World news – College baseball: San Francisco defeats UCLA No. 2 on opening day

San Francisco stunned UCLA No. 2 6-2 for an inaugural 2021 college baseball win at Jackie Robinson Stadium.

CAMEROON MAGAZINE - GM20/02/20213 Mins read59 Views

LOS ANGELES – Veterans and newbies who are only offensive and take chances, pitching, hitting and defending – it all came together for baseball in San Francisco Friday night and brought the Dons to a 6-2 win over UCLA # 2 at Jackie Robinson Stadium.

USF’s veteran arms of Landen Bourassa (1-0) and Alex Pham kept the Bruins (0-1) with four hits in eight combined innings to just one run. Bourassa made his second winning decision in a row – after his five-inning victory in California on March 6, 2020, his last appearance before the 2020 season was canceled. Friday’s win was a continuation of Bourassa’s comeback story after missing all of 2019 due to injury and slowly returning in 2020 just to cut the season short.

« I have great faith in Landen, » said San Francisco head coach Nino Giarratano. « I felt like he had a really good chance of beating [UCLA] if we could play defense and run. When he started tonight he ordered the fastball and then threw the slider when he had to. I had feeling like he was a little bit unlucky to give up the run to go down early but the guys answered for him. He played fab for us tonight. He is capable of giving us quality starts. «

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During the sixth inning, Pham entered a difficult situation with relief. With two runners in goal position and no outs, he allowed an inherited runner to score points on the second base on a softline ride just above Luke Keaschall’s jumping glove. After a walk loaded the bases, Pham grabbed an infield fly with a pitch, strikeout, and groundout to strand the loaded bases and keep the Dons leading at 3-2. He would escape another base-laden traffic jam on the eighth after a single walk and two, and beat UCLA’s Kevin Kendall after an eight-pitch fight on a raised fastball to keep the Dons leading in two runs.

« (Pham) wasn’t as hot as usual tonight but you never have to worry about your competitiveness, » said Giarratano. « I really like giving him these opportunities in situations like this. He’s a fighter, man. »

The USF’s offense (1-0) was a mix of young and old. Returning freshman Harris Williams tripled the first run of the Dons in the fourth, scoring real freshman Keaschall and tying the game 1-1. Fought a few places later he made his way home in a wild field to give the Dons a 2-1 lead – a lead they wouldn’t give up for the rest of the night.

Junior Jack Winkler left with a late RBI 2-5, increasing the USF’s lead to 6-2 in the ninth, and graduate transfer Ryan Davis went 2-4 in the nine-hole and scored a run. Junior Nick Yovetich (1: 4) had scored doubles and a run, and real freshman Christian Stapleton went 1: 2 with two walks and a clutch with two RBI singles in the top knockout round, which gave the Dons some breathing room 4-2.

« I’m looking forward to a win, » said Giarratano. « Really happy for the guys. They worked extremely hard throughout the pandemic and kept themselves safe and healthy and kept believing.

« On the offensive I thought we were pretty good. We scraped together a few runs, we were pretty good, we played good defense. »

UCLA beat the first run of the game with an RBI single from Matt McLain. USF responded with his two runs in fourth, and Jordan Vujovich’s leading solo homer in first place in fifth ensured USF would stay ahead in run six as UCLA crossed their second run after Bourassa eliminated.

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Friday’s win over preseason # 2 Bruins was the Dons’ first win against a national team since March 13, 2016, when they knocked out what was then No. 2. 4 Oregon State, 5-0, in Corvallis, Oregon.

« We’re going to enjoy it for six hours and probably prepare for game 2, » said Giarratano. « UCLA won 52 games two years ago and they were 13-2 last year, so I would think they’re pretty upset and come out and play like the Pac-12 champions they were. We have. » Our work is tailored to us. If we don’t come out and play tomorrow, they’ll impose it on us. They are a really good team that we just beat. «

The second game is scheduled for 5 p.m. ET first pitch Saturday. USF righty Eric Reyzelman is about to throw UCLA’s righty Jesse Bergin. Fans can find all links to live coverage on USFDons.com.