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Pitching was on point for both squads on Saturday afternoon, but two home runs proved to be the difference when Arizona State (32-20, 16-14 Pac-12) dropped its regular season finale to UCLA (34-18, 17-12) 3-0.
The Sun Devils’ third-straight loss becomes a season-high. Saturday was also the first time the team has been shutout and swept the entire season. It was also the first time UCLA has swept ASU since 1999.
Jared Glenn got the start for the Sun Devils, after he recorded the final five outs of Friday night’s loss. Glenn threw five more innings, tallying 71 pitches and six strikeouts. He allowed five hits and two runs to come across the plate.
“We are going to make decisions based on opponent-matchups” head coach Tracy Smith said of his plans for a possible Regional rotation. “I thought (Glenn) showed today that he is certainly capable (of earning a spot).”
Both of the runs against Glenn came off the bat of Bruins catcher Noah Cardenas. The junior smacked solo shots in the third and fifth innings, before UCLA added an insurance run in their half of the ninth.
T3 | Noah Cardenas gets the Bruins on the board with a solo shot to left!
— UCLA Baseball (@UCLABaseball) May 29, 2021
UCLA 1, ASU 0
| Pac-12 LA + Now
| https://t.co/3LY6PK1tpf#GoBruins | @Noah_Cards55 pic.twitter.com/J8L0XwooPK
This allowed UCLA starter, Jesse Bergin, to go to work. The Sun Devil bats were aggressive early in the game and made a lot of contact, but only mustered four hits against Bergin. The righty dealt for seven innings, throwing just 73 pitches and striking out five Sun Devils.
“What (Bergin) threw today was big league stuff,” Smith said. “When a guy is throwing like that and with the command he had, that’s tough to hit.”
Seven Sun Devils were shut down in order to end the game and the regular season. Arizona State will wait for Monday to see if it receives an at-large bid to postseason play with Regionals set to begin next weekend.
The selection show will be at 12 p.m. ET on Monday, May 31, on ESPN2. D1Baseball currently has Arizona State headed to Lubbock, Texas as a two-seed in Texas Tech’s regional. Baseball America places the Sun Devils as a two-seed at Texas’ regional in Austin.