No. 1 UCLA baseball’s 27-game win streak comes to an end

The No. 1 UCLA baseball’s 27-game win streak came to an end as they were shutout against UC Santa Barbara at Jackie Robinson Stadium on Tuesday.

It was just the third loss of the season for the Bruins with the previous two coming against UC San Diego and San Diego State. UCLA’s batters were alive in their series sweep against Rutgers, but the Gauchos pitching staff proved much stingier with five hits allowed, while throwing two walks and nine strikeouts.

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Missed opportunity

UCLA had the bases loaded in the bottom of the first, but was unable to get a runner to cross home plate. Despite the Bruins getting four runners on base, UCLA got only one hit. The rest of the base runners came from a pair of walks and a hit by pitch.

First score

In the top of the third, the Gauchos dialed in on freshman right-handed pitcher Angel Cervantes’ throws to get three hits and score two runs for the first runs of the game.

No chance

UCLA’s regained their footing in the next two innings by allowing one hit and no runs to give their batters a chance. However, the Bruins remained stifled at bat with no hits or base runners in the fourth or fifth to keep UC Santa Barbara with a two-run lead.

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Holding out hope

In the bottom of the sixth, UCLA had their second hit of the game and first base runner since the third. However, it led to no runs. With the bases loaded in the top of the seventh, the Bruins were able to clean things up though and junior right-handed pitcher Cal Randall struck out the final two batters swinging. The offense wasn’t able to repay the favor though with another scoreless inning in the bottom of the seventh, despite the bases being loaded.

That’s a wrap

UC Santa Barbara added two more runs in the top of the eighth with three hits leading to another two-run inning. UCLA had a hit of their own in the bottom of the eighth, but couldn’t conjure up more offensive to get their runner home. The Bruins would end the game being shutout after another scoreless inning in the ninth for their first loss since Feb. 24.

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The Bruins will have an opportunity to get back on track and keep the conference record clean on Friday against Minnesota at Jackie Robinson Stadium with an anticipated start time of 2 p.m. PT.

This article originally appeared on UCLA Wire: UCLA baseball were shutout against UC Santa Barbara on Tuesday