Some will say it is the competition.
Some will say it is the team.
But regardless of what one may believe, the Bruins are winning – and they are setting and chasing program history.
No. 1 UCLA baseball (21-2, 9-0 Big Ten) completed a sweep of Maryland (11-12, 1-5) with an 8-3 win Saturday and a 14-4, eight-inning run-rule victory Sunday at Jackie Robinson Stadium – extending its win streak to 15.
The Bruins are off to their best start in conference play since at least 1955.
Saturday’s win trumped the 7-0 start of the 1967 team – which played in the program’s first Pac-8 campaign – and the 1963 squad, which was a part of the California Intercollegiate Baseball Association.
UCLA’s 21 wins through 23 games is also the program’s second most since 1955 – only beaten by the 2010 team that started 22-0, which the current squad could surpass by going 24-2.
“We got back to our identity,” said coach John Savage on Sunday after saying he was disappointed with his team’s at-bats in Saturday’s later innings. “True hitting. Our on-base stuff has been really good all year, and I thought we got back to that today.”
It may sound backwards to say a player who went 4-for-15 with a double and four RBIs seemed off at the plate, but it may be apt to describe Roch Cholowsky’s weekend.
The junior shortstop started Friday 0-for-3, Saturday 0-for-4 and Sunday 1-for-5 – totalling four strikeouts over 12 at-bats and not quite giving the fans the blast they would have erupted for.
“Just trying to do too much,” Savage said. “He’s pulling the ball too much. … It’s better for him to struggle right now because sooner or later, the struggle is going to go away pretty fast, so I’m not worried about him.”
On the mound, senior right-hander Michael Barnett was pulled in the fourth inning Saturday – charged with three runs over three and a third innings pitched – and junior right-hander Landon Stump was relieved with one out in the fourth after two earned runs were tagged to his name.
Sophomore right-hander Wylan Moss relieved Barnett, averaging 14.5 strikeouts per nine innings and tossed 3.2 shutout frames – but did not strike out any of the 16 batters he faced.
“I’ll give credit to the Maryland hitters,” Moss said. They’re pretty good. In two strike counts, (I) couldn’t really put them away. … It’s just all about putting up zeros in the scoreboard and working pitch to pitch.”
The 22 runs UCLA scored over the final two games of the series had to come from somewhere – as did the ability to strand 18 Maryland baserunners across the weekend’s final 17 innings.
Leadoff man Dean West raised his batting average from .232 after Friday’s affair to .256 after Sunday’s.
“I feel pretty good,” the junior left fielder said. “Just trying to stay consistent, just staying within myself and just trying to execute the game plan.”
West went 4-for-10 with four walks and two hit-by-pitches to score four runs and drive in two throughout the series.
“It’s kind of funny,” Savage said. “He feels like he’s played well all year but you look at his numbers. … He’s as good a lead-off guys in the country, and we believe in him. … You’ll see his numbers spike.”
Junior first baseman Mulivai Levu went 2-for-4 on Saturday and 3-for-3 on Sunday but was pulled from Sunday’s affair prior to the eighth inning – a move Savage said was just a precaution after a pitch hit near Levu’s right knee cap in the fourth inning.
Levu was hardly the only Bruin to take a beating.
After getting hit eight times Friday, UCLA took one more beaning Saturday and six more Sunday.
But tempers seemed to flare far less for plunkings than they did for the series’ umpiring.
Both dugouts and spectators – even the children in the stands – berated the weekend’s umpiring crew.
What seemed to perplex Savage the most was an obstruction call against Cholowsky on a pickoff attempt at second base in Saturday’s eighth inning.
“I haven’t seen that call, probably, in the last 20 years,” Savage said. “I’ve seen that in terms of maybe a play at the plate or play at third, but pickoff? I haven’t seen that call. That call is not a normal call.”
Maybe the most encouraging sign to come out of the weekend was the 1.2 shutout innings Justin Lee tossed Sunday to earn his first win of the season.
The junior right-hander induced an inning-ending double play on his first pitch of the weekend and sat down the side in the sixth, striking out two and walking none.
The performance marked Lee’s first outing without issuing a base on balls since Feb. 17.
“J-Lee was outstanding,” Savage said. “It’s all about strikes with him. If he can command the count – 0-1, 0-2, 1-2 – you could be in big trouble. … We want him to be a big part of this thing. … His stuff is too good not to pitch, and he’s come such a long way.”
After tossing 39.1 innings his freshman year, Lee began the 2025 campaign as the team’s closer but ultimately lost the job to then-freshman right-hander Easton Hawk.
Though the transfer portal was an option, Lee said he could not leave the coaching staff and teammates that had supported him the past two seasons, adding that he felt he had developed in Westwood and had further progress to make.
“I was the closer at the beginning of last year, and that was a really good role to have,” Lee said. “But right now, I just want to take it day by day, just earn coach’s trust again, and I just want to keep getting out there – doesn’t really matter the role – and help us win.”
After sitting around 93 to 95 mph on his fastball as a freshman and sophomore, Lee – Perfect Game’s seventh-ranked right-hander in California back in 2023 – said he is now in the 96 to 98 range and finally feels like he’s growing into his frame.
Yellow, Loyola!
Angel Cervantes will make his sixth midweek start of the season Tuesday against Loyola Marymount (7-19, 0-3 WCC), Savage said.
The freshman right-hander tossed three perfect frames March 10 against UC Irvine but finished March 17 having allowed three runs in a 2.2-inning start against Pepperdine.
Savage added that fellow freshman right-hander Zach Strickland will be good to go Tuesday – having served as the Bruins’ midweek piggy-back following Cervantes this season – despite tossing 39 pitches Sunday.
Down (to) two
Blake Balsz underwent season-ending surgery Friday for an undisclosed injury, Savage said.
The junior catcher was the Bruins’ third-string catcher in 2024 and backup in 2025 – and was also a left-handed option at designated hitter – hitting to a .706 OPS in 179 plate appearances last season.
Sophomore Kasen Khansarinia, the only other rostered catcher besides starter junior Cashel Dugger, seems likely to continue serving as the Bruins’ backup backstop despite making just two starts at the position – both coming this season.
Comments are closed.