A transformed Cody Delvecchio took the mound Friday.

The junior right-hander was a pillar of the Bruin bullpen in 2024 – posting a 2.42 ERA over 26 innings of work – but an arm injury ended his standout year in late March.

Less than 11 months later, however, he made his first collegiate start.

Behind five innings of two-run ball from Delvecchio – plus four scoreless frames from the rest of the pitching staff – UCLA baseball (1-0) defeated Cal Poly (0-1) by a score of 3-2 at Jackie Robinson Stadium on Opening Day.

“He (Delvecchio) showed his leadership and showed his maturity,” said coach John Savage. “He’s a little guy with a good arm, and he’s a competitive guy. So we could always trust his ability to compete.”

With the game tied at two in the bottom of the seventh, Roman Martin came to the plate with runners on first and second and one out. Despite striking out twice in a then-0-for-3 performance, the sophomore third baseman fought back from down 0-2 and delivered a game-winning RBI single to left on the ninth pitch of his fourth at-bat.

“That’s what good baseball players do,” Savage said. “You can’t play sad, you can’t play frustrated, you can’t play aggravated. … It was just a baseball at-bat – a maturity at-bat, a discipline at-bat and one that shows that he stayed with the game.”

The Bruins went 1-for-12 with runners in scoring position – Martin’s knock being the sole outlier. But with UCLA also recording nine walks, Savage said his batters’ performance was a mixed bag.

Delvecchio was not the only Bruin to earn a career first Friday. Right-handers junior Jack O’Connor and freshman Wylan Moss made their collegiate debuts. The former tossed a scoreless inning while the latter collected his first-career save and struck out five of six batters faced – four swinging. Both allowed just a single hit each.

“Just fastball command – like heavy fastball usage tonight,” Moss said. “I was getting swings and misses with it tonight, so just being able to command it was probably the secret to my success.”

Delvecchio recorded consecutive one-two-three innings in the first and second, but a throwing error by sophomore Phoenix Call – who made his first collegiate start at second base – gave the Mustangs their first baserunner in the top of the third.

Cal Poly soon took a 2-0 lead after catcher Jack Collins doubled, first baseman Zach Daudet laid down a squeeze bunt and second baseman Ryan Fenn hit a RBI two-bagger. But Delvecchio struck out two of the next three batters to escape the frame and retired the side in the fourth and fifth innings.

Delvecchio said he spoke to former Bruins Luke Jewett and Alonzo Tredwell – right-handers who previously made the move from high-leverage reliever to weekend starter.

“They said, ‘Go be you,’” Delvecchio said. “So today I was myself – I thought that kind of helped.”

Savage added that the first-time starter had to develop a curveball and change-up after being primarily a two-pitch pitcher out of the bullpen.

The Bruins evened the score in the bottom of the third when a bases-loaded walk to redshirt sophomore center fielder Payton Brennan was followed by an RBI hit by pitch of Call.

While Savage said Justin Lee wasn’t sharp coming out of the bullpen, the sophomore right-hander collected the win Friday after tossing 1.1 scoreless innings and struck out Fenn swinging to escape a two-on-with-two-out jam in the top of the seventh.

In game 2 of the three-game series against the Mustangs, redshirt junior left-hander and California transfer Ian May will make his Bruin debut as Saturday’s starting pitcher. First pitch is at 2 p.m.