UCLA weekend recap: Baseball wins series against Oregon, waits NCAA fate

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Jon Olsen pitched a career-high 8 innings while allowing just one run to help UCLA clinch a series win over Oregon to finish the regular season. (Photo courtesy UCLA athletics)

Now the Bruins wait.

UCLA baseball took two of three from Oregon in its final regular-season series and awaits Monday’s NCAA selection show, which starts at 9 a.m. UPDATE: UCLA made the cut and earned the No. 3 seed in the Long Beach Regional.

The Bruins (30-25, 19-11 Pac-12) are ranked 51st in RPI after finishing third in the Pac-12. They’re hoping to return to the postseason after a one-year hiatus.

A stellar performance from pitcher Jon Olsen in Saturday’s regular-season finale helped seal UCLA’s series victory. The sophomore pitched a career-high 8 innings, allowing four hits and one run with eight strikeouts. Sean Bouchard and Michael Toglia led the Bruins offensively with three RBIs each. Leadoff hitter Brett Stephens when 4 for 6 at the plate.

Griffin Canning pitched a complete-game shutout in Thursday’s opener as the junior struck out 10 while UCLA won 6-0. The Santa Margarita High graduate has 10 or more strikeouts in six of his past seven starts. The Bruins then dropped a pitchers duel Friday, losing 2-1, before winning the series Saturday.

Elsewhere in UCLA athletics:

  • At the NCAA West Prelims, track and field had 11 individual athletes and one relay team qualify for the NCAA National Championships, which start June 7 in Eugene, Ore.:
    • Men’s 4X100-meter relay (Eldridge Massington, Rai Benjamin, Darnell Roberson and Leon Powell).
    • Benjamin (400-meter hurdles)
    • Simon Litzell, Marian Spannowsky and Zaybree Haury (javelin)
    • Julia Rizk (800-meter run)
    • Austin O’Neil (steeple)
    • Dotun Ogundeji (discus)
    • Misana Viltz (110-meter hurdles)
    • Ashlie Blake (shot put)
    • Michael Burke (high jump)
    • Daniel De La Torre (5,000-meter run)
  • Martin Redlicki and Evan Zhu lost in the quarterfinals of the NCAA men’s tennis doubles championships on Saturday, getting upset by Oklahoma’s Andrew Harris and Spencer Papa. The second-seeded Bruins lost 6-1, 7-6 (4) to the No. 15 seed from Oklahoma, and finished their season with a 21-5 record overall. In the singles tournament, Redlicki was ousted in the first round.
  • Ena Shibahara lost in the Round of 16 in the NCAA women’s tennis singles championship to Vanderbilt’s Sydney Campbell 6-2, 6-4 on Friday. The UCLA freshman finished with a 4-07 singles record in her debut season. In doubles, Shibahara and Jada Hart fell in the first round to South Carolina’s Hadley Berg and Paige Cline after Hart was forced to medically retire in the second set of a 6-3, 5-2 loss.