No. 2 Bruins Rally to Take Series at No. 3 Oregon

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EUGENE, Ore. - Senior Rachel Garcia struck out seven in five innings of relief, and added the go-ahead, two-run homer in the top of the sixth, as No. 2 UCLA rallied for six unanswered runs over the final three innings to defeat No. 3 Oregon 6-2 on Sunday at Jane Sanders Stadium.
 
Garcia (6-0) allowed just one hit, a solo homer, and two walks in her handful of innings. She had 1-2-3 frames in the fourth, fifth and seventh and a pair of strikeouts in the fifth and sixth innings. Sophomore Megan Faraimo started and struck out three, giving up a run, three hits and one walk in two innings. Five different Bruins contributed their five hits.
 
A pair of solo home runs for Oregon (27-5, 6-3 Pac-12) in the first and third innings gave the home team an early lead.
 
The Bruins (22-2, 5-1 Pac-12) finally broke through in the fifth, rallying with two outs. Sophomore Anna Vines drew a one-out walk, moved to second on a passed ball and scored on a single to right by junior Kinsley Washington, UCLA's first hit of the game, to cut the deficit to 2-1.
 
Garcia gave her team the lead in the sixth. Junior Briana Perez reached on an error to leadoff the inning and Garcia belted her sixth homer of the season to left-center to give the Bruins a 3-2 edge.
 
In the seventh, the Bruins tacked on three more. Freshman Alyssa Garcia led off with a walk, and two outs later, junior Aaliyah Jordan kept the inning going with a single. Perez followed with a three-run homer to right-center, giving UCLA a 6-2 advantage. It was Perez's seventh bomb of the season to tie for the team lead.
 
UCLA is back at Easton Stadium next weekend, hosting Oregon State for a four-game series. The opener will be Friday, April 16 at 4 p.m. A free live stream will be available at UCLABruins.com.