After getting some time off this past week, the Ducks headed down to sunny Los Angeles to take on the No. 1 UCLA Bruins. The game, though, quickly became a nightmare start to their road trip as an 11-1 run-rule loss materialized over seven innings on Friday night.

No. 13 Oregon baseball (35-13, 17-8 Big Ten) dropped game one of its pivotal series against UCLA (45-4, 24-0 Big Ten) today. A poor start from pitcher Will Sanford (3.0 IP, 5 K, 5 ER) gave the Bruins the momentum they needed to take the Friday night matchup between two of the Big Ten’s best.

The Ducks’ offense was slow to start against UCLA starter Wylan Moss after going three up, three down in the top half of the first. The Bruins fared much better than Oregon, with Sanford getting off to a rough start after letting up two hits and a walk. With two outs and bases loaded, center fielder Will Gasparino slashed a two-run double on an outside pitch to give UCLA an early lead at home.

A clear issue for Sanford early was his ability to get ahead in the count, as he allowed three of seven Bruins to get into three-ball counts. Even in the counts where he was ahead, he let up two hits, including the two-run double from Gasparino.

Sanford’s shortcomings continued in the bottom of the third after walking shortstop Roch Cholowsky to set up a two-run blast to deep center from first baseman Mulivai Levu. The Bruins kept things rolling after loading the bases before a throwing error allowed two to score to make it 6-0 heading into the top of the fourth.

The Ducks’ offense showed signs of life after Brayden Jaksa singled to left on the first pitch before Burke-Lee Mabeus doubled to put runners in scoring position with no outs. The first run of the game came on a sacrifice fly from Drew Smith, which allowed both runners to advance with Jaksa crossing the plate.

In the bottom of the fourth, Oregon head coach Mark Wasikowski made the call to the bullpen for Jonah Barkoff after a poor outing from Sanford.

“We didn’t get a great start out of [Sanford],” Wasikowski said midgame to Big Ten Network. “There were spots of it that were good; the second inning was really clean, but the first and the third with the free bases didn’t help him.”

Heading into Friday, Barkoff had only pitched two innings with no earned runs and four strikeouts. He got into a jam with bases loaded with two outs after letting up two hits and a walk. Before Barkoff could secure the third out, an error at the plate allowed right fielder Payton Brennan to score, and a walk sent Levu home for the second run of the inning.

Leo Uelman came in hot as the third pitcher of the night for Oregon with a strikeout to lead off the bottom of the fifth. Coming into this game, he has been one of Wasikowski’s go-to middle-relief pitchers after some strong performances in recent games.

After not letting on any runners in the fifth, Uelman allowed Levu to hit his second home run of the game with a solo shot to deep right. Third baseman Roman Martin singled, and Brennan hit the second home run of the inning to continue the onslaught. The game promptly ended via the run rule following the seventh inning.

The Ducks will take on the Bruins in game two of the series May 9, at 6:32 p.m PT at Jackie Robinson Stadium.