College World Series: UCLA 8, Mississippi State 0
OMAHA, Neb. -- UCLA capped an impressive run through the NCAA Tournament in fitting fashion Tuesday night, holding Mississippi State in check to capture its first NCAA baseball championship with a 8-0 win in the College World Series.
The Bruins swept the best-of-three championship series.
UCLA pitchers allowed only one run in their five CWS games after giving up a total of three runs in two games in the super regional. The Bruins finished the tournament with a 10-0 record despite the regional, super regional and CWS all being double elimination.
The Bruins outscored opposition 44-14 in the 10 postseason games.
Starter Nick Vander Tuig (14-4) gave up five hits and had six strikeouts in eight innings Tuesday, and closer David Berg pitched a scoreless ninth for his NCAA-record-tying 51st appearance of the season.
The 19 runs scored by UCLA (47-17) are the lowest total by a College World Series champion in the metal-bat era.
Eric Filia drove in five runs to lead the Bruins at the plate.
UCLA's Brian Carroll scored the game's first run. He was hit by a pitch, moved to third on Kevin Kramer's sacrifice and came home on Filia's sacrifice fly.
Mississippi State starter Luis Pollorena was relieved by Ross Mitchell after one inning.
The Bruins boosted the lead to 3-0 in the third when Carroll walked with one out, Kramer singled to right and scored by Filia's sacrifice. Pat Valaika followed with a single to centr that brought home Kramer.
Vander Tuig retired the first eight Mississippi State hitters before Demarcus Henderson broke through with a two-out single in the third.
The Bulldogs (51-20) threatened in the fourth after Alex Detz led off with a single and Brett Pirtle got to first on an error, but Wes Rea flied out to the warning track in left field.
UCLA added two runs in the fourth with an RBI single by Cody Regis and a sacrifice fly by Kramer to boost their lead to 5-0.
The Bruins picked up a run in the sixth on Filia's RBI single with two outs, and Filia drove in two more with an eighth-inning single.
NOTES: UCLA earned its 109th NCAA team championship in school history, increasing its national record. ... Mississippi State was aiming for its first NCAA title in school history in any sport. ... The Bruins' starting lineup doesn't have one .300-plus hitter. Filia and Pat Gallagher led the Bruins with .276 batting averages. ... UCLA went 42-0 this season when leading after seven innings. ...Berg's 24 saves were an NCAA single-season record.
