Maybe it was home-field advantage.

Maybe it was because it had been four days since UCLA’s last game.

But after getting shut out in Sunday’s Big Ten tournament championship, there’d be no signs of a stagnant offense Friday.

In its first national playoff game since 2022, No. 15 seed UCLA (43-16, 22-8 Big Ten) trounced Fresno State (31-28, 18-12 Mountain West) in a 19-4 victory at Jackie Robinson Stadium to kick off its NCAA tournament run. 

And the Bruins didn’t wait long to make an impression, hosting their first regional since 2019.

After rendering Fresno State scoreless in the top of the first, UCLA was nothing short of explosive. Getting through eight of its nine hitters, the Bruins tagged the Bulldogs’ right-hander Jack Anker for four runs in the bottom of the first. 

“One of the huge things we talk about – one of our offensive goals – is to score first, and that’s really a huge momentum shift for us, especially early on,” said sophomore third baseman Roman Martin.

Though the Bulldogs would score two runs off junior right-hander Michael Barnett, a two-run bottom of the third meant the Bruins would maintain their four-run lead heading into the later innings. 

Martin was at the heart of the action Friday, going 4-for-6 with three RBIs – including a first-inning single to get UCLA on the board and a third-inning solo shot for his eighth homer of the year.  

But the offense was far from a one-man machine. By the fourth inning, every batter except one had reached base, with sophomore designated hitter Blake Balsz finishing the day 3-for-5 with a pair of RBIs. 

“I wasn’t trying to do too much, just letting the game happen,” Balsz said. 

On the other side of the ball, Barnett – the typical Saturday starter – entered Friday having thrown at least five innings in each of his past three starts, totaling 15 strikeouts. In his first NCAA appearance, however, he lasted only 4.1 innings and failed to strike out a single batter, allowing six hits on 74 pitches.

“I just felt that … they did a really good job against Barnett,” said coach John Savage. “I thought we were fortunate to be up 6-2.”

Meanwhile, Anker toiled through five innings, reaching a career-high 118 pitches while allowing six runs on 10 hits. And despite averaging 10.54 K/9 entering the contest, the right-hander struck out just two Bruins on Friday. 

From there, each team turned to its bullpen for the following innings. After three scoreless frames, the Bruins broke the scoring drought with a six-run bottom of the seventh and seven-run bottom of the eighth. 

All nine Bruins came to the plate in the seventh, with five recording a hit, and UCLA sent 11 to the plate in the eighth, with six recording a hit. Through Fresno State slugged two solo shots in the eighth, UCLA responded with two long balls of its own in the bottom half of the inning – as redshirt sophomore center fielder Payton Brennan hit a two-run homer and sophomore catcher Cashel Dugger hit a solo shot.

The Bruins ran rampant without a run-rule in play, growing their lead to 15 by the end of the eighth. Sophomore first baseman Mulivai Levu finished the day 3-for-6 with five RBIs – his fourth five-RBI performance of the season, while Brennan and sophomore second baseman Phoenix Call both finished with three hits as well, the former with four RBIs.  

“It’s all about the lineup and continuing at-bats through the lineup and stretching the lineup,” Savage said. “We did a really good job of that today.” 

After the decisive win, UCLA will play the winner of Friday night’s game between the regional’s No. 2 seed, UC Irvine, and No. 3 seed, Arizona State, on Saturday at 6 p.m.