Illinois southpaw Regan Hall held the Bruins hitless through two innings as the Fighting Illini headed into the bottom of the third up two.

But sophomore second baseman Phoenix Call sparked a five-run rally with a one-out single, signaling the beginning of a dogfight in Omaha, Nebraska.

After a lead changes and two ties, No. 2 seed UCLA baseball (40-15, 22-8 Big Ten) defeated No. 11 seed Illinois (30-24, 14-16) in an 8-6 victory at Charles Schwab Field Omaha on Wednesday, cementing for the Bruins a place in Saturday’s Big Ten semifinals with their 20th comeback win of the year.

“We have plenty of comeback wins, and this is just what we do,” Call said. “We’re never out of a ball game, and that’s kind of just the identity of our team – we never give up.”

With Illinois’ defeat of No. 7 seed Michigan on Tuesday, Wednesday’s bout between the Bruins and Fighting Illini determined who would take the pool’s spot in the semifinals. While the Bruins and Wolverines will still play Thursday, the outcome will not affect the rest of the conference tournament.

Redshirt junior left-hander Ian May, who has made four consecutive series-opening starts for the Bruins, took the mound Wednesday. And May’s struggles at the top of UCLA’s rotation continued in Omaha.

May – who has an 8.64 ERA over his past five starts and hasn’t made it through five frames since February – made it through just 2.1 innings, allowing two runs on a hit and three walks. For a 34th time this season, the Bruins trailed to begin a ballgame.

But the Bruins’ five-run bottom of the third put them in the driver’s seat, as a bases-loaded walk tied the game before Hall’s balk gave UCLA the lead. And after redshirt sophomore outfielder Payton Brennan’s two-RBI double, the Bruins led by three.

“It’s good to help the team win,” said Brennan, who finished Wednesday 2-for-4 with three RBIs. “That’s really all we came here to do, and I’m happy to move forward and see where we can go.”

Illinois kept the game close, however, tying the game at five heading into the bottom of the sixth. The Bruins expended nine pitchers in Wednesday’s contest, seven coming in the first six frames.

While sophomore right-hander Cal Randall tossed a scoreless 1.2 innings with four strikeouts, sophomore right-hander Justin Lee – once UCLA’s closer – and graduate student southpaw Ryan Rissas struggled. Lee allowed a solo shot to the first batter he faced and let Illinois tie the game on a wild pitch, while Rissas plunked the only batter he faced.

But the Bruin offense kept the team out in front. Call’s third hit of the day scored junior left fielder Jarrod Hocking, giving UCLA a 6-5 lead.

And with the Bruins clinging to a 7-6 lead in the eighth, sophomore shortstop Roch Cholowsky – the conference’s player of the year who had already been intentionally walked twice and plunked once Wednesday – launched a solo shot for his first hit in Omaha, putting the Bruins ahead by two.

The two-run lead proved to be enough for the Bruins, as freshman right-hander Easton Hawk collected his fifth save of the year, tossing a hitless ninth after graduate student right-hander August Souza did the same in the eighth.

“You got to give a lot of credit to both teams – really could’ve gone either way,” said coach John Savage. “I did think that we made some pitches at the end, finally, in the eighth and ninth, and that was kind of the difference.”