Max Rajcic Tosses Gem to Break UCLA Baseball's Losing Streak, Beat Washington State

The closer-turned-ace threw 8.0 scoreless innings with a career-high 14 strikeouts on Friday night.

(Photo Courtesy of Jesus Ramirez/UCLA Athletics

Sophomore starting pitcher Max Rajcic had everything working in his arsenal and wound up sending the Cougars’ batters back to the dugout all Friday night.

“It was a pretty complete effort from Max,” coach John Savage said. “Clearly we needed it, from what we have done the last five games. That’s what a Friday night guy does. He puts a stop to certain things. He stops losing streaks.”

Rajcic struck out a career-high 14 batters against Washington State (23-24, 9-16), helping No. 23 UCLA baseball (31-18, 15-10 Pac-12) snap a season-worst five-game losing streak and open the final home series of the season with a 4-0 win. The gem also served as a bounce-back performance for Rajcic, who allowed six runs in his last outing.

“I liked everything tonight,” Rajcic said. “I really liked my 3-2 counts. I won eight out of eight, so that was really big. Keeping us in the game and winning those counts instead of walking and losing them. I liked my fastball command and my breaking balls. They were both really good.”

Junior catcher Darius Perry was behind the dish as he watched the Bruins’ righty mow through the Cougars' lineup – only allowing one hit and tossing the second-longest outing of his collegiate career at 8.0 innings.

The Bruins’ backstop was 0-for-2 at the plate with a walk, but was able to corral pitches from Rajcic throughout the contest.

“He just was back to being himself,” Perry said. “He wasn’t trying to do too much. Last week against Washington we kinda struggled… He made his pitches when he needed to – which was a lot of times today. It’s nice to be able to catch him when he’s on, cause his energy is contagious. Working with him is a lot of fun.”

Exiting the game to start the ninth, freshman right-hander Alonzo Tredwell relieved Rajcic to close out the contest, striking out one batter in a 1-2-3 frame.

The combined shutout was a change of pace for UCLA, coming off a series sweep at the hands of Washington sandwiched by midweek losses to Long Beach State and Cal State Fullerton. Since the 16-5 victory over Arizona State on May 1 – when Rajcic established his previous career-high in strikeouts with 11 – the Bruins had struggled to keep runs off the board while failing to add runs themselves.

As it turned out, a first-inning rally gave the blue and gold all the runs they would need to leave Jackie Robinson Stadium with a series-opening victory.

Freshman second baseman Ethan Gourson doubled down the left-field line, scoring junior right fielder Michael Curialle and graduate first baseman Jake Palmer from second and third, respectively.

Following up on the quick start, sophomore designated hitter Daylen Reyes hit an RBI single. Sophomore center fielder Carson Yates concluded the rally with an RBI double – establishing a 4-0 lead to close the first inning.

The Bruins tallied five hits in the first two innings and struggled to get runners on base from that point forward. Freshman shortstop Cody Schrier singled in the sixth inning, but that was the only hit UCLA grabbed against the Cougars’ pitching.

“You win a game, you wake up and it is a clean slate,” Savage said. “We gotta come back out tomorrow. (Washington State is) going to be ready to go.”

UCLA will return to action Saturday at 2 p.m. for the second game of the three-game set against Washington State.

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