{"id":833558,"date":"2026-05-31T01:52:19","date_gmt":"2026-05-31T01:52:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/833558\/"},"modified":"2026-05-31T01:52:19","modified_gmt":"2026-05-31T01:52:19","slug":"ucla-defeats-virginia-tech-in-wild-comeback-at-ncaa-regionals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/833558\/","title":{"rendered":"UCLA defeats Virginia Tech in wild comeback at NCAA regionals"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The comeback kids did it again, and UCLA<\/a> baseball is somehow still alive.<\/p>\n

Trailing Virginia Tech by two runs in the ninth, the nation\u2019s No. 1-seeded Bruins got a pair of back-to-back, season-saving homers from Mulivai Levu<\/a> and Roman Martin<\/a> and a walk-off single from Phoenix Call<\/a> to earn a 6-5 victory<\/a> over the Hokies in the Los Angeles Regional\u2019s elimination bracket that the packed crowd at Jackie Robinson Stadium will never forget.<\/p>\n

\u201cSorry I was late, I was talking to my cardiologist,\u201d UCLA coach John Savage<\/a> said to reporters with a grin.<\/p>\n

The Bruins avoided becoming the first No. 1 overall seed in NCAA tournament<\/a> history to be swept from regionals since the current format was implemented in 1999. And it took everything for UCLA to earn its 29th come-from-behind win of the season.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

\u201cCredit to Virginia Tech,\u201d Savage said. \u201cI thought Virginia Tech really handled themselves professionally over the last two days. Gave us a very, very competitive game today. Credit to our guys for being resilient [and] staying with one another. We\u2019ve had several games like that; we really don\u2019t want to play games like that. <\/p>\n

\u201cAt this time of the year, you\u2019re flirting with fire, and you\u2019re walking the tightrope a lot of times. But it is playoff baseball, so we are used to that \u2026 live another day.\u201d<\/p>\n

UCLA (52-7) will play the winner of the Cal Poly vs. Saint Mary<\/a>\u2019s matchup on Saturday night. Virginia Tech (30-26), which lost its regional opener to Cal Poly, was eliminated.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the past two years, we\u2019ve kind of developed an identity. We call it \u2018The 789,\u2019 and so when the seventh inning comes around, we kind of just treat it as a new game,\u201d Call said. \u201cSo whether you\u2019ve had a good day or bad day, it\u2019s a brand new opportunity, and I think that\u2019s why we\u2019re so resilient, and that helps with our comeback wins.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"UCLA <\/p>\n

UCLA pitcher Cal Randall reacts after striking out a Virginia Tech batter in the seventh inning of the Bruins\u2019 6-5 win in the Los Angeles Regional at Jackie Robinson Stadium on Saturday.<\/p>\n

(UCLA Athletics)<\/p>\n

Hokies second baseman Ethan Ball hit what seemed to be a winning solo shot to right field in the eighth off UCLA right-handed reliever Zach Strickland<\/a>, sending Virginia Tech\u2019s dugout \u2014 and loyal fans who made the cross-country trek \u2014 into a frenzy and the Bruins\u2019 faithful into silence. Hokies designated hitter Hudson Lutterman then drove in another run on a single in the ninth.<\/p>\n

But left-handed pitcher Madden Clement, typically Virginia Tech\u2019s mid-week starter, surrendered the pair of solo shots to tie the score 5-5. Right-handed pitcher Ethan Grim took the loss after giving up Call\u2019s game-ending hit, which drove in Will Gasparino<\/a> from third.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the trust and the love we have for each other,\u201d Martin said. \u201cWhen you\u2019re so bought into winning, you\u2019re just trying to do it for your guys in the dugout. It gets rid of any anxiety that you have.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

The Bruins remained calm in a shootout that featured seven solo home runs. UCLA hit four \u2014 from Cashell Dugger in the fourth, Gasparino in the fifth and Levu and Martin in the ninth. Virginia Tech hit three \u2014 from Owen Petrich in the fifth, Ethan Gibson in the seventh and Ball in the eighth.<\/p>\n

However, no homers were as important as the final two.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got a pitch middle,\u201d Martin said of his homer, noting he received a scouting report from Levu as he touched home on the first of back-to-back, ninth-inning blasts. \u201cThe guy [Clement] made a mistake, and I got a good swing on it.\u201d<\/p>\n

UCLA right-handed starting pitcher Michael Barnett surrendered three runs on three hits through six innings, the most he\u2019s thrown this season. Virginia Tech starter Brett Renfrow gave up two runs on five hits over four innings.<\/p>\n

\u201cBarnett was excellent,\u201d Savage said. \u201cI thought it was the best game he pitched all season.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bruins right-handed reliever Easton Hawk (7-3), meanwhile, earned the win despite surrendering a run in the ninth.<\/p>\n

Right-handed starter Angel Cervantes and his mini triceratops, Jerry, are expected to take the mound for UCLA on Sunday at 1 p.m. PDT.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The comeback kids did it again, and UCLA baseball is somehow still alive. Trailing Virginia Tech by two…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":833559,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5123],"tags":[341817,1582,73277,276,19498,2961,224,2444,5337,341819,471,21578,341820,341818,341254,113573,30373,341821,2501,36323],"class_list":["post-833558","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-1-seeded-bruins","tag-ca","tag-cal-poly","tag-california","tag-hit","tag-la","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-times","tag-losangeles","tag-mulivai-levu","tag-no","tag-pair","tag-phoenix-call","tag-regional-opening-loss","tag-roman-martin","tag-saint-mary","tag-silence","tag-solo-shot","tag-ucla","tag-virginia-tech"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116666693615637935","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/833558","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=833558"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/833558\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/833559"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=833558"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=833558"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=833558"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}