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The UCLA baseball team scored five runs in the first inning and went on to beat Utah 5-3 in a Pac-12 game on Saturday in Los Angeles.
Second baseman Chase Strumpf hit a grand slam to highlight the big first inning for the Bruins (27-23, 16-10 Pac-12), who took a 2-0 series lead.
Utah starter Riley Ottesen (4-4) settled down after the first inning but got tagged with the loss, giving up five runs on three hits with five strikeouts and five walks over seven innings. Relief pitcher Dylan Drachler tossed a perfect eighth inning with one strikeout.
Third baseman Dallas Carroll launched a three-run homer for Utah (24-23, 12-14) in the sixth inning. Ellis Kelly and DaShawn Keirsey hit back-to-back singles and following a ground out, Carroll homered.
Utah designated hitter Wade Guldon went 2 for 4 with a double. Utah had five hits in the game, two more than UCLA.
Utah and UCLA play the final game of the series at 2 p.m. MDT Sunday.
Utah Valley 8, Seattle 5 • In Lynnwood, Wash., Zac Willis went 3 for 5 with a home run and four RBIs as Utah Valley won its regular-season finale, taking the Western Athletic Conference series, 2-1.
Willis delivered a go-ahead, two-run single during a three-run seventh inning and then homered to lead off the ninth for his seventh of the season. He also had an RBI double in a three-run third inning that tied the game at the time.
Utah Valley (18-34, 11-13) will open defense of its 2016 WAC Tournament title on Wednesday at 4 p.m. MDT in Mesa, Ariz. The Wolverines will be the No. 4 seed and face Northern Colorado in the opener of the double-elimination tournament that will decide the WAC's automatic berth to an NCAA Regional.