Payton Brennan’s fifth RBI of the Big Ten tournament evened the Bruins and Wolverines for the second time Thursday, when the redshirt sophomore center fielder’s second hit of the day drove home sophomore third baseman Roman Martin in the bottom of the eighth.

And No. 2 seed UCLA baseball (41-15, 22-8 Big Ten) would hold on to its second lead of the day – scoring three in the eighth – to defeat No. 7 seed Michigan (33-23, 16-14) by a score of 7-5 at Charles Schwab Field on Thursday morning, closing out the Bruins’ and Wolverines’ pool-play slate.

“We’ve always had the mentality of outlasting guys. That’s something that we preach a lot,” said Martin, who finished Thursday 2-for-4 with a double. “We just wanted it more at the end of the day. Winning those 7-8-9 innings is huge for us.”

Though Thursday’s game didn’t matter for either the Bruins’ or Wolverines’ conference tournament runs – with UCLA securing the pool’s spot in Saturday’s semifinal Wednesday – the Bruins still largely ran their typical lineup.

And the Bruins didn’t hold back at the plate either, racking up 10 hits, three extra-base hits and three walks and going 3-for-8 with runners in scoring position.

With coach John Savage electing to save his typical Saturday and Sunday starters for the weekend’s semifinal and final matches, Thursday proved to be a bullpen affair.

Freshman right-hander CJ Bott and redshirt junior right-hander Josh Alger pitched the first 3.2 innings, allowing four runs on five hits, two walks and a hit-by-pitch.

Then Savage went with a trio of arms who all pitched for a second consecutive day – coincidentally the trio of arms who arrived in Westwood via the transfer portal. Wednesday’s starter, redshirt junior southpaw Ian May, tossed 2.1 frames Thursday – holding the Wolverines to one run – before graduate student left-hander Ryan Rissas made his longest appearance of the year, tossing two shutout innings to earn his first win of 2025. Then, graduate student right-hander August Souza collected his first save of the season.

The Bruins scored first for just the 22nd time this year, putting up a three-spot in the second, but the Wolverines led 4-3 after four. Sophomore shortstop Roch Cholowsky’s 22nd long ball of the year temporarily tied the game, but center fielder Greg Pace Jr. put Michigan back in front with a solo shot in the sixth.

But the relentless Bruin offense, plus a seemingly rare lockdown appearance from the back end of UCLA’s bullpen, gave the team little to worry about in its last tuneup before the semifinals.

“We were just hunting fastballs,” said redshirt freshman designated hitter Aidan Espinoza, who went 2-for-3 with an RBI in just his fourth start of the year. “Trying to lay off all the off-speed and execute hitting the fastball.”

While Espinoza’s playing time has been limited across his two seasons as a Bruin, the redshirt freshman has become one of the Bruins’ first bats off the bench and is 6-for-18 with a .844 OPS this season.

Hunting the Hawkeyes

UCLA will play No. 3 seed Iowa (33-20-1, 21-9) – which defeated No. 10 seed Rutgers (29-28, 15-15) 4-3 on Wednesday – for the first time in program history in Saturday’s tournament semifinal, with both teams getting an off day Friday.

Junior right-hander Michael Barnett, who reached six innings pitched in three of his last four starts, will take the mound for the Bruins on Saturday. In his last start, Barnett allowed two earned runs, walked one and struck out eight.

“We’re in fairly good shape,” Savage said. “We’ve got two good starters prepared, and the bullpen will have a day off – which will be nice to get some rest.”

Saturday would be Barnett’s first postseason start, with the junior’s only previous playoff experience being a third of an inning pitched in 2023’s Pac-12 tournament.

Barnett’s counterpart will be right-hander Aaron Savary, who was the Saturday starter for the Hawkeyes this season. Savary has a 3.74 ERA on the season, but in his final start against Oregon, he gave up two home runs and seven hits.

Iowa led the Big Ten for much of the regular season until Oregon swept it in its final series of the regular season, capturing a Big Ten regular-season title. The Hawkeyes’ 4.06 ERA and 1.31 WHIP are both second-best in the conference – with the Ducks in first – and the staff’s 10.9 K/9 is 1.7 better than the second-place Trojans. And while Iowa’s .891 OPS is the conference’s fourth-best mark, it has only scored the seventh-most runs.

The Bruins will be back on the field fighting for a spot in the championship match Saturday at 4 p.m.