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 NCAA-record 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 LSU 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 (51-20) 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.
“To beat us like they did today, and to do what they did to our pitching staff, which I think is one of the best in the nation,” Bulldogs right fielder Hunter Renfroe said, “we didn’t do what we were supposed to do. We didn’t put up run support like we should have.”
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Pitchers Kendall Graveman (l.) and Ross Mitchell of the Mississippi State Bulldogs embrace after losing to UCLA.
Bulldogs starter Luis Pollorena (6-4) lasted one inning. Jonathan Holder, the Bulldogs’ 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 Pac-12 has now won two straight and has 17 in all in baseball, most of any conference.
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