OMAHA, Neb. — UCLA waited 15 hours to bat in the fourth inning of its winner’s bracket game of the Men’s College World Series against Louisiana State. Now, the Bruins have five hours to regroup or else their season is over.
An early lead disappeared once LSU came to bat in the first inning. Those bats stayed hot through a strong thunderstorm that delayed the fourth inning until Tuesday morning, lifting the Tigers to a 9-5 win at Charles Schwab Field.
UCLA will play Arkansas in an elimination game at 4 p.m. PDT Tuesday. The game will air on ESPN.
Monday night started promising for the Bruins. RBIs from Roman Martin, AJ Salgado and Payton Brennan gave them a three-run lead in the first. For the 29th time this season, UCLA scored first. The Bruins were 27-1 in such scenarios before the loss to LSU.
The Tigers answered with three straight singles and a 368-foot bomb from Jared Jones to claim a 4-3 lead in the first. The Tigers added another run in the third before the overnight weather delay. That didn’t dampen the LSU bats, which responded with two runs when play resumed Tuesday morning.
The Bruins rallied in the eighth inning with RBIs from Brennan and Blake Balsz before Phoenix Call, the potential go-ahead run, grounded out with the bases loaded. The Tigers plated an insurance run in response.
