roman martin

OMAHA, Neb. — UCLA will wake up Tuesday morning with a chance to rally from a two-run deficit.

The Bruins’ winner’s bracket game against Louisiana State on Monday night was suspended until Tuesday at 8 a.m. PDT following a three-hour rain delay — it will resume in the top of the fourth inning with UCLA batting and LSU leading 5-3. The remainder of the game is scheduled to air on ESPN.

It allows UCLA to regroup after a promising start fell apart.

The Bruins jumped in front early with three straight RBIs. Roman Martin laced an RBI double to left field, AJ Salgado followed with an RBI single and Payton Brennan’s weak grounder to the pitcher was enough to score Martin. For the 29th time this season, UCLA scored first. They were 27-1 in such scenarios before Monday.

Then LSU answered with three straight singles before junior Jared Jones sent a Landon Stump fastball 368 feet to give the Tigers a 4-3 lead before the first inning ended. Stump’s night ended in the third inning but not before he was responsible for the runner who scored on a Luis Hernandez single that doubled LSU’s lead.

The grounds crew brought out the tarp before UCLA could respond. Charles Schwab Field remained in a weather delay for nearly three hours until the announcement was made to suspend the game until Tuesday morning.

OMAHA, Neb. — UCLA’s return to the College World Series started with three hours of sweaty palms in 86-degree heat and high humidity. An early lead shrunk across four innings on a muggy afternoon.

Only when closer Easton Hawk struck out Murray State’s Dominic Decker on a full count for the final out could the Bruins exhale. They walked off Charles Schwab Field for the first time in 12 years with a 6-4 win Saturday.

The Bruins jumped ahead early but couldn’t build momentum. They loaded the bases on their first three batters but only scored after Roman Martin drew a four-pitch walk. Dean West ripped an RBI single to right field in the second. Then he got thrown out trying to get back to first after rounding the bag. In the third, Murray State left fielder Dustin Mercer made an athletic catch on the warning track to rob the Bruins of a two-run hit.

Finally, UCLA broke through in the fourth with four runs. Martin and Roch Cholowsky each drove in runs before AJ Salgado’s two-run double to right field. The Bruins’ first multi-run inning gave them a 6-0 lead.

UCLA’s Mulivai Levu runs to first base against Murray State on Saturday.

(Cory Eads / Associated Press)

That was enough behind a gritty start from junior Michael Barnett. The righty scattered three hits and four walks across 4 ⅔innings. The bullpen conceded three more runs and escaped to secure the win.

UCLA will play the winner of Saturday’s evening contest between Louisiana State and Arkansas on Monday.

UCLA’s Ian May came out of the bullpen and induced Kien Vu to ground into a double play in the fourth to cut short a potential big inning and the Bruins never looked back during an 11-5 victory over Arizona State at the Los Angeles Regional.

The top-seeded Bruins (43-16) advance to the regional final at Jackie Robinson Stadium.

May entered the game in the fourth inning and protected UCLA’s lead, giving up three runs in five innings.

“His line doesn’t completely tell you the story with his two earned runs at the end of the game, but I don’t think we’d be where we were tonight without Ian,” UCLA coach John Savage said.

May said he was pleased with the result.

“It felt pretty good tonight, just happy to get the team a win,” he said.

AJ Salgado scored the opening run for UCLA, followed by Payton Brennan to make it 2-0. Cleanup hitter Roman Martin then broke the game open with a grand slam in the second, driving in Mulivai Levu, Roch Cholowsky, and Dean West to extend UCLA’s commanding lead to 7-0.

Arizona State scored a run in the bottom of the second and again in the fourth to cut into the deficit, but UCLA’s offense kept the pressure on. The Sun Devils added two more runs in the ninth but could not close the gap.

The Bruins will face the winner of the Arizona State-UC Irvine game at 7 p.m. Sunday for a spot in the super regionals.