Friday, April 4
Los Angeles, CA
6:00 PM (PT)
UCLA
vs
San Diego
Jack O'Connor
Photo by: Luke Bourgeois
No. 14 UCLA Welcomes San Diego for Three-Game Set
April 03, 2025 | Baseball
LOS ANGELES - The No. 14-ranked UCLA baseball team will host San Diego for a weekend series during its Big Ten bye week, starting Friday, April 4 at 6 p.m. PT, continuing Saturday, April 5 at 2ย p.m. PT, and concluding Sunday, April 6 at 1 p.m. PT. The games will be streamed on B1G+, with Nick Koop and Sid Iyer on the call. Fans can also follow along with live stats (StatBroadcast) and X/Twitter updates (@UCLABaseball).
ย
SERIES INFORMATION
Venue:ย Jackie Robinson Stadium
Stream:ย B1G+
Talent:ย Nick Koop (play-by-play), Sid Iyer (analyst)
Live Stats:ย ucla.statbroadcast.com
ย
THE RUNDOWNย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย
MIDWEEK RECAPย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย
UCLA baseball earned its seventh-consecutive win with a convincing 13-8 victory over Pepperdine. The Bruins record their first seven-game win streak since the 2022 season and improves to 6-1 in midweek competitions.
UCLA has now scored 10 or more runs in each of its last three contests. Eight of the nine starters recorded a hit in the impressive offensive display on Tuesday evening. Dean West was extremely productive in the leadoff spot, scoring a career-high four runs in his 3-for-3 effort at the plate.
ย
PROJECTED PITCHING MATCHUPS
Friday, April 4 - 6 p.m. PTย
UCLA - Fr. RHP Wylan Moss (1-0, 2.59 ERA)
USD โ Sr. LHP Austin Smith (1-3, 6.99 ERA)
ย
Saturday, April 5 - 2 p.m. PTย
UCLA - Jr. RHPย Michael Barnettย (6-0, 4.40 ERA)
USD โ RS Fr. Cal Scolari (1-2, 4.30 ERA)
ย
Sunday, April 6 - 1 p.m. PTย
UCLA - TBA
USD โ TBA
ย
ABOUT THE TOREROSย ย ย
San Diego entered the 2025 season as the reigning WCC champions. USD's strong performance in 2024 led to them being favored to repeat as title holders in the WCC preseason poll. However, the Toreros have struggled in the first half of their 2025 campaign, posting a 6-22 overall record. San Diego recently earned its first WCC series victory over the weekend, taking two games from UCLA's most recent opponent, Pepperdine. The Toreros are just 1-12 on the road this season.
ย
CARDIAC BRUINSย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย
UCLA has scored first just 11 times in its 28 games this season, racking up a total of 12 come-from-behind victories during its 23-5 start to the year. Remarkably, the Bruins have pulled off three comebacks after trailing by five or more runs. Notably, UCLA is undefeated when scoring first, posting a perfect 11-0 record.
ย
DEFENSIVE EXCELLENCEย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย
UCLA has made significant strides defensively this season, boasting a fielding percentage of .981 over the first 27 games, which places them 17th nationally. This performance is particularly impressive considering the school's record-setting fielding percentage of .982 in 2018, which ranked third in the nation that year.
ย
BRILLIANT BARNETTย ย ย ย ย
Michael Barnett dazzled in his outing on Saturday afternoon, tossing seven innings without allowing an earned run to pick up his conference-best sixth win of the campaign. His seven-inning outing is the longest by any UCLA pitcher this season. The right hander racked up a career-high 10 strikeouts against an Indiana team averaging 9.5 runs-per-game prior to the weekend, which ranked 15th in the nation. He retired nine consecutive batters between the second and fourth innings. Barnett is one of seven pitchers in the country with six or more wins.
ย
CLOSING IN ON HISTORYย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย
Head Coach John Savage is on the brink of a significant milestone, needing just one more win to surpass the 700-win mark at UCLA and 13 more to reach 800 career victories. With 699 wins at UCLA, he ranks second all-time, trailing only Gary Adams (1975-2004) who finished his career with 984 wins. Savage began his head coaching career at UC Irvine, where he notched 88 wins in his first three seasons, bringing his career total to 787. His winning percentage of .599 with the Bruins is the highest among UCLA coaches with over 100 games coached.
ย
QUITE THE INTRODUCTIONย ย ย ย ย ย ย
Sophomore Grant Gray received his first career start in UCLA's midweek matchup with LMU on Tuesday night, and he made the most of it, launching a two-run home run in what was his first career hit. Gray is a two-way athlete, as he also competes as a wide out for the UCLA football team.
ย
HE'S A ROCH STARย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย
With the Bruins down to their final out and trailing by two runs on Friday night of UCLA's Big Ten debut series, Roch Cholowsky provided the biggest swing of the game, blasting a three-run home run to give UCLA the improbable lead.ย UCLA's shortstop has three go-ahead home runs on the year, as well as a pair of grand slams. Cholowsky has collected 21 RBIs through the first 28 games of the season, smacking nine home runs while slugging .710 on the year. His OPS of 1.228 ranks eighth in the Big Ten.
ย
READY TO ROCHย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย
UCLA sophomore shortstop Roch Cholowsky was named to the Perfect Game Preseason All-Big Ten team. Cholowsky is coming off an impressive freshman campaign with a team-leading .308 batting average and eight homers. The Chandler Ariz. native received Second Team Freshman All-American acclaim (Perfect Game) and a Pac-12 Honorable Mention nod. Cholowksy was the lone Bruin to start all 52 games. He was red hot in the closing stages of 2024, slashing .391/.452/.766 with seven home runs and 18 RBIs over the final 16 games of the season. Recently, Cholowsky was named the No.9 shortstop in the country by D1Baseball.com.
ย
BRUINS PICKED TO FINISH FOURTH IN BIG TEN PRESEASON POLLย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย
Big Ten Preseason Poll
1. Oregon
2. Nebraska
3. Indiana
4. UCLA
5. Michigan
6. USC
ย
FRIENDLY CONFINESย ย ย ย ย
With a sweep over Stanford in the final weekend of the 2024 regular season, UCLA clinched its ninth consecutive season with a winning record at Jackie Robinson Stadium. The Bruins have had a losing record at home just twice over the last 20 seasons, last occurring in 2014 (11-20).
ย
MIDWEEK NOTESย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย
NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCKย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย
UCLA added 11 newcomers ahead of the 2025 season, including eight freshmen and three transfers. Coach Savage has bolstered his pitching staff with three pitchers joining via the transfer portal. Left-hander Ian May (California) will look to occupy a spot in the starting rotation after logging 20 starts and 90.0 total innings for the Golden Bears. Fellow southpaw Ryan Rissas (UC San Diego) helped lead the Tritons to their first-ever Big West title in 2023. August Souza (Santa Clara) brings 43 appearances worth of experience after spending a total of five seasons (including 2020 Covid-shortened season) at Santa Clara.
ย
ย
SERIES INFORMATION
Venue:ย Jackie Robinson Stadium
Stream:ย B1G+
Talent:ย Nick Koop (play-by-play), Sid Iyer (analyst)
Live Stats:ย ucla.statbroadcast.com
ย
THE RUNDOWNย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย
- UCLA ascended 10 spots in the D1Baseball poll, landing at No. 14 (highest ranking since March 2023)
- The Bruins are also ranked in the Baseball America poll at No. 17
- At 23-5, UCLA has achieved its best 28-game start to a season since 2010
- UCLA has scored 10 or more runs in each of its last three games
- UCLA made it seven consecutive winning weekends after sweeping Purdue
- UCLA scored 37 runs in the sweep over Purdue, matching its tally from the three-game set against Cal Poly (Feb. 14-16)
- UCLA is tied with Iowa atop the Big Ten standings, winning all four of its conference series.
- UCLA has won seven straight games, including 16 of its last 18 contests
- UCLA is 16-3 at Jackie Robinson Stadium this season
- Mulivai Levu leads the team in hitting at .362, mashing 10 home runs, collecting 45 RBI, and slugging .664
- Levu ranks third in the Big Ten for RBIs with 45
- Levu leads the team with nine homers and is hitting .452 with 19 RBI and three homers over the last 10 games
- Levu recorded back-to-back four hit games in the Saturday and Sunday wins over Purdue
- AJ Salgado is slashing .515/.585/1.030 with four home runs and 13 RBI over the last 10 contests
- Michael Barnett ranks fourth in the nation with six wins this season, and eighth in strikeout-to-walk ratio at 9.25
- UCLA secured its first-ever sweep in the Big Ten era by winning three straight games over Nebraska
- Cholowsky hit a grand slam in back-to-back games (Feb. 23 vs. MSU, Feb. 25 vs. Arizona State)
- Cholowsky was hit by a pitch three times on Tuesday, a first for UCLA in over a decade
- Against Michigan, UCLA scored 20 or more runs in a game for the first time since its 23-0 win over Omaha (2/18/23)
- Cholowsky's dramatic three-run homer gave UCLA the lead in the ninth inning on Friday night at Maryland
- UCLA ranks 17th in the nation defensively with a fielding percentage of .981
- UCLA drew 15 walks against BYU, its most in a game since Feb. 18, 2024
- UCLA enters its inaugural season in the Big Ten in 2025
- In 2023, the Bruins welcomed the top signing class in the country
- Roch Cholowsky returns for his sophomore season after receiving Freshman All-American acclaim (Perfect Game)
- The program has posted 15 winning records in 20 seasons under HC John Savage
- Duce Gourson, Cody Schrier, and Luke Jewett were selected in the 2024 MLB Draft
- The Bruins were picked to finish fourth in the Big Ten Preseason Poll
- Roch Cholowsky, Cody Delvecchio, and Dean West were named Big Ten Players to Watch
- UCLA is coming off a 19-33 campaign, snapping a streak of seven consecutive winning seasons
- Three transfer pitchers (Ian May - Cal, Ryan Rissas - UCSD, August Souza - Santa Clara) bolster UCLA's pitching staff
MIDWEEK RECAPย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย
UCLA baseball earned its seventh-consecutive win with a convincing 13-8 victory over Pepperdine. The Bruins record their first seven-game win streak since the 2022 season and improves to 6-1 in midweek competitions.
UCLA has now scored 10 or more runs in each of its last three contests. Eight of the nine starters recorded a hit in the impressive offensive display on Tuesday evening. Dean West was extremely productive in the leadoff spot, scoring a career-high four runs in his 3-for-3 effort at the plate.
ย
PROJECTED PITCHING MATCHUPS
Friday, April 4 - 6 p.m. PTย
UCLA - Fr. RHP Wylan Moss (1-0, 2.59 ERA)
USD โ Sr. LHP Austin Smith (1-3, 6.99 ERA)
ย
Saturday, April 5 - 2 p.m. PTย
UCLA - Jr. RHPย Michael Barnettย (6-0, 4.40 ERA)
USD โ RS Fr. Cal Scolari (1-2, 4.30 ERA)
ย
Sunday, April 6 - 1 p.m. PTย
UCLA - TBA
USD โ TBA
ย
ABOUT THE TOREROSย ย ย
San Diego entered the 2025 season as the reigning WCC champions. USD's strong performance in 2024 led to them being favored to repeat as title holders in the WCC preseason poll. However, the Toreros have struggled in the first half of their 2025 campaign, posting a 6-22 overall record. San Diego recently earned its first WCC series victory over the weekend, taking two games from UCLA's most recent opponent, Pepperdine. The Toreros are just 1-12 on the road this season.
ย
CARDIAC BRUINSย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย
UCLA has scored first just 11 times in its 28 games this season, racking up a total of 12 come-from-behind victories during its 23-5 start to the year. Remarkably, the Bruins have pulled off three comebacks after trailing by five or more runs. Notably, UCLA is undefeated when scoring first, posting a perfect 11-0 record.
ย
DEFENSIVE EXCELLENCEย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย
UCLA has made significant strides defensively this season, boasting a fielding percentage of .981 over the first 27 games, which places them 17th nationally. This performance is particularly impressive considering the school's record-setting fielding percentage of .982 in 2018, which ranked third in the nation that year.
ย
BRILLIANT BARNETTย ย ย ย ย
Michael Barnett dazzled in his outing on Saturday afternoon, tossing seven innings without allowing an earned run to pick up his conference-best sixth win of the campaign. His seven-inning outing is the longest by any UCLA pitcher this season. The right hander racked up a career-high 10 strikeouts against an Indiana team averaging 9.5 runs-per-game prior to the weekend, which ranked 15th in the nation. He retired nine consecutive batters between the second and fourth innings. Barnett is one of seven pitchers in the country with six or more wins.
ย
CLOSING IN ON HISTORYย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย
Head Coach John Savage is on the brink of a significant milestone, needing just one more win to surpass the 700-win mark at UCLA and 13 more to reach 800 career victories. With 699 wins at UCLA, he ranks second all-time, trailing only Gary Adams (1975-2004) who finished his career with 984 wins. Savage began his head coaching career at UC Irvine, where he notched 88 wins in his first three seasons, bringing his career total to 787. His winning percentage of .599 with the Bruins is the highest among UCLA coaches with over 100 games coached.
ย
QUITE THE INTRODUCTIONย ย ย ย ย ย ย
Sophomore Grant Gray received his first career start in UCLA's midweek matchup with LMU on Tuesday night, and he made the most of it, launching a two-run home run in what was his first career hit. Gray is a two-way athlete, as he also competes as a wide out for the UCLA football team.
ย
HE'S A ROCH STARย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย
With the Bruins down to their final out and trailing by two runs on Friday night of UCLA's Big Ten debut series, Roch Cholowsky provided the biggest swing of the game, blasting a three-run home run to give UCLA the improbable lead.ย UCLA's shortstop has three go-ahead home runs on the year, as well as a pair of grand slams. Cholowsky has collected 21 RBIs through the first 28 games of the season, smacking nine home runs while slugging .710 on the year. His OPS of 1.228 ranks eighth in the Big Ten.
ย
READY TO ROCHย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย
UCLA sophomore shortstop Roch Cholowsky was named to the Perfect Game Preseason All-Big Ten team. Cholowsky is coming off an impressive freshman campaign with a team-leading .308 batting average and eight homers. The Chandler Ariz. native received Second Team Freshman All-American acclaim (Perfect Game) and a Pac-12 Honorable Mention nod. Cholowksy was the lone Bruin to start all 52 games. He was red hot in the closing stages of 2024, slashing .391/.452/.766 with seven home runs and 18 RBIs over the final 16 games of the season. Recently, Cholowsky was named the No.9 shortstop in the country by D1Baseball.com.
ย
BRUINS PICKED TO FINISH FOURTH IN BIG TEN PRESEASON POLLย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย
Big Ten Preseason Poll
1. Oregon
2. Nebraska
3. Indiana
4. UCLA
5. Michigan
6. USC
ย
FRIENDLY CONFINESย ย ย ย ย
With a sweep over Stanford in the final weekend of the 2024 regular season, UCLA clinched its ninth consecutive season with a winning record at Jackie Robinson Stadium. The Bruins have had a losing record at home just twice over the last 20 seasons, last occurring in 2014 (11-20).
ย
MIDWEEK NOTESย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย
- UCLA is 44-18 in midweek contests since the start of 2019
- The Bruins are 6-1 in midweek games this season and are undefeated on Tuesdays (6-0)
- Payton Brennan is slashing .471/.550/.706 with a home run during midweek competition
- Mulivai Levu has 13 RBIs in the seven midweek games, slashing .407/.455/.704 with a pair of home runs
- UCLA has out-scored its opponents 78-35 during midweek games in 2025
- UCLA went 5-6 in 2024 in midweeks, defeating Nevada, LBSU, and UCSB at home, and LMU and Pepperdine away
- AJ Salgado (.357 BA, .438 OBP), Payton Brennan (.357/.438/.536), Duce Gourson (.333/.481/.615, 3 HRs), Roch Cholowsky (.326/.415/.630, 4 HRs, 11 RBIs), Roman Martin (.294/.333/.706), and Cody Delvecchio (2.70 ERA in 6.2 IP) were all standouts in midweek competition in 2024.
- The Bruins went undefeated in midweeks in 2019 (11-0) and 2021 (8-0)
- UCLA won seven straight midweeks from Mar. 1 to Apr. 19, 2022
NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCKย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย
UCLA added 11 newcomers ahead of the 2025 season, including eight freshmen and three transfers. Coach Savage has bolstered his pitching staff with three pitchers joining via the transfer portal. Left-hander Ian May (California) will look to occupy a spot in the starting rotation after logging 20 starts and 90.0 total innings for the Golden Bears. Fellow southpaw Ryan Rissas (UC San Diego) helped lead the Tritons to their first-ever Big West title in 2023. August Souza (Santa Clara) brings 43 appearances worth of experience after spending a total of five seasons (including 2020 Covid-shortened season) at Santa Clara.
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