LOS ANGELES — Medicine tastes nasty. Especially when it’s your own.
UCLA baseball experienced that reality Sunday afternoon as Saint Mary’s ended its season in walk-off fashion. Each of the Bruins’ last four wins had come via sudden death. Their latest and final defeat did, too.
In the bottom of the 10th inning, Gaels first baseman Makoa Sniffen singled to left field and Cody Kashimoto came around to score from second base to clinch the 6-5 finish.
UCLA (53-8, 28-2 Big Ten) didn’t lose a series all season, but Saint Mary’s (36-26) essentially ended that streak, beating the Bruins twice in two games over the last three days.
Closer Easton Hawk earned the loss in both matchups, and a blown save Sunday. David Roberts earned the win for Saint Mary’s as he held UCLA scoreless in the 10th, but bulk reliever Cam Staton was untouchable again.
Along with the decisive walk-off, Sunday antithesized recent UCLA games as it came out hot and went quiet through the last five frames.
The bats were alive early as Roman Martin brought Roch Cholowsky home in the top of the first inning, and Trey Gudoy bagged an RBI double and a run scored in the second inning.
Saint Mary’s starter Sam Kretsch settled in throughout the third and fourth innings, putting the Bruins down in order. But the Bruins extended their lead in the fifth. Dean West lined a home run beyond the right field fence. Cholowsky singled to left field, Mulivai Levu and Martin each reached to load the bases and force Saint Mary’s to call Cam Staton out of the bullpen.
Staton, who held UCLA scoreless over two innings Friday, hit center fielder Will Gasparino on his first pitch to bring in Cholowsky.
Trailing by three, the Gaels fought back. Friday’s villain, Jacob Johnson, boomed one over the left field fence in the bottom of the fourth inning. Then Staton settled into his dominating ways. He struck out Aidan Aguayo and Cashel Dugger as UCLA left three on the bases in the fifth inning. He sat down three more Bruins over the next two frames to keep Saint Mary’s in striking distance.
Chris Grothues relieved UCLA starter Angel Cervantes midway through the fifth inning, and immediately found trouble. Inheriting a runner on first, Grothues’ first pitch trickled behind catcher Cashel Dugger and Kashimoto advanced to second. Kashimoto then came around to score on Diego Castellanos’ single, his second hit of the afternoon.
Johnson’s next at-bat sprang nightmares of Friday’s ninth-inning winner as his towering fly ball kept carrying in right field, but this time Jarrod Hocking leaped at the wall to snag it.
Cal Randall entered in the eighth inning and made easy work of the Gaels. He remained to face Tanner Griffith in the bottom of the ninth, and allowed a leadoff single.
Hawk replaced Randall in a save situation. With two outs and Tanner Griffith in scoring position, Makoa Sniffen chopped a game-tying single over Levu’s glove at first base. Hawk issued two walks to load the bases, but Jared Mettam grounded out to third to ensure extra innings.
Despite conceding the lead, Hawk remained in the game for the 10th inning. Kashimoto reached base on an infield single. Sniffen’s clutch gene had another pulse in store as he found the hole between Martin and Cholowsky and Kashimoto rushed home diving into the plate.
As Saint Mary’s mobbed Sniffen behind second base, Cholowsky and Martin shared a defeated hug. Dean West, beside himself, crouched in left field. Manager John Savage walked to shake Eric Valenzuela’s hand in respect.
Each Bruin reacted in their own way to a result they never expected, the most anticlimactic way to conclude such a special season.