Gerrit Cole sharp in UCLA rout of Kent State

UCLA pitcher Gerrit Cole pitched like an ace on Friday night in the Bruins’ NCAA regional opener against Kent State.

The sophomore, a former first-round draft pick by the New York Yankees, overmatched the Golden Flashes while Bruins hitters unloaded en route to a 15-1victory at Jackie Robinson Stadium.

UCLA (44-13) will play tonight at 6 against defending national champion Louisiana State, an 11-10 winner in 11 innings Friday over UC Irvine. Irvine plays Kent State in an elimination game at 2 p.m.

The 6-foot-4, 220-pound Cole (10-2) gave up only an infield hit and struck out seven in five innings.

Chris Giovinazzo drove in three runs and Beau Amaral and Steve Rodriguez each drove in two for the Bruins, who are hosting a regional for the first time since 1986.

UCLA scored twice in the second inning and five times in both the third and fourth innings en route to a 12-0 lead.

--Gary Klein

New Mexico wins

Chris Juarez had three hits and three RBIs as New Mexico rallied for a 9-5 victory over Stanford in the first game of the Fullerton Regional.

The third-seeded Lobos (38-20) won their first NCAA regional game since 1962, their last tournament appearance.

Trailing 4-3, New Mexico moved ahead in the seventh by scoring four runs on three walks, two hits, a hit batter and a sacrifice fly. Juarez’s two-run single led the rally.

Reliever Jason Oatman allowed one run and three hits in 3 1/3 innings to earn his first victory of the season.

Stanford’s Tyler Gaffney and Kenny Diekroeger each had three hits.

Rafael Neda’s homer gave the Lobos a 1-0 lead in the first.

Stanford fell to 31-24.

Gaffney hit a solo homer and Ben Crowe added a two-run shot to put Stanford (31-24) ahead 3-1 in the bottom of the inning.