Malakhi Knight entered Westwood ready to patrol the outfield as the Bruins’ everyday center fielder.

As a freshman and sophomore, the Marysville, Washington, local was given that chance – showcasing his rangy defense across the grass at Jackie Robinson Stadium.

However, as his fielding and speed played up in college baseball, Knight looked for greener pastures at the plate.

The junior never smacked more than one home run in a season and only tallied 13 extra-base hits across his first two years. His slugging percentage never exceeded .354, dropping further in his injury-riddled sophomore campaign.

But in Sunday afternoon action, with outfield platoons more common than ever, the 6-foot-3, 200-pound slugger may have unlocked the next step in his developmental journey.

“We were waiting for it,” said coach John Savage. “That was a big swing.”

Thanks to Knight’s second home run of 2024 – a fourth-inning, two-run blast off the top of the batter’s eye – UCLA baseball (9-12, 4-5 Pac-12) cruised to a 6-3 series-winning victory over USC (8-15, 4-5), marking the Bruins’ second consecutive conference series win.

“I’m just trying to do my job up there,” Knight said. “Coach called a hit and run right there and I was swinging anyways and I caught it good.”

UCLA used three-run rallies in the third and fourth frames to chase USC right-hander Jared Feikes from the game. Redshirt junior outfielder AJ Salgado provided an RBI single in the former and an RBI triple in the latter – ending his day 2-for-4.

While the Bruin bats tallied six runs through the first four innings, the Trojans flailed at the plate for the majority of the game.

Despite not recording a strikeout, freshman right-hander Landon Stump – in his second straight week as the Sunday starter – twirled four innings of one-hit ball, allowing just an unearned run in the second inning.

Defensively, freshman Roch Cholowsky made three hit-stealing plays at third base – capped off by a leaping grab in the eighth inning.

“It’s really no surprise,” Salgado said. “All fall, winter and even so far throughout the season, he’s been making plays like that look normal.”

USC tacked on a run off a homer of its own in the fifth and on a sacrifice fly in the seventh.

But the Trojans couldn’t rally beyond that – or through the over-an-hour-long rain delay – as graduate student right-hander Rashad Ruff shut the door over the final two frames for his fifth save of the season.

Knight said the Bruins have been trying to block outside noise as UCLA moved from a seven-game losing streak to winning four out of its last six.

“Our team is sticking together and everyone has good spirits,” Knight said. “I think these past two series have been really good for our team, and it’s just up from here.”