A year removed from an exit after just three games at the 2025 Men’s College World Series, John Savage’s UCLA Bruins are primed to take the next step.
They’ve been the No. 1 team in D1Baseball.com’s poll since the preseason, going 48-6 during the regular season and 28-2 in Big Ten conference play. Along the way, there was a 27-game winning streak that stretched from a Feb. 27 win against the Tennessee Volunteers at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas through a three-game sweep of Rutgers in Piscataway, N.J. before UC Santa Barbara shut out the Bruins 4-0 to end the streak on April 14.
But that loss was merely a speed bump, and the Bruins will cruise into Omaha for this week’s Big Ten Baseball Championship having gone 15-3 since the streak was snapped.
At the plate, shortstop Roch Cholowsky, ranked No. 1 by MLB Pipeline for the upcoming 2026 MLB Draft, has put up the kind of numbers fitting for a No. 1 pick, batting .330/.465/.684 and a 1.149 OPS. His 21 homers lead the team, and he’s driven in 59 runs, the second-most on the team behind junior outfielder Will Gasparino, who has 61 RBIs on the year.
Cholowsky and Gasparino, who’s batting .305 and had 30 of his 61 hits this season go for extra bases, along with Mulivai Levu and Roman Martin form the core of the Bruins lineup that has proven nearly unbeatable over the course of the season.
But they have been beaten here and there, most recently last Thursday when the Washington Huskies held the Bruins to just three hits in an 8-0 shutout, with starter Jackson Thomas allowing all three hits and four walks but no runs in six innings of work and Gunnar Nichols walking one and striking out three while holding the Bruins hitless over the final three innings.
The loss at Washington was only the second time the Bruins have been shutout this season; the first was the loss to UC Santa Barbara that snapped the 27-game win streak.
In a single elimination format, anything can happen.
A Player to Watch From Each Team
No. 1 UCLA – Roch Cholowsky, SS – Never has UCLA produced a first overall pick in the MLB Draft, though Cholowsky is almost certainly going to change that. The Bruins shortstop has elite power on his pull-hitting side, and MLB Pipeline writes, “He’s considered by some to be the best all-around college shortstop prospect since Troy Tulowitzki and has done nothing to diminish that take with a solid junior season.” The knock on his game is that he doesn’t have a ton of pure speed. But there was another shortstop who went on to a great career and a plaque in Cooperstown with a lot of offense and a little speed, and being compared to Derek Jeter is still good company in which to find oneself.
No. 2 Nebraska – Dylan Carey, IF – With 14 homers and 63 RBIs, Carey is the engine that powers the Huskers’ offense. Thirty-two of his 78 hits have gone for extra bases, and the senior from Colorado appeared in all 54 games this season. He does have a tendency to strike out a lot, fanning 46 times this season in just 224 at-bats, a 20.5% strikeout rate.
No. 3 Oregon – Tanner Bradley, RHP – Bradley has been stellar out of the bullpen for the Ducks, throwing 44 innings in 26 appearances with a 1.83 ERA and 69 strikeouts against just 17 walks with a 0.860 WHIP.
No. 4 Southern California – Augie Lopez, C – Lopez started 48 games behind the plate for the Trojans and brings a lot of power to the lineup, leading the team with 17 homers and driving in 46 runs, the second-most on the team. He’s something of an all-or-nothing batter, striking out 52 times in 188 at-bats while batting .266, though 28 of his 50 hits this season are doubles or dingers.
No. 5 Purdue – Sam Flores, IF – The senior from Lufkin, Texas has 120 total bases this year, the most on the team and 24 more than Aaron Manias, who is second. Flores is hitting .327/.422/.569 with 11 homers and 53 RBIs.
No. 6 Ohio State – Dane Harvey, 1B – At 6-foot-5 and 270 pounds, Harvey is the archetype of a power-hitting first baseman, having hit 19 homers and driven in 56 runs with a 1.188 OPS for the Buckeyes this year, leading the team in all three categories.
No. 7 Michigan – Colby Turner, IF – A junior from California, Turner leads the team with a .377 batting average, 14 homers, 52 RBIs, and 141 total bases. He fell just .005 shy of the Big Ten batting title.
No. 8 Iowa – Caleb Wulf, UT – Wulf was the guy with the .004 more than Turner, winning the Big Ten batting crown for 2026 with 83 hits in 218 at-bats while also driving in 49 runs. He hit just three homers and 15 doubles, but also drew 14 walks for a .436 on-base percentage and scored 43 runs.
No. 9 Illinois – Aidan Flynn, LHP – Flynn has been sensational for Illinois, making 12 starts and 14 appearances, throwing 54 innings with a 2.67 ERA, a 0.870 WHIP, and 51 strikeouts against 11 walks. Opponents are batting just .188 against the lefty.
No. 10 Rutgers – Yomar Carreras, IF – The sophomore out of North Brunswick Township has started 51-of-52 games for the Scarlet Knights, batting .283 and driving in 40 runs despite having just 14 extra-base hits, hitting singles in the clutch when it means the most.
No. 11 Washington – Jackson Hotchkiss, OF – Hotchkiss shares a name with several 19th century light artillery pieces, which is appropriate, since he launched 19 bombs for the Huskies this year while batting .354 and driving in 45 runs.
No. 12 Michigan State – Isaac Sturgess, OF – Sturgess batted .320 for the season, recording 58 hits in 181 at-bats with four homers and 32 RBIs. He’s also listed as a pitcher, though he didn’t make any appearances on the mound this season.
Playing To Host – A solid performance by Nebraska, the No. 2 seed at the Big Ten tournament after a 23-7 conference season, could move Nebraska into the top eight in the RPI (Rating Percentage Index). Unless the Huskers drop out of the top 16 in the RPI, they’re likely to host an NCAA Regional at Haymarket Park in Lincoln, Nebraska. A top eight ranking in the RPI following the conference tournament would also likely earn the Huskers a top-eight seed in the NCAA Tournament, and should Nebraska advance out of the regional, they’d host a best-of-three Super Regional in Lincoln. It’s been 20 years since the Huskers last appeared in the NCAA Tournament, when Nebraska hosted a regional at Haymarket Park. They last hosted a Super Regional the year before, when they advanced to the College World Series for the third time in program history and the third time in five years.
Oregon, at 38-15 and ranked No. 16 in RPI, in on the hosting bubble, and a good run in Omaha this week could earn them a bid to host an NCAA Tournament regional the following week.
Playing to Get In – Ranked No. 51 in the RPI, Michigan (32-22 overall, 17-13 Big Ten) should be able to find their way into the NCAA Tournament’s field of 64 barring a two-and-out performance in the double-elimination early bracket and several teams jumping in the RPI. They’ll open with Rutgers, and if they win, they get the winner between Ohio State and Washington. Similarly, Purdue (35-18 overall, 18-12 Big Ten) holds the fifth seed and is ranked 53rd in the RPI. The fifth seed gives them a matchup against No. 12-seed Michigan State, and should they win that, they’d face the winner of Iowa and Illinois for a chance to advance to the quarterfinals.
The team truly playing for their tournament lives is the eighth-seeded Iowa Hawkeyes (32-21 overall, 15-15 Big Ten), who are ranked No. 64 in the RPI, which means they’d likely be the last team to get into the NCAA’s field of 64. That, of course, doesn’t include the very likely occurrence of a couple of teams outside the top 64 of the RPI winning their conference tournaments and thus stealing NCAA bids, nor does it account for the possibility of either a two-and-out appearance or a tournament win in Omaha for the Hawkeyes, who will open the tournament against Illinois, and should they win, they’d face the winner of Purdue and Michigan State for a spot in the quarterfinals.
Tournament Format – The Big Ten’s tournament includes the top 12 teams of the 17 Big Ten conference schools that have baseball programs. The top four teams in the standings – UCLA, Nebraska, Oregon, and USC – all have byes to the quarterfinals. The bottom eight teams have to run a double-elimination gauntlet to get to the quarterfinals.
The tournament’s first day features four games at Charles Schwab Field, with Purdue facing Michigan State at 10 a.m. EDT, Iowa facing Illinois at 2 p.m. EDT, Michigan facing Rutgers at 6 p.m. EDT, and Ohio State facing Washington in the nightcap at 10 p.m. EDT. On Wednesday, the the losing teams from the two early games face off at 10 a.m. and the losing teams from the two later games square off at and 2 p.m. The losing teams from Wednesday’s two early games are eliminated.
The winners of Tuesday’s games meet at 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. EDT, with the winning teams earning a day off on Thursday and advancing to the quarterfinals, and the losing teams moving on to face the winners of Wednesday’s early games on Thursday. The two winners of Thursday’s elimination games advance to the quarterfinals.
The four quarterfinals are scheduled for Friday, and the tournament will be single elimination from there on out.
Where to Watch – The entire 2026 Big Ten Baseball Championship will be broadcast live on the Big Ten Network and the games will also be available on the FOX Sports App.
2026 Big Ten Tournament Schedule
All times Eastern Daylight Time
All games played at Charles Schwab Field, Omaha, Nebraska
Tuesday, May 19
10 a.m. – No. 5 Purdue vs. No. 12 Michigan State – Game 1
3 p.m. – No. 8 Iowa vs. No. 9 Illinois – Game 2
7 p.m. – No. 7 Michigan vs. No. 10 Rutgers – Game 3
10 p.m. – No. 6 Ohio State vs. No. 11 Washington – Game 4
Wednesday, May 20
10 a.m. – Game 1 Losing Team (Purdue/Michigan State) vs. Game 2 Losing Team (Iowa/Illinois) – Game 5
3 p.m. – Game 3 Losing Team (Michigan/Rutgers) vs. Game 4 Losing Team (Ohio State/Washington) – Game 6
7 p.m. – Game 1 Winning Team (Purdue/Michigan State) vs. Game 2 Winning Team (Iowa/Illinois) – Game 7
10 p.m. – Game 3 Winning Team (Michigan/Rutgers) vs. Game 4 Winning Team (Ohio State/Washington) – Game 8
Thursday, May 21
3 p.m. – Game 5 Winning Team vs. Game 7 Losing Team – Game 9
7 p.m. – Game 6 Winning Team vs. Game 8 Losing Team – Game 10
Friday, May 22
10 a.m. – Game 7 Winning Team vs. No. 4 Southern California – Game 11
3 p.m. – Game 9 Winning Team vs. No. 1 UCLA – Game 12
7 p.m. – Game 10 Winning Team vs. No. 2 Nebraska – Game 13
10 p.m. – Game 8 Winning Team vs. No. 3 Oregon – Game 14
Saturday, May 23
3 p.m. – Game 11 Winning Team vs. Game 12 Winning Team – Semifinal 1 – Game 15
7 p.m. – Game 13 Winning Team vs. Game 14 Winning Team – Semifinal 2 – Game 16
Sunday, May 24
3 p.m. EDT – Championship Game
Photo: UCLA’s Roch Cholowsky reacts after hitting a home run during an NCAA baseball game against Texas Christian on Friday, Feb. 20, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Kyusung Gong)
