Saturday, March 22
Los Angeles, CA
2:00 PM (PT)
UCLA
17-5, 6-2
7
vs
4
Indiana
13-10, 5-3
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6
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9
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H
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Indiana
0
0
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2
0
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4
9
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UCLA
0
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X
7
12
2
Michael Barnett
Photo by: Ross Turteltaub
UCLA Evens Series with 7-4 Win Over Indiana
March 22, 2025 | Baseball
LOS ANGELES – The UCLA baseball team evened the series against Indiana with a 7-4 victory on Saturday afternoon at Jackie Robinson Stadium.
AJ Salgado provided the biggest swing of the day, smacking a two-run home run in the bottom of the sixth that gave UCLA (17-5, 6-2 Big Ten) the lead for good.
The Bruins received an outstanding outing from starting pitcher Michael Barnett (6-0) who tallied his league-best sixth win of the season. The Lafayette native held the Hoosiers (13-10, 5-3 Big Ten) without a hit until the top of the fifth and racked up a career-high 10 strikeouts.
Barnett did not allow an earned run through seven complete innings.
Roch Cholowsky, Mulivai Levu, and Salgado led the UCLA offense with two-hit performances at the plate. Levu and Salgado each recorded two RBIs, while Dean West, Payton Brennan, and Cholowsky contributed an RBI apiece.
Barnett successfully kept the Indiana lineup off-balance through the first two frames, striking out the side in the first before fanning three more hitters in the second.
UCLA managed to set the table by placing runners on base in each of the first two innings, but the Bruins would ground into a pair of double plays, bringing any chance of an early rally to a halt.
After Phoenix Call reached on an error to start the bottom of the third, Cholowsky recorded the game's first hit, putting runners on the corners for Levu. UCLA's first baseman then cued a ball off the end of his bat, dribbling it to third base and beating it out for an RBI base hit.
Indiana answered in the top of the fourth, capitalizing on two Bruin errors to score twice and take the lead.
The Bruins restored their advantage in the bottom half of the sixth when Salgado launched a line drive off the batter's eye for a two-run shot, his fourth of the year.
In the top of the seventh, Indiana put runners on first and second with no outs, but Barnett worked out of the jam. UCLA escaped in dramatic fashion when Cashel Dugger pounced on a pitch on the dirt and flipped to Barnett at the plate to nab the runner attempting to score on a wild pitch to record the final out of the inning.
Brennan ripped a single up the middle to score Levu in the bottom of the seventh, giving the Bruins a two-run cushion.
UCLA built a five-run advantage going into the ninth inning after scoring three times in the eighth. The rally started with two outs as doubles from Call and West in the eighth resulted in the first run of the inning, before Cholowsky and Levu delivered RBI hits to add to the lead.
The insurance runs proved to be quite valuable as a solo shot from Jake Hanley and an RBI double from Cooper Malazian cut the deficit to three in the top of the ninth. Indiana brought the go-ahead run to the plate with two outs, but Justin Lee managed to navigate his way out of the jam to earn his third save of the year.
The Bruins will take on Indiana in the rubber match tomorrow at 1 p.m. Landon Stump is slated to get the start on the mound. The game will be available to watch on B1G+.
AJ Salgado provided the biggest swing of the day, smacking a two-run home run in the bottom of the sixth that gave UCLA (17-5, 6-2 Big Ten) the lead for good.
The Bruins received an outstanding outing from starting pitcher Michael Barnett (6-0) who tallied his league-best sixth win of the season. The Lafayette native held the Hoosiers (13-10, 5-3 Big Ten) without a hit until the top of the fifth and racked up a career-high 10 strikeouts.
Barnett did not allow an earned run through seven complete innings.
Roch Cholowsky, Mulivai Levu, and Salgado led the UCLA offense with two-hit performances at the plate. Levu and Salgado each recorded two RBIs, while Dean West, Payton Brennan, and Cholowsky contributed an RBI apiece.
Barnett successfully kept the Indiana lineup off-balance through the first two frames, striking out the side in the first before fanning three more hitters in the second.
UCLA managed to set the table by placing runners on base in each of the first two innings, but the Bruins would ground into a pair of double plays, bringing any chance of an early rally to a halt.
After Phoenix Call reached on an error to start the bottom of the third, Cholowsky recorded the game's first hit, putting runners on the corners for Levu. UCLA's first baseman then cued a ball off the end of his bat, dribbling it to third base and beating it out for an RBI base hit.
Indiana answered in the top of the fourth, capitalizing on two Bruin errors to score twice and take the lead.
The Bruins restored their advantage in the bottom half of the sixth when Salgado launched a line drive off the batter's eye for a two-run shot, his fourth of the year.
In the top of the seventh, Indiana put runners on first and second with no outs, but Barnett worked out of the jam. UCLA escaped in dramatic fashion when Cashel Dugger pounced on a pitch on the dirt and flipped to Barnett at the plate to nab the runner attempting to score on a wild pitch to record the final out of the inning.
Brennan ripped a single up the middle to score Levu in the bottom of the seventh, giving the Bruins a two-run cushion.
UCLA built a five-run advantage going into the ninth inning after scoring three times in the eighth. The rally started with two outs as doubles from Call and West in the eighth resulted in the first run of the inning, before Cholowsky and Levu delivered RBI hits to add to the lead.
The insurance runs proved to be quite valuable as a solo shot from Jake Hanley and an RBI double from Cooper Malazian cut the deficit to three in the top of the ninth. Indiana brought the go-ahead run to the plate with two outs, but Justin Lee managed to navigate his way out of the jam to earn his third save of the year.
The Bruins will take on Indiana in the rubber match tomorrow at 1 p.m. Landon Stump is slated to get the start on the mound. The game will be available to watch on B1G+.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Barnett, Michael (6-0)
L: Grable, Ben (3-1)
S: Lee, Justin (3)
Batting:
2B: Malamazian, Cooper 1
HR: Hanley, Jake 1
RBI: Hanley, Jake 1 ; Malamazian, Cooper 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Hanley, Jake 1 ; Brenczewski, Joey 1 ; Cerny, Tyler 2
HBP: Wiggins, Andrew 1
Batting:
2B: West, Dean 1 ; Levu, Mulivai 1 ; Salgado, AJ 1 ; Call, Phoenix 1
HR: Salgado, AJ 1
RBI: West, Dean 1 ; Cholowsky, Roch 1 ; Levu, Mulivai 2 ; Brennan, Payton 1 ; Salgado, AJ 2
Base Running:
RUNS: West, Dean 1 ; Cholowsky, Roch 1 ; Levu, Mulivai 1 ; Balsz, Blake 1 ; Salgado, AJ 1 ; Call, Phoenix 2
SB: West, Dean 1 ; Brennan, Payton 1
HBP: Cholowsky, Roch 1 ; Dugger, Cashel 1 ; Call, Phoenix 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
3
R
1
H
2
RBI
1
AB
5
R
1
H
2
RBI
2
AB
4
R
1
H
2
RBI
2
Players Mentioned
RHP
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OF
/ Baseball
INF
/ BaseballINF
/ Baseball
C
/ Baseball
RHP
/ Baseball1B
/ BaseballINF/OF
/ Baseball
RHP
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