Baseball title joins Bruins’ packed trophy case
OMAHA, Neb. — UCLA finally can add baseball to its long list of national championships.
The Bruins relied on pitching and defense to get them in position to win a title, and Tuesday night the offense finally showed up. Their 8-0 victory over Mississippi State gave them a two-game sweep in the College World Series finals.
“I don’t think any of the experts thought we’d be here at this stage, and we did it the right way,” coach John Savage said. “We pitched, we defended, we had quality offense — opportunistic offense for sure — and at the end of the day we outlasted everybody.”
Eric Filia drove in a career-high five runs, Nick Vander Tuig limited Mississippi State to five hits in eight innings, and UCLA (49-17) increased its NCAArecord number of national championships in team sports to 109.
“They had a great year,” Savage said of his players, “and it was one of those situations where it was our time.”
Adam Plutko, the Bruins’ No. 1 starter, was chosen the CWS Most Outstanding Player. He beat Louisiana State in the Bruins’ first game and was the winner in Game 1 of the finals. He allowed two runs in 13 innings.
Vander Tuig held off the Bulldogs (5120) when they threatened in the fourth, fifth and eighth innings and recorded his fourth win in the NCAA Tournament. Vander Tuig (14-4) struck out six and walked one. David Berg pitched the ninth.
Filia produced runs with a sacrifice fly, squeeze bunt and two base hits as the Bruins collected 12 hits and scored their most runs in 18 games.
Bulldogs starter Luis Pollorena (6-4) lasted one inning. Jonathan Holder, the team’s closer, came on with one out in the fourth inning and went the rest of the way.
UCLA allowed four runs in five games to set a CWS record for fewest in the metal-bat era that started in 1974.
The Bruins’ .227 batting average in the CWS also was the lowest since teams went away from wood bats. The Bruins’ 19 runs in five games were the fewest by a champion since the CWS went to eight teams in 1950.
After Arizona’s title last year, the Pac12 now has 17,, most of any conference.
The Bruins won their first title in their third CWS appearance in four years and fifth all-time. They had made it to the finals in 2010 and were swept by South Carolina. Last year, they went 1-2 in Omaha.
This season they finished third in the Pac-12, behind Oregon State and Oregon, and then got hot in the postseason.
They made magic with an offense that started Tuesday 264th out of 296 teams in batting (.247) and 215th in scoring (4.7 runs per game), but among the national leaders in sacrifices, walks and hit batsmen.
Once the Bruins got to Omaha, they made themselves at home in spacious TD Ameritrade Park. UCLA produced just enough offense to support its superb pitching and defense in bracket play, and again in Game 1 of the finals.
The pitching and defense showed up again in Game 2, and this time so did the offense.
“We’ve been capable all season long,” Savage said. “We have good players. I said that all along. They started to believe, and they used the whole field. Fortunately, we had some hits tonight.”