Baseball Falls 13-6 to No. 2 Seed UCLA in Lubbock Regional

Saturday, June 5

Lubbock, Texas

3 p.m. ET

Army West Point

28-25

UCLA

36-19

UCLA

Army West Point

Baseball Falls 13-6 to No. 2 Seed UCLA in Lubbock Regional

June 05, 2021 | Baseball

Box Score

LUBBOCK, Texas – The Army West Point baseball season came to a close on Saturday afternoon in the NCAA Regionals as they fell to No. 2-seeded UCLA, 13-6 at Rip Griffin Field on the campus of Texas Tech.

The Black Knights (28-25) finished with just one hit less than UCLA's 14, but were only able to muster six runs to UCLA's 13, as the Bruins took advantage of an uncharacteristic day on the mound for the Black Knights, who walked 10 and hit three batters on the day, with five of those runners coming around to score.

At the plate, the Black Knights swung the bat well, answering back to keep things close through the first five frames, before the Bruins scored four unanswered over the sixth and seventh innings to extend the lead to 13-6.

Four Black Knights had multi-hit outings, with freshman Sam Ruta leading the way with a 3-for-3 day at the plate with one run scored and a team-high four RBI. He mashed a two-run home run in the second inning to pull the Black Knights within one after the Bruins put the Black Knights in a 3-0 hole after the top of the first.

Senior captain Jeremiah Adams was 3-for-4 on the day, followed by another senior captain, Anthony Giachin with a 2-for-5 day and senior Tim Simoes a 2-for-4 day with two RBI.

Senior captain Ray Bartoli got the ball on the day, but had an uncharacteristic start, tossing only 3.1 innings, allowing six runs on seven hits with four walks and two strikeouts. He was able to get out of a few early jams to keep it the Black Knights within two through the first three frames, but after a single, a walk, a sac bunt and a bases-clearing double by UCLA's Kevin Kendall, the score was 6-3 and head coach Jim Foster went to the bullpen.

Down the stretch the Black Knights used five other pitchers in Tyler Prichard, Robbie Buecker, Connelly Early, Tanner Gresham and Harry Flannery. Relievers combined to allow seven runs on seven hits with six walks and three hit-by-pitches.

Bruins put up three runs in the fifth, one in the sixth and three in the seventh to pull out of reach of the Black Knights.

In the sixth inning the Black Knights added three runs to come within three, 9-6, but that was as close as they would get for the rest of the game. Simoes singled home two runs in the at inning, along with an RBI single by Ruta.

Bruin reliever Kyle Mora earned the win after starter Sean Mullen only tossed 3.2 innings of work, allowing three runs on six hits with two strikeouts. Mora entered in the fifth and threw 2.1 scoreless innings, scattering two hits and striking out three to improve to 2-1 on the year.