NCAA baseball tournament: UCLA avoids history and stuns Virginia Tech in a comeback

UCLA made history on Friday at the baseball NCAA tournament.

They needed a ninth-inning rally against Virginia Tech to avoid making even more history on Saturday.

The Bruins became the first top-overall seed to lose their opening game on Friday night, dropping a 3-2 contest to Saint Mary’s to fall into the elimination bracket. Facing Virginia Tech on Saturday, the Bruins were in danger of becoming the first top overall seed to lose their first two games at the tournament and be eliminated, when they trailed the Hokies 5-3 in the bottom of the ninth.

But the team that led the nation in comeback wins delivered one more to keep their season alive. UCLA scored three runs in the bottom of the ninth on their way to a 6-5 win, extending their season by at least one more game.

The inning opened with Mulivai Levu leading off. Levu blasted a solo home run to cut Virginia Tech’s lead to 5-4:

The next batter, Roman Martin, left the yard as well:

Suddenly, the Bruins were right back in the game.

Will Gasparino, who was back in the lineup after serving a one-game suspension and homered earlier in the game, singled to put the potential winning run on base. After Cashel Dugger struck out trying to bunt Gasparino over with two strikes, a single from Dominic Cadiz moved Gasparino just 90 feet from home.

That brought Phoenix Call to the plate, and in a moment, the Hokies were headed home and the Bruins were still alive:

“Survive and advance,” said shortstop Roch Cholowsky after the win.

The Bruins live to fight another day, and will take on the loser of tonight’s game between Saint Mary’s and Cal Poly in another do-or-die game on Sunday.