College World Series 2013 finals: Bruins win first-ever national title

There was nothing spectacular about the bottom of the first inning of Tuesday’s College World Series Finals Game 2. In fact, for an inning that saw UCLA take a deciding lead in its title-clinching win over Mississippi State, it was downright dull.

Outfielder Brian Carroll stepped into the box to lead off for the Bruins, earning a free trot to first after getting beaned in the knee (though replay showed he stepped out of the batters’ box to do so). He moved to third after Mississippi State committed a fielding error on a sac bunt, and Eric Filia brought him in to score with a sac liner to deep right field. Without a single hit, UCLA had a 1-0 lead.

By now, you’ve probably heard all about how this is UCLA’s first-ever national championship in baseball, despite having won 108 athletic titles in other sports. So let’s look at some things you might not know about the Bruins’ national championship run.

For starters, let’s examine how ridiculously good the Bruins’ pitching was in Omaha:

UCLA defeated Mississippi State, 8-0, Tuesday night to close out a historic Omaha run that saw them capture their first baseball national championship in school history.

The final out induced an epic, fireworks-enhanced celebration on the field of TD Ameritrade Park.

UCLA holds more total national championships than any other collegiate athletic program in the nation, but prior to tonight, there was no baseball title among its 108 trophies. After the Bruins’ 8-0 win over Mississippi State on Tuesday night, that’s no longer the case.

UCLA won a clinching Game 2 the same way it has won all year: combining nearly unhittable pitching, shutdown defense and opportunistic offense.

Official lineups are in for both teams for Game 2 of the College World Series finals, and there’s at least one surprise on the Mississippi State side. Kendall Graveman was expected to take the mound for the Bulldogs, but head coach John Cohen has elected to start lefty Luis Pollorena in his stead.

In another notable change from Game 1 for Mississippi State, Sam Frost will replace Trey Porter. Frost will play third base while Alex Detz slides into the the DH slot to take over for Porter.

After taking Game 1 of the College World Series Finals on Monday night, UCLA will look to close out the series at 8 p.m. ET Tuesday from TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha, Neb. ESPN will handle the broadcast, and the game will be available online at WatchESPN.

Things couldn’t have gone much better for UCLA in Game 1. It forced Mississippi State to play small ball by holding its dangerous lineup in check and pressuring its defense into mistakes. If they can do it one more time, the Bruins will be national champions.

There was a lot of talk regarding the College World Series finals’ pairing of UCLA and Mississippi State, specifically whether the Bruins’ rather anemic offense would be able to outpace the Bulldog bats. Thanks to Adam Plutko and a solid defensive performance, however, that wasn’t exactly hard to do for the Bruins.

Plutko was brilliant in the Bruins’ 3-1 win Monday night, stifling a Mississippi State offense that came into the game with a .304 team average in the NCAA Tournament. Plutko allowed just one run on four hits while striking out two batters over six innings.

UCLA’s Adam Plutko is holding the Mississippi State offense in check through six innings in Game 1 of the College World Series finals. Putko’s offense gave him a nice cushion, too, with a big two-RBI hit in the fourth inning as the Bruins jumped out to multi-run lead.

The Bruins got the big hit they needed in the top of the fourth after uncharacteristically stranding six runners in the first three innings. UCLA’s Brenton Allen reached base on a one-out single and then the Bulldogs’ attempted defense of a sacrifice bunt went ... awry:

Coming into Game 1 of the College World Series finals between Mississippi State and UCLA, most of the attention was focused on the Bulldogs’ superior hitting. Through three innings, however, it’s been the Bruins’ offense that has been making all of the noise.

UCLA has outhit Mississippi State, 4-0, and has scored the game’s only run, but have stranded six runners.

Monday night begins the final push for Mississippi State and UCLA as they face off for the national championship. With solid fielding and deep bullpens on both sides, this one shapes up to be a defensive showdown. Mississippi State does bring some serious power at the plate, though, and will provide an intriguing matchup for UCLA’s strong starting pitching. Let’s delve deeper into how these two teams got here and how they match up on the field.

After a blazing non-conference run, the Bulldogs stumbled a bit at the season’s mid-point, dropping a series to Central Arkansas that started a 6-8 slide and included losses in the teams’ first three SEC series. But they rebounded to finish above .500 in-conference, and, after a three-win showing in the SEC tourney, earned a host site in the regionals. There, they once more had to battle through a scrappy Central Arkansas squad, but advanced to face No. 6 Virginia in the Charlottesville Regional, which they swept in two games. They opened the CWS with a 5-4 win over Oregon State, then ran through Indiana before clinching their spot in the finals with another victory over the Beavers.

Monday night marks the beginning of the final series of the 2013 College World Series as the Mississippi State Bulldogs face off against the UCLA Bruins at 8 p.m. ET from TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha, Neb. ESPN will handle the TV broadcast, and the game will also be available for online streaming at WatchESPN.com.

Monday’s matchup is Game 1 of a three-game series. Game 2 will be played at 8 p.m. Tuesday night, and Game 3, if necessary, will be at the same time on Wednesday.