LOS ANGELES – As day turned to night in Southern California on Saturday, a brief layer of overhead fog blanketed Jackie Robinson Stadium. Simultaneously, Arizona State, fresh off a win over UC Irvine on Friday, saw its joyous mood quickly turn gloomy after a sluggish start against UCLA.
Ultimately, the Sun Devils couldn’t climb out of an early hole, falling to the Bruins 11-5 in their second game at the Los Angeles Regional.
The UCLA offense inflicted most of its damage in the second inning, piecing together a seven-run frame to build a convincing lead.
The tumultuous inning began in unusual fashion, as redshirt sophomore center fielder Payton Brennan roped a ball to right that rolled to the outfield fence. But after tossing the ball to redshirt junior second baseman Kyle Walker, disaster followed: An errant throw from Walker allowed Brennan to complete a trip around the bases, scoring two runs in the process.
Yet, with two outs, the Sun Devils still had an opportunity to limit the damage facing a bases-loaded situation.
However, unlike last night, when ASU managed to escape a two out bases-loaded jam in the second inning, senior right-handed pitcher Jack Martinez struggled to find the third out.
First, Martinez walked UCLA sophomore first baseman Mulivai Levu, allowing a Bruin to score. One at-bat later, sophomore third baseman Roman Martin belted a high drive to right field for a deflating grand slam.
ROMAN MARTIN GRAND SLAM‼️#GoBruins // ESPN+ pic.twitter.com/HbcZsochrB
— UCLA Baseball (@UCLABaseball) June 1, 2025
It capped an abnormal start for Martinez, who’s provided a relatively steady presence on the mound for head coach Willie Bloomquist this season.
“Jack has done that frequently where he’s able to work his way out of those things and then get into a groove and settle in and go five or six innings,” Bloomquist said. “I was kind of hoping he could make a pitch right there and get out of it and give us some length. But [he] just didn’t have it … That’s strange for him to get knocked out that early.”
Meanwhile, the ASU offense stumbled through the night, only managing to notch six hits.
Furthermore, when the Maroon and Gold had chances to spark a comeback push, its bats couldn’t come through with enough timely hits with runners in scoring position.
“We had opportunities to get back in that game,” Bloomquist said. “ We just couldn’t push the big hit across when we needed to.”
The Sun Devil bats did find some success late, scoring two in the ninth, which created some momentum that the team hopes to carry into tomorrow.
“We definitely need to come out swinging tomorrow, be a little more aggressive,” senior first baseman Jacob Tobias said. “I trust the guys around me completely, and we’ve done it all year.”
With the loss, the Sun Devils now stare down an elimination game at Jackie Robinson Stadium tomorrow at 3 p.m. PT against UC Irvine in a rematch from Friday night.
They’ll have most of their pitchers available for at least the first game tomorrow, as freshman left-handed Max Arlich gave ASU 3.1 innings out of the bullpen to preserve some of Bloomquist’s other arms.
“With who we have in the reserve that we didn’t use today I’m confident that we can get through two games tomorrow,” Bloomquist said. “Then if we do, we have Benny (Jacobs), we have Jack (Martinez), we have several guys that can come back on Monday that I know will gladly take the ball. So the biggest thing is getting through Game 1.”
Still, it’s a difficult trek to a regional championship, with the Sun Devils needing to win three games in two days. If ASU wins the first game on Sunday, it has to make a quick turnaround to play at 7 p.m. PT in the first of potentially two championship games – Arizona State could force a winner-take-all game on Monday with a win on Sunday night.
Bloomquist understands it’s a tall task, but carries optimism into tomorrow.
“There’s no turning back,” Bloomquist said. “We have to go forward and be aggressive tomorrow and come in with mindset that we have to start with one, but we’re winning two games tomorrow and pushing it to Monday.”
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