LOS ANGELES---No. 2 UCLA (43-14) defeated CSU Bakersfield (36-23-1) 7-2 in the first game of the NCAA Division I regional baseball tournament Friday night at Jackie Robinson Stadium.

UCLA's Ty Moore singled with two outs in the bottom of the first. Luke Persico hit a liner to right which Chance Gusbeth (Jr., Lancaster, Calif., Desert Christian HS) looked to have made a play one. First base umpire Scott Wilkerson ruled that Gusbeth trapped the ball. The single allowed Moore to advance to third. Chris Keck smacked a ball to first. Soloman Williams (Sr., Long Beach, Calif., Golden West College) backhanded it and took it himself for the final out.

The Bruins' starting pitcher James Kaprielian, the Pac-12 leader in wins and strikeouts, walked Ryan Grotjohn (So., Cave Creek, Ariz., Brophy College Prep) with two outs in the top of the second. Gusbeth singled to right. Logan Trowbridge (Sr., Santa Cruz, Calif., College of San Mateo), who was hitting .196 at the start of the game, singled to center to plate Grotjohn.  Gusbeth was thrown out between second and third for the final out.

Kort Peterson walked with one out in the bottom of the second. CSUB starter James Barragan worked around trouble, getting a pair of infield pop outs to conclude the inning.

Joey Sanchez (So., Pico Rivera, Calif., Pico Rivera HS) led off the CSUB third with an infield single. Jordie Hein (Sr., Scottsdale, Ariz., Chapparal HS) failed to get the sacrifice bunt down, striking out looking against Kaprielian. Mylz Jones (Jr., Palmdale, Calif., Paraclete HS) hit an apparent double play ball, but the throw from UCLA second baseman Trent Chatterton pulled shortstop Kevin Kramer off the bag allowing Sanchez to reach safely. David Metzgar (So., Lancaster, Calif., Paraclete HS) grounded into fielder's choice to force Sanchez at second, but he reached first in time. Max Carter (So., Bakersfield, Calif., Stockdale HS) grounded out to third to end the inning.

Kramer doubled to right center with one out in the bottom of the third. Moore grounded out to second, but Kramer moved to third. Persico tied the score with a single to right. Persico stole second before Keck walked. With the count 0-2 on Darrell Miller, Jr., Barragan uncorked a wild pitch that allowed both runners to move up 90 feet. Miller, Jr. hit a slow roller to Jones at shortstop. Jones came up throwing and got Miller, Jr. for the last out. 

CSUB went down in order in the top of the fourth. Despite being up 1-2 in the count, Barragan hit Peterson to begin the UCLA fourth. Barragan fielded Chatterton's sac bunt attempt and committed a throwing error which allowed Peterson to advance to third. With runners on the corners, Christoph Bono bunted towards first base; Barragan couldn't field it and make a play, driving in Peterson for a 2-1 lead. Brett Stephens' sacrifice bunt was successful, giving UCLA a pair of runners in scoring position. With the infield in, Kramer singled to right to score Chatterton, but Gusbeth threw out Bono out at the plate. Kramer took second on the throw. Moore walked. Barragan's strike out of Persico was the final out of the frame.

The fifth got underway when Trowbridge reached on a Chatterton's second error of the game. Sanchez was hit by a pitch for the 18th time of the year before Hein put down a successful sac bunt to get both runners into scoring position. Jones struck out before Metzgar grounded out to short for the third out.

Keck led off the Bruins' fifth with a walk. Miller, Jr. sacrificed him to second. Peterson singled to center as Keck was held at third. Chatterton grounded out to second. Metzgar bobbled the ball, forcing him to throw to first for the out as Keck scored. Barragan struck out Bono for the final out.

Stephens led off the UCLA sixth with a single up the middle. Stephens stole second before Kramer lined a shot off of Barragan's chest. He recovered to throw Kramer out at first as Stephens moved to third. Garrett Nimmo (So., Temecula, Calif., Temecula Valley HS) relieved Barragan to face Moore with infield in. Moore worked out a walk. Persico grounded into a fielder's choice at second as Stephens scored. Keck grounded out to first to conclude the sixth.

Gusbeth led off the Roadrunner seventh with his third home run of the season to cut the UCLA lead to 5-2. Miller, Jr. walked to open the UCLA seventh and moved to second on a Peterson sacrifice bunt. Chatterton grounded out to shortstop which allowed Miller, Jr. to advance to third. Bono's infield single drove in the sixth Bruins' run.  The Bruins took advantage of a pair of CSUB errors in the eighth to score their final run.

Kramer led UCLA by going 3-for-5. Persico was 2-for-4 with two RBI's. Bono was also 2-for-4. Kaprielian gave up all five CSUB hits and struck out five in seven innings before giving way to Grant Dyer in the eighth. David Berg, the NCAA Division I career leader in saves, came on in the ninth and struck out the side to complete the five-hitter. Gusbeth had two of the CSUB hits.

The third seed, Maryland, defeated the second seed Ole Miss 3-1 in earlier action on Friday. CSUB will play the Rebels in the loser's bracket at 4 p.m. Saturday. UCLA will play Maryland in the winner's bracket at 8 p.m. The game will be televised by ESPN U and can be seen online on ESPN 3 or the WatchESPN app. You can listen to the game on 1230 ESPN as well.