UCLA baseball finds itself quickly on the brink of elimination in the NCAA Tournament after falling to No. 3 seed Florida State 5-3 in the first game of the Auburn Regional on Friday.
The Bruins, the No. 2 seed in the regional, will take on the loser of the game between Auburn and Southeastern Louisiana later Friday in a must-win showdown Saturday to keep their season alive.
UCLA (38-23) had chances to rally late, but left the bases loaded in the sixth and Carson Yates lined out to short with the tying run on third and two out in the eighth after the Bruins had plated a run thanks to a wild pitch.
UCLA cut a 3-0 Florida State lead down to one run in the bottom of the fifth, but Seminoles (34-23) answered with a run in the sixth.
Alex Toral gave Florida State some insurance in the ninth with a long homer to right off Bruins reliever Alonzo Tredwell to give the Seminoles a two-run cushion.
The game started as a pitcher’s duel between two of the best throwers in college baseball. UCLA’s Max Rajcic did not pitch in the Pac-12 Tournament, but entered the postseason coming off two Pac-12 Pitcher of the Week awards in May. Florida State’s Parker Messick, meanwhile, was third in Division I in strikeouts with 140.
Both pitchers cruised in the early part of the game, but weren’t as sharp later.
Rajcic allowed four runs on five hits in six innings. Messick went five innings and allowed two runs.
In the fifth, Messick allowed his first hit since the first inning on a solo shot to left by Yates. Two more runners reached base before Jake Palmer singled in Kenny Oyama to cut the Florida State lead to 3-2.
Rajcic retired 11 consecutive Florida State batters before running into trouble in the fifth, when the Seminoles expanded their lead to 3-0 off a two-run triple by Jordan Carrion.
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Florida State struck first on a two-out RBI single in the first inning by James Tibbs and then threatened for more by loading the bases, but Rajcic got Logan Lacey to ground out to end the frame.
In a regional featuring three teams – Auburn, UCLA and Florida State – that were ranked in the top 10 at one point this season, the Bruins are hardly out of contention in the bracket, as long as they can salvage their season Saturday morning.