UCLA battles back to defeat Cal Poly, 6-4

Nick Vander Tuig, UCLA’s reliable No. 2 starter, teetered Saturday in the NCAA regional. Cal Poly just couldn’t get him to topple.

By the time Vander Tuig departed, he and UCLA were in control. The Bruins’ 6-4 victory gave them an afternoon off in the NCAA regional at Jackie Robinson Stadium.

Cal Poly (40-18) plays San Diego (33-23) Sunday at 2 p.m. The winner of that game plays UCLA at 6 p.m. The Bruins (41-17), and Vander Tuig, were able to exhale after they fell behind, 4-0, Saturday.

Vander Tuig (11-4) gave up eight hits and three walks and had two wild pitches through the first four innings. He rehabilitated his night by retiring six of the last seven batters before turning the game over to the bullpen in the seventh. James Kaprielian pitched two innings and David Berg a 1-2-3 ninth for his 20th save.

“It shows how strong our bullpen is,” said Coach John Savage.

Savage also said, “That showed the resiliency of Nick, to put up a zero in the fifth and a zero in the sixth. That’s why he is who he is.”

The Bruins finally took the lead with a two-run seventh, with Cody Regis’ single the only ball hit out of the infield. Eric Filia’s infield single with the bases loaded broke a 4-4 tie. Pat Valaika then walked to force in another run.

For Cal Poly, it was a hard lesson in postseason baseball.

The Mustangs, playing in their second NCAA tournament, were cruising through five innings with a 4-0 lead. Matt Imhof had a no-hitter, retiring 15 of the first 16 batters. He gave up a walk to Shane Zeile in the second inning and had five strike outs … and he was gone before the sixth inning was over.

UCLA’s Pat Gallagher opened the sixth with a double and Brenton Allen followed with a single. Imhof hit Brian Carroll and Kevin Kramer followed with a sacrifice fly for the Bruins’ first run. After an infield single by Filia, Imhof was done.

Reed Reilly replaced Imhof, but things continued to unravel. With two outs, Kevin Williams’ harmless-looking fly ball was lost in the lights by right fielder Nick Torres. The gift triple tied the score, 4-4.

“We were kind of concerned before the play about the lights,” Torres said. “It got above the lights, no idea where it was. Off the bat, it looked like a popup. It wasn’t until it was below the lights that I picked it up again. By that time it was too late.”

It got Vander Tuig off the hook after he spent the first four innings pitching batting practice to the Mustangs.

Denver Chavez and Jordan Ellis had back-to-back singles to start the bottom of the first. Both scored, on a sacrifice fly by Torres and a double by Jimmy Allen. The Mustangs built a 4-0 lead on run-scoring singles by David Armendariz and Torres.

San Diego 6, San Diego State 3: Austin Green’s two-run single in a five-run fifth inning kept the Toreros alive.

chris.foster@latimes.com

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