OMAHA, Neb. – For the second straight day, Mulivai Levu played the hero for No. 1 UCLA, crushing a three-run walk-off homer in the bottom of the ninth to lift the Bruins to a 7-5 win over No. 25 USC and send them to the championship game of the Big Ten Baseball Tournament presented by IFS.ai.
The Bruins (50-6, 28-2 Big Ten) squandered a one-run lead in the top of the ninth and were on the brink of elimination, down to their final out in their last trip to the plate. Then Bruins kept the inning alive when Aidan Espinoza and Dean West reached base before Levu obliterated the first pitch he saw into the right-center bleachers. He finished 3-for-5 with four RBIs while mashing 17th homer of the year.
UCLA becomes the first team in Division I baseball to reach the 50-win mark. This is first time the Bruins have reached the 50-win total since 2019, and the third time under Head Coach John Savage.
Dean West highlighted his 3-for-4 day by launching a two-run homer in the seventh to give UCLA its first lead of the afternoon. Will Gasparino also turned in a three-hit performance, ripping a pair of doubles.
Dominic Cadiz and Aidan Espinoza added two hits apiece, while Roman Martin and Payton Brennan each chipped in a knock to round out UCLA’s 15-hit attack.
On the mound, Landon Stump, Justin Lee, and Zach Strickland held the Trojans (43-15, 20-10) in check down the stretch.
Easton Hawk (5-2) earned his second win in as many contests despite surrendering the tying and go-ahead runs, which both proved to be unearned.
USC pushed across a run in the first, using a pair of base hits, including an RBI double, to take the early lead. The Trojans strung together three more hits in the third, plating two runs to extend their lead to three.
UCLA got a run back in the third when Levu continued his excellent weekend at the plate by roping a two-out RBI single into right field, trimming the deficit to two.
The Bruins added another in the fourth when Gasparino lined an infield single off the pitcher, advanced to second on a wild pitch, and scored on Cadiz’s bloop single to center to cut the lead to one.
UCLA grabbed its first lead of the day when West unloaded on a no-doubt, 425-foot shot to right, a two-run blast that put the Bruins in front.
In the ninth, UCLA lost the lead after an error on a potential double-play ball put two Trojans aboard with nobody out. A wild pitch moved both runners into scoring position, and USC cashed in with an RBI ground out followed by a sacrifice fly to go back in front.
The Bruins will await the winner of No. 2-seed Nebraska and No. 3-seed Oregon in tomorrow’s championship game, slated for a 12 p.m. PT first pitch on Big Ten Network.
