AUBURN, Ala. — Inclement weather extended the UCLA baseball team’s season by a day, but erasing a nine-run deficit in three-plus innings proved too tall a task.
Sonny DiChiara went 3 for 4 with four RBIs, Nate LaRue added three RBIs and No. 14 overall seed Auburn beat UCLA, 11-4, on Monday in the completion of the championship game of the Auburn Regional.
Auburn (40-19), which won its ninth consecutive NCAA regional game, became the first team in SEC history to score 50-plus runs in its first three NCAA Tournament games. The Tigers advance to the best-of-three super regionals later this week.
The game was suspended on Sunday due to lightning in the area. Auburn was leading 9-0 with one out in the bottom of the sixth inning.
In Monday’s resumed portion, UCLA (40-24) scored four unanswered runs. After being unable to get a baserunner on in the bottom of the sixth, the Bruins got on the scoreboard in the seventh.
Carson Yates just missed his fourth home run of the regional on an RBI sacrifice fly to left field, and Darius Perry followed that with an RBI single up the middle to cut the lead to 9-2.
With one out in the bottom of the eighth, freshman Jack Holman blasted a pinch-hit solo home run to right field – his first collegiate home run.
UCLA added one more run in the eighth when Yates lined an RBI single to left field that cut the deficit to five runs.
Auburn added a pair of insurance runs in the top of the ninth on Cole Foster’s sacrifice fly and DiChiara’s run-scoring single.
Mason Barnett (3-2) allowed just one hit through 5-1/3 scoreless innings while striking out 10 for Auburn. Carson Skipper got the final two outs of the bottom of the sixth.
Leading 5-0 after five innings, Auburn added four runs in the top of the sixth. LaRue cleared the bases with a two-out double for a 9-0 lead.
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