The UCLA baseball team, currently ranked No. 1 in the nation by D1Baseball.com, is set to begin its 2026 season with a three-game series at home against UC San Diego starting Friday, February 13. The games will be held at Jackie Robinson Stadium and broadcast on B1G+ with Nick Koop and Sid Iyer providing commentary.
UCLA comes into the new season following a successful 2025 campaign where it captured a share of the Big Ten Conference regular season title and made its sixth appearance at the College World Series (CWS), marking the fourth time under Head Coach John Savage. Last year, UCLA swept both regional and super regional play to advance to the CWS, defeating UTSA twice in the Los Angeles Super Regional. The Bruins finished with an overall record of 48-18, their highest win total since 2019.
The Bruins’ defense was notable for leading the country in double plays turned (66) and double plays-per-game (1.00) last season. Their fielding percentage of .982 ranked seventh nationally and first in the Big Ten. At home, UCLA went 31-7 during the previous campaign and has now recorded ten consecutive winning seasons at Jackie Robinson Stadium.
Roch Cholowsky was named Big Ten Player of the Year as well as Defensive Player of the Year—a first dual honor in program history—and earned First Team All-American recognition from four outlets. He also received the Brooks Wallace Award as the nation’s top shortstop and led all Division I players in wins-above-replacement (WAR) according to data from 643 charts.
Cholowsky’s offensive numbers included a .353 batting average, 23 home runs—the most by a Bruin since Forrest Johnson in 2000—74 RBIs, a .710 slugging percentage, and an OPS of 1.190 that topped the Big Ten. He also scored 80 runs last season, just one shy of Chase Utley’s program record set in 2000.
Mulivai Levu contributed significantly as well, ranking second nationally with 85 RBIs during his sophomore year; together with Cholowsky they produced more combined RBIs than any UCLA duo since Troy Glaus and Eric Valent’s record-setting partnership in 1997.
Dean West broke UCLA’s single-season hit-by-pitch record with 22 last year; both Cholowsky (21 HBPs) and Roman Martin (20 HBPs) also surpassed previous marks set by Ethan “Duce” Gourson in 2022.
Pitcher Michael Barnett led both UCLA and the Big Ten with twelve wins last season—ranking third nationally—and is slated to start Saturday’s game against UC San Diego’s Nic Gregson.
Head Coach John Savage reached his own milestone by surpassing eight hundred career wins after notching victory at Illinois last year; he now ranks second all-time at UCLA behind Gary Adams.
For opening weekend matchups: Logan Reddemann will start for UCLA on Friday against Steele Murdock for UCSD; Michael Barnett faces Nic Gregson on Saturday; Landon Stump pitches Sunday versus Austin Bowker for UCSD.
UC San Diego concluded its prior season with a record of 26-25 overall under head coach Eric Newman. The Tritons are preparing for their final years in the Big West before joining the West Coast Conference in July 2027. Seven Tritons received All-Big West honors following their most recent campaign.
Despite significant player movement across college baseball via transfer portals, UCLA returns approximately eighty-three percent of its production from last season—including eighty-five percent of plate appearances—which provides roster stability entering this year’s schedule.
Ahead of this season, two Bruins—Roch Cholowsky and Mulivai Levu—were named to Baseball America’s Preseason All-America teams while Logan Reddemann appeared on D1Baseball’s Preseason Pitcher of the Year Watch List. Newcomers Angel Cervantes and Dominic Cadiz were listed among preseason freshmen standouts by D1Baseball as well.
UCLA is opening its season at home for a sixteenth straight year under Coach Savage who holds a fifteen-and-six Opening Day record since taking over as head coach in 2005. Last year’s opener saw them sweep Cal Poly while outscoring opponents thirty-seven to four over three games.
In preseason polls conducted within their conference peers, UCLA was unanimously selected to finish first in this year’s Big Ten standings ahead of Oregon and USC.
