The UCLA baseball team, ranked No. 1 in the nation, is set to open its Big Ten schedule with a three-game series at Ohio State beginning Friday, March 6. The games will take place at Bill Davis Stadium and be broadcast on B1G+. Fans can follow live stats and updates via StatBroadcast and the team’s X/Twitter account.
UCLA entered the season as the preseason No. 1 according to D1Baseball.com and is now unanimously ranked first by major outlets. The Bruins recently won the Amegy Bank College Baseball Series Championship after defeating three Southeastern Conference teams: No. 20 Tennessee, No. 23 Texas A&M, and No. 4 Mississippi State. UCLA has recorded six wins against ranked opponents so far this season.
Will Gasparino leads NCAA Division I in home runs with 10 this season, setting a new UCLA record for homers through the first 12 games of a season in the BBCOR era (since 2012). Gasparino also leads the country in total bases and ranks second nationally in slugging percentage at 1.220. He was named Most Outstanding Player of the Amegy Bank College Baseball Series.
As a team, UCLA ranks sixth nationally with 25 home runs and holds a .993 fielding percentage, second-best in the country after committing only three errors in 12 games. Both Gasparino and Wylan Moss received Big Ten weekly honors following their sweep of No. 7 TCU.
Last year, UCLA made its sixth appearance at the College World Series (CWS) and fourth under Head Coach John Savage after sweeping through postseason play. The Bruins were selected as the No. 15 national seed and hosted their first NCAA Super Regional since 2019, marking their seventh super regional berth—six under Coach Savage—in what was their fifteenth postseason appearance over the past twenty-one seasons.
Roch Cholowsky was named Big Ten Player of the Year as well as Defensive Player of the Year, earning First Team honors. “Cholowsky was named Player of the Year and a First Team All-American by four outlets (ABCA/Rawlings, BA, D1B, PG).” Cholowsky also won the Brooks Wallace Award as top shortstop nationally and led all players in wins-above-replacement (WAR) last year.
Mulivai Levu finished second nationwide—and led the Big Ten—with 85 RBIs during his sophomore campaign; he and Cholowsky combined for more RBIs than any UCLA duo since 1997.
This weekend’s pitching matchups feature Logan Reddemann (3-0), Michael Barnett (3-0), and Landon Stump for UCLA facing off against Gavin Kuziewski (0-0), Chris Domke (1-2), and Pierce Herrenbruck (1-1) for Ohio State.
Ohio State enters this season focusing on defensive versatility but faces challenges on the mound after recording a conference-worst ERA last year. New head coach Justin Haire has brought in several transfers while returning key starters up the middle such as Lee Ellis at shortstop and Henry Kaczmar at catcher.
UCLA returns most of its roster from last season—83 percent of overall production—including nearly all plate appearances and innings pitched, making it one of college baseball’s most experienced teams.
Gasparino’s performance continues to stand out: “Will Gasparino was named the Most Outstanding Player of the Amegy Bank College Baseball Series after a blistering weekend in Arlington, going 5-for-11 with four home runs while leading UCLA to a perfect 3-0 showing against ranked opponents.”
Together with Roch Cholowsky, Gasparino forms one of college baseball’s top duos early this season; they have combined for seventeen home runs across twelve games.
In preseason accolades, both Cholowsky—selected as Baseball America’s Preseason Player of the Year—and Levu were placed on All-America teams; both are also on watch lists for major national awards such as Golden Spikes Award.
The Bruins were picked to finish first in this year’s Big Ten Preseason Poll.
