Some may say luck has been on the Bruins’ side this postseason, despite a perfect record on the national stage.
Facing five opponents across six games in the NCAA tournament, UCLA has faced just one other Power Four program – Arizona State in the Los Angeles regional.
A true test awaits coach John Savage’s crew Monday.
Their next opponent hails from the SEC – a league that’s produced the last five national champions.
No. 15 seed UCLA baseball (48-16, 22-8 Big Ten) will face No. 6 seed LSU (49-15, 19-11 SEC) on Monday at Charles Schwab Field in both teams’ second game of the 2025 Men’s College World Series.
“We’ve scouted them. … Seen a lot of synergy,” Savage said ahead of the Tigers’ game Saturday. “You got one eye on synergy, and you’re writing the report up, and you got one eye on the live game. … You do like to see what’s going on in Omaha.”
[Related: Scouting Report: UCLA baseball enters the 2025 Men’s College World Series]
UCLA outlasted Murray State 6-4 in its opener Saturday afternoon, scoring all six in the first four frames.
LSU, on the other hand, took down tournament-favorite No. 3 seed Arkansas 4-1 Saturday night – driving Razorbacks ace, left-hander Zach Root, from the game after just 1.2 innings.
Likely good news for the Bruins, the Tigers also expended their top dog – southpaw Kade Anderson, a projected top-five pick in the 2025 MLB Draft – after he tossed seven innings of one-run ball, allowing just three hits on 100 pitches.
LSU’s top three hitters went 0-for-13 against Arkansas, however, only shortstop Steven Milam recorded multiple base knocks.
“We got a long, long way to go – but we’re playing good baseball,” Savage said. “The Big Ten tournament really kick-started it. … We didn’t play well against Nebraska. We learned from that, and we haven’t lost since.”
Portal to Geaux!
The Bruins and Tigers haven’t faced each other since, coincidentally, UCLA was last in Omaha in 2013.
In both teams’ first MCWS game that year, UCLA walked away victorious 2-1, thanks to seven innings of one-run ball from Adam Plutko and two shutout innings of relief from James Kaprielian and David Berg. The first two would later pitch in MLB, while Berg reached Triple-A.
Savage’s success in college baseball had long been built on developing pitching – a trend bucked by the 2025 squad.
And while Savage points to his sophomores – a crop formerly named the nation’s No. 1 recruiting class – as the key to the Bruins’ turnaround this season, the team also had the top 2021 recruiting class, but never got similar on field results.
One could blame Tigers’ coach Jay Johnson for that.
Through the transfer portal, the Tigers poached right-hander Thatcher Hurd and southpaw Gage Jump – the second and fourth-highest ranked players, respectively – in the Bruins’ 2021 class, per Perfect Game.
Hurd had a 1.06 ERA and 48 strikeouts across 34 innings in an injury-shortened freshman campaign before committing to the Tigers after the 2022 season.
Jump, who transferred to LSU after the 2023 campaign, had 3.86 ERA across 16.1 frames in 2022 before injury, too, limited his contributions.
While both Hurd and Jump were taken in the 2024 MLB Draft, there could still be a grudge for the Bruins’ head honcho – who has been one of the more portal-adverse in the nation.
Just three of UCLA’s 40 players are transfers. No other 2025 MCWS team has fewer than 10 and LSU boasts 17, according to D1Baseball.
“We have 37 homegrown players that we recruited,” Savage said. “Right now, it’s a pretty good formula.”
Pitcher’s Best Friend
In 1910, Franklin Pierce Adams wrote “Baseball’s Sad Lexicon,” stating that “the saddest of possible words” goes, “Tinker to Evers to Chance.”
While the Bruins may argue it’s actually “Cholowsky to Phoenix to Levu,” the notion remains the same: double plays kill rallies and keep the opponent off the board.
And UCLA continues to lead the nation with 64 double plays in as many games – eight more than second-place Arizona, another MCWS team.
But it’s not just double plays. A year removed from posting a .965 fielding percentage, UCLA boasts a .982 mark for seventh-best in the nation.
“Coach always talks about good championship teams have good defense,” said sophomore left fielder Dean West, who made an inning-ending diving catch Saturday with runners on first and third. “That’s something we really table our pride in.”
Sophomore shortstop Roch Cholowsky leads MCWS players with 19 defensive runs saved this season, and sophomore first baseman Mulivai Levu is third with 13.7.
And after a .769 fielding percentage in 2024 – a season that included a three-error game for him at the hot corner – sophomore third baseman Roman Martin has played to a .926 clip in 2025.
“We take a lot of pride in our defense. That’s something that we know is never going to go away,” Martin said. “Defense is really a separator, especially in these big games.”
Over at second, sophomore Phoenix Call has improved dramatically over the course of the season. In his first 22 games, the second baseman made seven errors. But that’s been trimmed to just two over his 37 games since.
Martin played little third base last season, because Cholowsky was the everyday starter at the hot corner until former shortstop Cody Schrier went down with injury – Martin even uses Cholowsky’s third base glove from last season. And Call never played second base prior to this year, Savage said.
“Phoenix is a phenomenal athlete who’s a high school shortstop. I mean, he could play center field with anybody, probably, in the tournament,” Savage said. “He’s still a very young player, but he’s an elite player.”
Start Me Not
Savage called upon not one, not two, but three starting pitchers in Saturday’s game.
Junior right-hander Michael Barnett, who made his 14th start of the season, tossed 4.2 innings before leg cramps forced Savage to the bullpen.
And first to emerge was freshman right-hander Wylan Moss, who made three starts as the Friday night guy before he was sidelined with a back issue in April. Moss threw just five pitches – surrendering two hits – before Savage made another move.
“It’s baseball. It’s Omaha,” Savage said. “You expect trouble. If you’re not expecting trouble, you’ll be out of here pretty quick. So you better be able to pitch with traffic and pitch out a problem. That’s the nature of championship baseball.”
Next up was redshirt junior southpaw Ian May, who’s appeared as the midweek, Friday and Saturday starter this year. While he would earn the win Saturday, May tossed just a single frame on 13 pitches before Savage turned to his typical seventh, eighth and ninth inning arms – junior right-hander Jack O’Connor, graduate student right-hander August Souza and freshman right-hander Easton Hawk, respectively.
And while Moss or May could theoretically start on short rest, sophomore right-hander Landon Stump seems the favorite to get the nod against LSU, last pitching June 8.
“It’s a tournament,” Savage said. “So you don’t label your rotation at a tournament – you look at matchups, and you look at video and then you determine what happened the day before. … You go day by day.”
Stump, however, has rarely pitched deep into ballgames this year – making it through five frames just seven times in 17 starts this year, likely forcing Savage to depend on his bullpen for at least four or five innings Monday.
“We’re not going to blow anybody away,” Savage said. “They all have a little niche. They all know what they can do. I have a good feel for them in terms of pitch calling. … A lot of these guys are somewhat starters that are better relievers.”
Team player of the year
Cholowsky is slashing .362/.490/.733 this season and, even without a national championship, will need a new trophy case after the year he’s had.
He’s won or been named the Big Ten Player of the Year, Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year, the Brooks Wallace Trophy, All-American First-Team honors, Perfect Game College Player of the Year, NCBWA District 9 Player of the Year and 643 Charts’ National regular season WAR Leader.
Many may argue he should’ve been a Golden Spikes Award finalist, if not winner.
But Cholowsky has been in a bit of a slump – by his standards – in the NCAA tournament. And he seems to know it.
Amid a game he would end 0-for-2 with a walk and without an extra base hit since March 24, Cholowsky laid down a successful squeeze bunt towards the first base bag with runners on first and third and one out in the fourth.
“Fans, do not harpoon me,” Savage said. “Please, please, please – that was on his own.”
Cholowsky’s play made it 3-0, driving home Call, and sparked the Bruins’ four-run fourth, Savage said.
“Led to four runs – kind of difference in the game,” Savage said. “So how can you blame the guy for playing baseball?”
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