Baseball is a marathon, not a sprint. And that race only gets longer once you reach extra innings.

But through 14 innings Sunday, the Bruins could just not seem to find their footing.

The same offense that scored seven runs Saturday – and double-digit runs in their four previous affairs – was held scoreless in the final 11 innings Sunday.

No. 10 UCLA baseball (25-6, 10-2 Big Ten) fell short against San Diego (7-24, 3-3 WCC) 4-3 at Jackie Robinson Stadium, putting an end to the former’s nine-game winning streak.

“We left 18 guys on base,“ said coach John Savage. “We haven’t really done that all season long.”

In their longest game since at least 2017, the Bruins went just 8-for-47 overall, 5-for-28 with a runner on, 1-for-15 with a runner in scoring position and 0-for-13 with two outs.

With both starters out by the end of the fifth inning, Sunday quickly became a duel of bullpens. The Bruins sent nine pitchers to the mound and the Toreros six.

Sophomore right-hander Justin Lee recorded his first scoreless outing in four appearances, tossing a shutout ninth and 10th in his longest appearance this season. However, fellow sophomore right-hander Cal Randall – pitching on back-to-back days for the first time in his collegiate career – struggled, allowing his first three batters to reach in the 11th.

But Will Goldberg tight-roped out of danger. The redshirt sophomore left-hander induced a 3-2 fielder’s choice for the first out before getting shortstop Isaiah Lane to ground into a 3-2-3 double play.

“Just make pitches,” Goldberg, who also tossed a 1-2-3 12th, said. “That’s kind of all I could do in that situation to try to limit the damage.”

The Bruins themselves loaded the bases with nobody out in the bottom of the 12th, but like Goldberg, right-hander Jamie Robertson survived unscathed. Sophomore catcher Cashel Dugger flied out to shallow right center before right fielder Rex Watson gunned down pinch runner/third baseman Grant Gray at the plate. And pinch hitter/designated hitter Jarrod Hocking lined out to third, ending the inning.

UCLA loaded the bases again, with one out in the 13th. But right-hander Dallin Harrison pitched in and out of danger, striking out Gray and getting redshirt senior right fielder AJ Salgado to fly out.

Ultimately, center fielder Austin Smith broke the tie with a solo shot off freshman right-hander CJ Bott in the 14th. It was Smith’s second long ball of the day – after hitting a two-run homer in the first – and third in two days.

“That’s baseball,” Savage said. “We didn’t play well enough to win.”

The Bruins led 3-2 heading into the eighth before junior right-hander Jack O’Connor, pitching consecutive games for just the second time in his collegiate career, inherited two runners from graduate student right-hander August Souza. O’Connor walked two straight batters to load the bases and forced in the run before inducing a double play to limit the damage.

In the bottom of the first, sophomore third baseman Roman Martin’s sacrifice fly and Salgado’s RBI fielder’s choice erased the Toreros’ two-run lead before sophomore first baseman Mulivai Levu drove home sophomore shortstop Roch Cholowsky, who recorded his second-straight three-hit performance Sunday, for his 48th RBI of the season – second most in the Big Ten.

Sophomore right-hander Landon Stump settled in after the first, making it through five innings for his third straight start and reaching a season-high 85 pitches while striking out six, tying his season-high. But the Bruins would lose a Stump start for the first time all season.

However, with Iowa losing to Northwestern 5-4 Sunday, UCLA has taken sole possession of first place in the Big Ten, despite not playing a conference game since March 30.

UCLA’s five-game stretch of nonconference games will conclude with a bout against Long Beach State on Tuesday, its fifth game of a nine-game homestand.

“Forgetting about this today and coming out Tuesday of who we really are,” said Levu. “More energy and coming out ready to play.”