Men's College World Series 2025: UCLA defeats Murray State, LSU bests Arkansas on Day 2

Yahoo

15-06-2025

Day 2 of the Men's College World Series continued in Omaha, Nebraska on Saturday, featuring some solid wins from UCLA and LSU. The Bruins threatened the Cinderella run of Murray State with a win, while the Tigers dispatched SEC rival Arkansas to stay in the winners' bracket.
UCLA 6, Murray State 4
Murray State is the underdog darling of the MCWS, advancing to Omaha as a regional No. 4 seed. But they are one game away from elimination after losing Saturday's opener to UCLA.
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Racers pitcher Nic Schutte struggled with his control from the start, walking Dean West and Roch Cholowsky, then giving up a single to Mulivai Levu to load the bases. He then walked Roman Martin on five pitches to bring in the Bruins' first run. However, Schutte retired the next three — with two strikeouts — to limit the damage.
UCLA added to its lead with Cashel Dugger hitting a double to lead off the second. A sacrifice bunt from Phoenix Call advanced Dugger to third before West drove him home with a single.
The Bruins put the game out of reach methodically in the fourth inning. Following a Dugger lineout, Call and West each singled. They were moved into scoring position by a Cholowsky sacrifice bunt.
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With two outs, Schutte could have escaped the inning, but he hit Levu with his first pitch to once again load the bases. Martin then hit an RBI single, followed by a double from AJ Salgado that scored another two runs.
UCLA pitcher Michael Barnett was on his way to getting through five scoreless innings after retiring the first two Racers batters in the fifth. But he allowed a single to Jonathan Hogart and walked Dustin Mercer before leaving the game. Bruins coach John Savage told ESPN reporter Dani Wexelman that Barnett was dealing with leg cramps.
Wylan Moss took over and gave up an RBI single to Carson Garner for Murray State's first run. The run was charged to Barnett, who finished with one run and three hits allowed with four strikeouts and four walks in 4 2/3 innings.
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The Racers added another run in the sixth on singles by Luke Mistone and Will Vierling, followed by a sacrifice fly from Dan Tauken. They threatened to score more in the seventh against UCLA reliever Jack O'Connor, with Hogart and Mercer leading off the frame with singles. But O'Connor got the next two batters to fly out before August Souza took over and got Mistone to line out.
Souza walked Vierling and gave up a double to Tauken to begin the eighth. Both runners came around to score on RBI groundouts, closing Murray State's deficit to 6-4. But Hogart struck out to end the Racers' last best threat.
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UCLA will enjoy a steak dinner courtesy of Bruins alum Gerrit Cole, according to Savage. The team will face the winner of Saturday night's LSU-Arkansas game on Monday. Murray State will play the loser of that matchup in a Monday elimination game. In the meantime, Racers fans in Omaha can perhaps console themselves with the fact that their school currently ranks second in the Rocco's Jell-O shot challenge.
LSU 4, Arkansas 1
Later on Saturday, LSU picked up the 4-1 win over Arkansas in a defense-heavy matchup. The Tigers earned the win against their SEC rival largely off a strong second inning, and kept the lead with some great pitching from starter Kade Anderson.
LSU got things started in the second inning, loading the bases off star Razorbacks pitcher Zach Root. The Tigers then scored off three consecutive plays. Chris Stanfield and Josh Pearson each notched RBI singles; sandwiched between the two RBIs, Michael Braswell III was hit by a pitch to advance the runners for another run.
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After the hot inning, Arkansas coach Dave Van horn pulled Root early, with sophomore Gabe Gaeckle coming in to replace him. Gaeckle put up quite a performance, notching 10 strikeouts across six shutout innings before being replaced in the eighth.
Gaeckle and Anderson put up a great defensive performance, holding the score at 3-0 through the next three innings. And in the bottom of the sixth, the Razorbacks finally got on the board with a solo homer from first baseman Reese Robinett.
Gaeckle may have held off the LSU offense, but the Tigers came right back the minute he left. It only took one batter after Gaeckle was replaced by freshman Cole Gibler before LSU left fielder Derek Curiel got an RBI single to put the Tigers up 4-1.
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At the start of the eighth, Anderson was replaced after allowing a base hit. The lefty sophomore ended with seven strikeouts after 100 pitches while holding Arkansas to only four baserunners.
The Razorbacks defense held on in the top of the ninth, stranding two LSU batters to keep the score at 4-1 heading into the bottom of the inning. But freshman righty Casan Evans was able to close out the game and secure the 4-1 win.