On a picturesque opening day, eight players made their Bruins’ debut and helped the blue and gold make easy work of the Matadors.

Fans returned to the stands of Jackie Robinson Stadium to watch UCLA Baseball (1-0) take the field on Thursday night, and the Bruins put their hitting and pitching potential on display from first pitch to final out by defeating CSUN (0-1) 9-2 Freshman center fielder Malakhi Knight and junior left fielder Michael Curialle combined for seven of UCLA’s 16 hits on Friday night, starting their respective campaigns on a high note.

Knight went 3-for-4 in the ballgame, hitting his first career home run in the seventh, launching a sinker far beyond the left-field wall. Curialle – one of four returning Bruins to the starting lineup – had an efficient first game of the season, getting on base in each of his first four at-bats and finishing the night 4-for-5.

On the mound, the Bruins got an ace-like performance out of sophomore right-hander Jake Brooks. Following five scoreless innings, Brooks collected his first win of the season with five strikeouts, while only allowing two hits and two walks.

Senior first baseman Jake Moberg kicked off the Bruins’ offensive outburst on Friday, hitting a single to lead off the bottom of the second and scoring on sophomore third baseman Kyle Karros’ ensuing triple. In the next at-bat, freshman second baseman Ethan Gourson collected his first collegiate hit, rocketing a pitch into right field to score Karros from third.

UCLA had an early 2-0 lead heading into the third inning, and that advantage quickly expanded.

The Bruins exploded in the bottom of the fourth, scoring four runs and creating sufficient run support for Brooks to work with. An RBI single from Loyola Marymount graduate transfer Kenny Oyama scored Gourson, who started the frame with a single.

From that moment, the lineup continued to pass the bat around. Freshman shortstop Cody Schrier hit a sacrifice fly to score Knight from third and Oyama scored when Curialle hit a single seconds after the 5-foot-4 outfielder stole second.

Moberg tackled on one more than frame with an RBI single that extended the Bruins’ lead to 6-0.

That’s when Brooks was pulled in favor of freshman Alonzo Tredwell’s entrance, and the Matadors managed to push through their first runs of the game.

The 6-foot-8 righty allowed a double into the left-center gap that scored both runners on base. Only one run was charged to Tredwell, however, with one of the runners reaching on a dropped fly ball error from Oyama in left field.

CSUN’s runs did not phase UCLA, which added two more in the bottom of the seventh on Knight’s home run and a run-scoring double play from Curialle.

Freshman pitcher Luke Jewett entered in the seventh and retired six straight batters through the eighth inning – a perfect two-inning stint. Redshirt freshman pitcher Chris Aldrich entered to pitch the ninth and end the game.

Aldrich did what coach John Savage asked of him – mowing down the three batters he faced, sealing the Bruins’ triumph over the Matadors.

UCLA will return to finish the series against CSUN on Saturday and Sunday, with first pitch set for 2 pm and 1 pm respectively.

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