OMAHA, Neb. – The Bruins took care of business.
Dean West had two hits, scored twice and knocked in one as No. 15 UCLA built an early 6-0 lead and posted a 6-4 victory over Murray State on Saturday afternoon in Game 3 of the 2025 College World Series in front of 24,346 fans at Charles Schwab Field.
The Racers (44-16) will play an elimination game against the loser of Arkansas vs. LSU on Monday at 1 p.m. CT. The Bruins (48-16) will meet the winner of Arkansas vs. LSU on Monday at 6 p.m. CT.
“Hard-fought win.” UCLA head coach John Savage said. “Murray State is very competitive. We knew when we put up a 4 in the fourth, they probably wouldn’t blink an eye, and they didn’t. They kept battling back. It wasn’t an easy victory. We pitched out of some problems today.”
Racer starter Nic Schutte had control issues in the bottom of the first. West and Roch Cholowsky drew walks before a single by Mulivai Levu loaded the bases. A walk to Roman Martin forced in a run, giving UCLA a 1-0 edge.
Cashel Dugger had a leadoff double in the bottom of the second and came home on a base hit by West to push the lead to 2-0.
AJ Salgado had a two-run double to cap a four-run fourth as the Bruins pushed the advantage to 6-0.
Jonathan Hogart had a two-run single and scored on a base hit by Carson Garner in the fifth as Murray State got on the scoreboard. The Racers had two on when West made a diving catch on a liner by Dominic Decker to halt the rally.
“I knew because of the pitch called he was going to throw a change-up,” West said, “and that was probably going to be the only opportunity I would get to catch the ball. So I made sure I went out and got it.”
Luke Mistone had a leadoff single in the sixth and came home on a sac fly by Dan Tauken, pulling the Racers within four at 6-2.
Murray State had singles by Hogart and Mercer to start the seventh but were unable to advance them. They were the final two of nine Racers stranded.
Will Vierling drew a leadoff walk in the eighth for Murray State and went to third on a double by Tauken. Both scored on groundouts to narrow the deficit to 6-4.
Easton Hawk set the Racers down in order in the ninth with a pair of strikeouts to record his eighth save.
Ian May earned the win in relief, going one scoreless inning with one hit and one strikeout to improve to 8-3.
Phoenix Call had two hits and scored once for UCLA. He also had five assists at second base.
“Phoenix is a phenomenal athlete,” Savage said. “He’s a high school shortstop. He can play center field with anybody probably in the tournament. And he can swing the bat. He had a really good Cape Cod last summer. He really grew up last year at YD and that’s really carried over to this season.”
Martin and Salgado both knocked in two for the Bruins.
Hogart went 3 for 5 with one run, while Mercer had two hits and two walks for the Racers.
“It’s so awesome,” Murray State head coach Dan Skirka said. “So happy these guys get to experience this and play on this stage and show the whole country that they belong. Obviously, we didn’t come out victorious, but I couldn’t be more proud of the fight they showed. They jumped on us early and we weren’t able to get that knock. But there was never a doubt that these guys were going to keep fighting, scrapping, clawing and giving us a chance in the end. That’s exactly what they did. They’ve done it all year.”
Notes
UCLA has won six straight College World Series contests.
The Bruins improved to 27-1 when scoring first, the best mark in the country.
UCLA is 43-1 when scoring at least six runs.
UCLA recorded one double play, raising its season total to 64, the top mark in the nation.
Murray State drew five walks, but only one scored.
Dom Decker of Murray State extended his on-base streak to 42 straight games.