SEATTLE – UCLA matched a season high in offensive production and Michael Barnett became the first Bruin this season to pitch into the eighth inning as UCLA notched a 13-5 victory over Washington on Saturday afternoon at Husky Ballpark.
The result knotted the Pac-12 series between the Bruins (13-19, 6-11 Pac-12) and Huskies (10-17-1, 4-10) at one game apiece. The two teams will decide the series on Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. PT.
UCLA never trailed in the contest, plating a pair in the top of the first, stretching the lead with another two-spot in the fifth, and then putting the game away with a seven-run rally in the sixth inning that made it 12-1.
Several Bruins had big days with the bats.
Redshirt junior center fielder AJ Salgado led the way, going 3-4 with three runs and three RBIs, including a solo home run. Freshman DH Roman Martin had two extra-base hits and drove in three, and freshman third baseman Mulivai Levu had two doubles and three RBIs as part of a 3-5 day. Junior first baseman Jack Holman put the finishing touch on UCLA’s game-winning sixth-inning rally with a three-run homer.
Barnett did the heavy lifting on the pitching side, going a career-long 7 1/3 innings while matching a career best with six strikeouts. He ended up allowing five runs on 10 hits, though UCLA led 13-4 when he departed the game.
Right-handed relievers Caedon Kottinger and Justin Lee combined to get the final five outs of the game without allowing a hit.
Washington was paced offensively by shortstop Cam Clayton, who went 2-4 with two RBIs.
The Bruins went ahead for good in the very first inning of the game, as Levu deposited a liner into the right-field corner with the bases loaded for a two-run double. UCLA had previously filled the bags on a Salgado base hit and a pair of walks.
While Washington got a run back in the bottom half of the first, Salgado immediately responded in the second with a solo shot to center field. It was his second homer of the weekend and fourth of the year.
UCLA stretched the lead with another bases-loaded double in the fifth, this time a shot off the bat of Martin that went over the head of the Washington left fielder to plate a pair.
The Bruins then put the game to bed with that big sixth inning. UCLA kept the line moving from the very beginning in that rally, as the only out among the first seven batters that inning came on a sac bunt.
Salgado drew first blood in the sixth inning, pulling a single through the right side with the bases loaded to bring in a pair. Junior second baseman Duce Gourson plated two more with a double off the base of the wall in center field later in the inning, and Holman provided the dagger by pulling a fly ball over the wall in right for a three-run homer.
Barnett was mostly economical throughout his outing, going 1-2-3 in the second inning and facing just one over the minimum in two other frames. He also induced rally-stemming double plays in the third and sixth innings.
