Bergin Dominant as UCLA Evens USF Series With 8-2 Win
LOS ANGELES – Junior right-hander Jesse Bergin took a no-hitter into the seventh inning to lead the No. 2-ranked UCLA baseball team to an 8-2 victory over San Francisco on Saturday afternoon at Jackie Robinson Stadium.
The Bruins (1-1) went ahead with a four-run rally in the second inning and never looked back, evening the series with USF (1-1), which took Friday's season-opener by a score of 6-2.
Four separate Bruins recorded multiple hits in the victory, including a 3-5, two-RBI performance from junior center fielder Kevin Kendall and two-double days from junior shortstop Matt McLain and junior third baseman Mikey Perez. Junior DH Jack Filby added two singles and a pair of RBIs.
UCLA had four of the first five batters of the inning reach during the go-ahead rally in the second, with all four eventually coming into score. Redshirt senior right fielder Jarron Silva led off the frame with a five-pitch walk, and Perez put the Bruins in business with a double just inside the left field foul line.
Freshman first baseman Kyle Karros cashed in the first run of the afternoon for UCLA, singling to left for his first career RBI. Kendall followed by sneaking a grounder through the 3-4 hole to plate another run, followed by a Michael Curialle sac fly. McLain capped the rally with a wind-aided double to right field, scoring Kendall.
The Bruins would go on to put the game on ice with a three-run fifth inning. Perez set the stage for that rally with another double – to almost the exact same spot as his first – that set up a second and third, one-out situation for UCLA. The Bruins were able to cash in on that opportunity thanks to RBI singles through the right side from Filby and Kendall, which bookmarked another run that came in on a wild pitch.
That run support turned out to be plenty for Bergin, who was excellent in his first career Saturday start.
The Studio City, Calif. native started his afternoon by retiring the first 10 batters he faced, and ultimately only allowed three baserunners all day, two coming in his final inning of work.
Bergin posted three-up, three-down frames in five of the first six innings he pitched, recording a strikeout in the first five frames before rolling up three straight ground balls to the right side to get out of the sixth unscathed.
He only ran into trouble in the seventh, hitting Jack Winkler with a first pitch offering, and two batters later, giving up an opposite-field single to the right-handed Luke Keaschall. Bergin was lifted at that point, with senior right-hander Adrian Chaidez ending the frame undamaged by striking out USF's Jacob Westerman looking on an inside fastball.
The Bruins and Dons will decide the series with a Sunday rubber match at Jackie Robinson Stadium. First pitch is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. The contest will be streamed live on UCLABruins.com.