UCLA baseball’s latest crazy comeback keeps its season alive

The Comeback Kids. The UCLA Baseball Way. The Hard-To-Do-In Bruins.

Call them whatever you want.

These guys don’t get down when they fall behind.

Down to their last three outs Saturday afternoon with their season – not to mention epic embarrassment – on the line, the Bruins did what they do best.

Mammoth back-to-back homers leading off the ninth inning in a NCAA Tournament elimination game to wipe out a two-run deficit. The go-ahead run getting on base. Another walk-off hit.

The only thing left after Phoenix Call’s run-scoring single past a drawn-in infield gave the top-seeded Bruins a 6-5 victory over Virginia Tech was to celebrate, his teammates chasing him around the field inside a jubilant Jackie Robinson Stadium.

Later, after UCLA coach John Savage kept Call and fellow hero Roman Martin waiting to speak with reporters, he cracked, “Sorry I was late, I was talking to my cardiologist.”

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The heart-pounding finish was worth it for a team that gets to keep playing.

By rallying to beat the Hokies, the Bruins (52-7) avoided becoming national laughingstocks. After entering the NCAA Tournament as the No. 1 overall seed, they faced the possibility of being eliminated after only two games.

UCLA closer Ethan Hawk, who had served up a go-ahead homer in the ninth inning against Saint Mary’s on Friday, allowed an insurance run in the ninth a day later to give Virginia Tech (30-26) a 5-3 lead.

That made the Bruins’ 30th comeback win of the season perhaps their most unlikely, even if belief lingered in the dugout.

Call said there’s a name for UCLA’s it-ain’t-over identity.

“We call it the 7-8-9,” Call said. “And so, when the seventh inning comes around, we kind of just treat it as a new game, whether we’ve had a good day or a bad day. It’s a brand new opportunity, and I think that’s why we’re so resilient, that helps with our comeback wins.”

The latest riveting rally started with stunned silence as Virginia Tech reliever Madden Clement completed his warmup pitches before the bottom of the ninth.

It was quickly broken after Mulivai Levu – who had delivered two walk-off wins last week at the Big Ten Tournament – hammered a pitch onto the roof of the Bruins’ training facility beyond the right-field wall.

After Levu rounded the bases and reveled in the moment with Martin at home plate, he gave his teammate who was about to hit some advice about Clement’s fastball and loopy curveball.

The scouting report worked.

After falling behind in the count 0-and-2, Martin blasted a homer that went flying past a palm tree beyond the wall in left-center field to tie the score.

“I really just used that timeout to kind of catch my breath and get back to my two-strike approach and get back to seeing the ball,” Martin said. “Got a pitch middle, the guy made a mistake and put a good swing on it.”

With Clement’s outing finished after just two batters, UCLA was just getting started.

Will Gasparino, returning from his one-game suspension for malicious contact in the Big Ten Tournament, greeted reliever Ethan Grim with an infield single before going to third base on pinch-hitter Dominic Cadiz’s one-out single through the left side of the infield.

That brought up Call, who delivered his single to left field to bring home Gasparino with the winning run. Even with second baseman Aiden Aguayo (ankle) and outfielder Payton Brennan (abdomen) each missing a second consecutive game, UCLA found a way.

The Bruins will face either Saint Mary’s or Cal Poly on Sunday afternoon in another elimination game. Needing three more wins to advance from their own Regional, it would be unwise to count them out.

“We really don’t want to play games like that at this time of the year,” Savage said. “You’re flirting with fire, and you’re walking a tightrope a lot of times. But it is playoff baseball, so we are used to that.”

Indeed they are. 

No matter the score, if the Bruins have another at-bat, it’s never over.