OMAHA, Neb. – With apologies to Yogi Berra, it truly was deja vu all over again at the Big Ten Baseball Championship.
First, it was Mulivai Levu with a sac fly to send the winning run home in the bottom of the ninth to get UCLA past Purdue in the quarterfinals. Then Levu clubbed a three-run game ending homer in the bottom of the ninth to get the Bruins past Southern California and into the final.
And then, for the 28th time this season and the third game at the Big Ten tournament, UCLA came from behind to win in their last at-bat, this time when No. 9 hitter Phoenix Call was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the bottom of the 11th, pushing Roman Martin across the plate with the winning run and giving UCLA a 3-2 win over Oregon, their 51st of the season, and the 2026 Big Ten Championship.
“We’ve done it before, so we always know we can do it again. And I think it’s just it’s not one person. It’s a team game, and it’s just we get one guy on, someone’s going to do a job, and you just trust the other guy to keep doing the job,” UCLA’s Payton Brennan said of the team’s ability to mount comebacks and win.
With runners on first and second in the bottom of the second and no outs, UCLA’s Cashel Dugger attempted a sacrifice bunt, but a perfectly executed wheel play that saw third baseman Drew Smith get the lead runner by throwing to shortstop Maddox Molony covering third, who threw across the diamond to get Dugger at first for a double play, snuffed out the Bruins’ first opportunity to score.
“We turned that inning around, you know, that was early in the game, right? We turned that inning around pretty quick,” said Oregon head coach Mark Wasikowski. “I felt like our guys were prepared. I felt like they played really hard. I thought they were really, really tough. And it wasn’t tough enough, right? That just tells you when you’re going to go up against No. 1 team in the country, you’re going to have to elevate your game even to another level. And they know that. They know that very clearly. … And maybe this is a blessing in disguise that it hurts them so bad, because they know that they’re just as good as anybody that’s out there.”
Payton Brennan drew a one-out walk in the fourth and then scored on a triple by Will Gasparino to give the Bruins a 1-0 lead. Cashel Dugger then hit a grounder to third, and Gasparino broke for home, where he was caught in a rundown. As the ball went back and forth with Gasparino stuck in the middle, he was nearly back to third base when the ball came back to Ducks third baseman Drew Smith. Gasparino bowled Smith over, raising his left elbow, and was tagged out.
A video review by the umpires ensued and Gasparino was ejected for malicious contact under Rule 8-7, which says “a runner deliberately attempts to dislodge the ball or uses excessive force, they are declared out and immediately ejected from the game” and comes with a one-game suspension, so the Bruins will be without their starting center fielder for the first game of the NCAA Tournament next weekend.
“I think he kind of got up on Drew and they called it a malicious play. So that was pretty unfortunate because we talked about to the team about, let’s make sure that we understand the big picture here and sportsmanship and this and that. And it’s just a, unfortunate play, I guess you would say in the heat of the moment. Hopefully they understand and, you know, I don’t know what the penalty will be, but, uh, it’s a tough, tough, tough penalty,” said UCLA head coach John Savage. “He did his job. He stayed in a rundown and got Dugger to second base. But, you know, the end of play was unfortunate.”
Oregon nearly tied the game in the fifth, loading the bases with two outs when UCLA starter Angel Cervantes issued back-to-back walks to Angel Laya and Drew Smith after a two-out single from Ryan Cooney. With the infield shifted to the left side, Brayden Jaksa hit a grounder to Bruins second baseman Phoenix Call, who was playing to the left side of second base. Call’s throw to first forced Mulivai Levu to stretch to catch the ball, but after a review, it was determined he never left the bag and Smith was out, ending the inning.