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.