UCLA pitcher Ian May came out of the bullpen and delivered a crucial double play in the second inning. The Bruins never looked back during an 11-5 victory over Arizona State on Saturday at the Los Angeles Regional.
The top-seeded Bruins (43-16) advance to the regional final at Jackie Robinson Field, while No. 3 seed Arizona State (36-22) must win two games on Sunday to stay alive.
May entered the game in the second inning and protected UCLA’s lead, giving up three runs in five innings.
“His line doesn’t completely tell you the story with his two earned runs at the end of the game, but I don’t think we’d be where we were tonight without Ian,” UCLA coach John Savage said.
May said he was pleased with the result.
“It felt pretty good tonight, just happy to get the team a win,” he said.
AJ Salgado scored the opening run for UCLA, followed by Payton Brennan to make it 2-0. Cleanup hitter Roman Martin then broke the game open with a four-run home run in the second, driving in Mulivai Levu, Roch Cholowsky, and Dean West to extend UCLA’s commanding lead to 7-0. Martin finished with four RBIs.
Arizona State scored a run in the bottom of the second and again in the fourth to cut into the deficit, but UCLA’s offense kept the pressure on. The Sun Devils added two more runs in the ninth but could not close the gap.
The Bruins will face the winner of the early Arizona State versus UC Irvine game at 4 p.m. PDT Sunday for a spot in the super regionals.
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