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OMAHA, Neb. —  UCLA shortstop Roch Cholowsky didn’t waste time proclaiming his and the team's goals for next year.

Less than 30 minutes after the Bruins' season-ending loss to Arkansas, 7-3, the team captain expressed his desire to make it back to the Men's College World Series.

“This has felt like baseball heaven,” Cholowsky said. “It’s definitely something I’ll never take for granted. I’m just really excited to give them a chance to come back next year.”

To some, Cholowsky’s comments might feel spur of the moment. The puffy eyes from him and center fielder Payton Brennan’s wiped tears were still visible, the loss fresh and the adrenaline still pumping. 

Undefeated for weeks in the ��ݮ��վ���߿� tournament and winning its first MCWS game against Murray State, UCLA suffered its first loss against LSU, 9-5, early Tuesday afternoon, a game that started Monday night but was suspended due to severe weather and resumed the following morning. Hours later, UCLA was eliminated by the Razorbacks.

The Bruins went from being one win away from the semifinals to packing their bags in less than 24 hours, a brutal way to end a 66-game season. Yet, Brennan and coach John Savage shared the same sentiment as the star player, believing that their 2025 campaign put UCLA back on the map. 

"Coming off of last year, no one thought we'd be here," Brennan said. "We battled and we came together, losing the field, and that's built the team up stronger." 

The youngest team at the MCWS on paper, most of the Bruins’ production came from its baby-faced, bright-smiling underclassmen core. The starting lineup in all three games featured eight players who were sophomores or younger, with four more on the pitching staff.

The team’s surge from 2024 to 2025 was historically noteworthy, an incredible turnaround that launched the Bruins back into the limelight with other West Coast foes. And although a new season always brings uncertainty, UCLA’s trip to Omaha motivates them for what’s to come.  

There was pain in the moment, but optimism for the future.

“We can certainly build off of this,” Savage said. “We’ve got a bunch of young players that love each other, trust their work and trust each other. So, it’s a really good stepping stone.”

EVERYTHING GOOD TAKES TIME

UCLA's infield and coach John Savage come together for a mound meeting as they await a new pitcher. Photo credit: UCLA Baseball social media

UCLA found beauty in the struggle in 2025.

With an under-.500 record (19-33) in 2024, the Bruins' lackluster season snapped the program’s streak of seven consecutive winning years — and was their second straight year missing the ��ݮ��վ���߿� tournament. Only two players, Cholowsky and right fielder AJ Salgado, hit .300 or above.

The Bruins’ freshmen class was ranked No. 1 ahead of the season by Baseball America, but the ebbs and flows were apparent. Joining the Big Ten provided UCLA with a fresh start, but their future was unclear.

“We wore it last year…we played a lot of guys that weren’t quite ready,” Savage said. “(I) didn’t think we’d win as few as we did, but at the end of the day, it has paid off.”

The 2025 season was a complete 180 — all of the hopes and prayers were answered. Headlined by the program’s first MCWS appearance since the 2013 national championship season, UCLA was co-regular season champions of the Big Ten and headed to Omaha with a pitching staff that hadn’t given up a run in 16 consecutive innings. 

Cholowsky, Baseball America’s highest-ranked position player in the nation before his freshman season in 2024, was head and shoulders above his peers. The Perfect Game College Player of the Year, Big Ten Player of Year and the conference’s defensive player of the year, the sophomore nearly accomplished every quest on his vision board. He and first baseman Mulivai Levi combined for the most RBI by a Bruins tandem (159) since 1997.

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Making a double-take, maybe even triple-, is reasonable when considering this amount of production was churned out largely by freshmen and sophomores. But for Savage, the young card doesn’t work. 

“A lot of these guys have played over 100 Division I games, 115 Division I games,” Savage said. “(Muli)vai played a lot, Roch played a lot, Roman (Martin) played quite a bit, Phoenix (Call) played a little bit, Cash(el) (Dugger) played quite a bit — we’re getting the payoff now clearly.”

The coach’s statement reflected most of the roster. Sophomore left fielder Dean West played just 20 games in 2024 due to injury, but started 65 of the team’s 66 games in 2025 and batted .320. He led the team in hits at the MCWS with five.

Outside of West, three position players at least doubled their at-bats from last season, and six of the eight players that appeared in at least 50 games were sophomores. Two of UCLA’s main three starting pitchers were also sophomores. 

Here’s a look at how many career games each position player who played in the MCWS had by the end of the season.

UCLA also overcame an usual stadium situation in the fall. In September 2024, a federal court ruled that the lease between the Department of Veterans Affairs and UCLA for Jackie Robinson Stadium and its practice field's land was illegal, according to the and the . A couple of weeks later, a judge barred the Bruins from the field. They weren't able to use it again until late October, when they doubled their lease payment for the year to regain rights to the ballpark until July.

Between the field and the 2024 season, the Bruins' rise was even more incredible.

“It was tough going through what we did last year, and no one really knows what it feels like besides the guys that were in it,” Cholowsky said. “Talking about what we wanted to do this year and how we wanted to do it, just getting (to Omaha) and getting to experience this was super special for us.”

PREPARING FOR 2026 

UCLA infielders shortstop Roch Cholowsky (left) and second baseman Phoenix Call (right) hug after opening MCWS win over Murray State. Photo credit: UCLA Baseball social media

Brennan, Cholowsky and Savage each mentioned memorable off the field moments in Omaha, the part of the MCWS that makes it the holy grail of college baseball. 

But additionally, it gave them a taste of the big stage — what to expect, the level of competition and even what went wrong. Savage, UCLA's coach since summer 2004, has taken the Bruins to the MCWS three times prior to 2025, so the lay of the land isn’t anything new to him. Yet, the evaluation process is always necessary.

Savage agreed with the sophomore shortstop’s goal of returning to Omaha next season while also revealing the two areas he wants to get better in: physical strength and improving the starting pitching.

“Some of these guys are 23 and there are some that are 18. Alone in itself makes a difference, but we’ve got to get stronger physically,” Savages said. “We’ve had really good starting pitching, but we have to make sure that we have a couple of frontline ones and twos that will carry the freight over the weekend.” 

UCLA didn’t hit a home run in any of its MCWS games, and no pitcher recorded over 4.2 innings. Granted, Charles Schwab Field Omaha is the epitome of a pitcher’s ballpark, plus the bad weather caused the Bruins and LSU to scrap their pitching plans, but it still gave perspective to the areas on the roster that needed help. 

The Bruins' offseason formula was similar after 2024. They added eight freshmen and three pitching transfers in right-hander August Souza and lefties Ian May and Ryan Rissas to strengthen the rotation. May pitched in all three MCWS games, while Souza threw in two and Rissas in one. 

“Several guys have a chance to be those guys,” Savage said when talking about his pitching staff and frontline options. “We’ve got to get better in those areas, and I love doing that. That’s a part of my job.” 

UCLA didn’t score until the final inning of its last game of the season against Arkansas, but it didn’t feel like it.

As Levu crossed the plate on Salgado’s RBI grounder to third, the Bruins dugout erupted. All players crammed into the staircase opening to high-five Levu and celebrate the first run, repeating the act on the team’s next two runs before the contest's end. 

After the final out, the players stayed on the field for a prolonged period of time to share hugs, tears and bittersweet smiles, like young kids on the last day of school. 

The season’s conclusion meant the end of a storybook saga — and motivation for 2026. 

“There was no other way we wanted to go out without a fight,” Cholowsky said. “Seeing all the guys in the dugout just still into it in the ninth, even though we were down by seven runs, it goes to show how special the group that we have.”