Photo by: Mac Brown
UCLA Earns D1Baseball Preseason No. 1 Ranking
January 12, 2026 | Baseball
LOS ANGELES -ย For the first time in program history, UCLA baseball will enter the season as D1Baseball.com's top-ranked team, announced Monday morning.
This marks UCLA's first appearance atop a preseason poll since 2008, when the Bruins opened the year as Baseball America's No. 1 team.
UCLA also climbed to No. 1 following its 2013 national championship run and previously held the top spot in 1979, 1997, and 2010 according to Collegiate Baseball and Baseball America.
UCLA's 2025 baseball season was one of the program's most successful campaigns in recent years, marked by a Big Ten co-championship, a dominant postseason run, and a return to the College World Series.
The Bruins finished 48-18 overall and 22-8 in Big Ten play, tying Oregon for the conference's regular-season title. Following a strong regular season campaign that saw UCLA earn the No. 15 overall seed, allowing it to host a regional at Jackie Robinson Stadium, the Bruins carried that momentum into the postseason, sweeping both the Los Angeles Regional and Super Regional to punch their ticket to Omaha. The Bruins' run was outstanding relative to preseason expectations, completing the largest single-season turnaround in Division I baseball (+29), earning 48 wins after collecting just 19 the season prior. UCLA did not drop a single home series in 2025, and posted an impressive 31-7 mark in its own ballpark. The Bruins closed the season with the fifth-most wins in program history at 48 and made their sixth CWS appearance, and first since winning the National Championship in 2013.
Under head coach John Savage, UCLA paired strong pitching depth with a powerful, consistent offense headlined by Roch Cholowsky. Cholowsky enjoyed one of the most decorated individual campaigns in UCLA history in which he was named Baseball America's National Player of the Year, becoming just the sixth non-draft eligible player to earn the award in its 44-year history. He was also named Player of the Year by ABCA/Rawlings, D1 Baseball, and Perfect Game following his outstanding sophomore season.
Cholowsky became the first Bruin ever to sweep both Big Ten Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year in the same season, and the first UCLA player since 1998 to win a conference player of the year award. Nationally, he made history as the first Bruin and first sophomore to receive the Brooks Wallace Award, presented annually to the nation's top shortstop.
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This marks UCLA's first appearance atop a preseason poll since 2008, when the Bruins opened the year as Baseball America's No. 1 team.
UCLA also climbed to No. 1 following its 2013 national championship run and previously held the top spot in 1979, 1997, and 2010 according to Collegiate Baseball and Baseball America.
UCLA's 2025 baseball season was one of the program's most successful campaigns in recent years, marked by a Big Ten co-championship, a dominant postseason run, and a return to the College World Series.
The Bruins finished 48-18 overall and 22-8 in Big Ten play, tying Oregon for the conference's regular-season title. Following a strong regular season campaign that saw UCLA earn the No. 15 overall seed, allowing it to host a regional at Jackie Robinson Stadium, the Bruins carried that momentum into the postseason, sweeping both the Los Angeles Regional and Super Regional to punch their ticket to Omaha. The Bruins' run was outstanding relative to preseason expectations, completing the largest single-season turnaround in Division I baseball (+29), earning 48 wins after collecting just 19 the season prior. UCLA did not drop a single home series in 2025, and posted an impressive 31-7 mark in its own ballpark. The Bruins closed the season with the fifth-most wins in program history at 48 and made their sixth CWS appearance, and first since winning the National Championship in 2013.
Under head coach John Savage, UCLA paired strong pitching depth with a powerful, consistent offense headlined by Roch Cholowsky. Cholowsky enjoyed one of the most decorated individual campaigns in UCLA history in which he was named Baseball America's National Player of the Year, becoming just the sixth non-draft eligible player to earn the award in its 44-year history. He was also named Player of the Year by ABCA/Rawlings, D1 Baseball, and Perfect Game following his outstanding sophomore season.
Cholowsky became the first Bruin ever to sweep both Big Ten Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year in the same season, and the first UCLA player since 1998 to win a conference player of the year award. Nationally, he made history as the first Bruin and first sophomore to receive the Brooks Wallace Award, presented annually to the nation's top shortstop.
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Players Mentioned
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