughout the day, the quintessential San Francisco fog remained at bay. The late-April sun glared down as the afternoon progressed, yet the heat failed to reach the Golden Bear bats as they went a combined 4-for-31.
In keeping the Cal offense cold, Jump said he was the one heating up and throwing his best stuff in the last month of the regular season.
“I’m learning a lot with each outing,” Jump said. “As I keep going and progressing, I’ll do better each time.”
