UCLA holds on tight, moves one win from first CWS title
Bruins edge Bulldogs in opener of best-of-3
OMAHA, Neb. — UCLA followed its script yet again.
The Bruins churned out a few early runs and let their pitching and defense take care of the rest in a 31 victory over Mississippi State on Monday night in the opener of the College World Series finals.
They’re one win from their first national championship in baseball and their school’s record 109th in a team sport.
“We dodged some bullets, no doubt about it, but you have to give credit to our defense,” UCLA coach John Savage said. “Kind of a Bruin game. Tight game, and at the end of the night we were fortunate to come out with the win.”
The Bruins (48-17) know it won’t be easy to finish off a Mississippi State team that had an estimated 8,000 fans travel to see their team play for the school’s first national title in any sport.
Adam Plutko (10-3) limited the Bulldogs to a run on four hits in six innings and turned the game over to his bullpen. The Bulldogs (51-19) left runners in scoring position in four of the last six innings.
“They’re great hitters, they grind it out every at-bat, and they’re not going away,” UCLA closer David Berg said. “They want to win this thing as bad as we do. They’re not going to give it up.”
UCLA is 40-0 when leading after seven innings. There was drama all the way to the end.
The Bruins made it 3-0 in the fourth on Eric Filia’s two-out, tworun single off Chad Girodo, who replaced starter Trevor Fitts (0-1) in the second. That was the last of the Bruins’ six hits.
Mississippi State’s C.T. Bradford and pinch-hitter Sam Frost singled to put runners on first and second with one out in the ninth against Berg.
Nick Ammirati flew out, and pinch-hitter Jacob Robson ended the game with his comebacker to Berg, who sprinted toward first base before under-handing the ball to Pat Gallagher. Berg, making his 50th appearance of the season, earned his NCAA-record 24th save for 1 2/3 innings of work.
“Records are meant to be broken, but titles are what matter,” Berg said. “So if we all win a national championship, I’ll enjoy that. But right now I don’t think about it at all.” Savage played down the win. “Not much to get excited about,” he said. “It comes down to tomorrow.”