After trailing in each of the first two games of the series, the Bruins still emerged victorious.
But in the weekend’s final contest, the Hornets’ lead proved too much to overcome.
No. 1 UCLA baseball (39-4, 21-0 Big Ten) fell to Sacramento State (20-25, 5-4 WAC) 9-6 on Sunday afternoon at Jackie Robinson Stadium. The Bruins suffered their first loss in a weekend series since their inaugural series of the season Feb.15, when they were defeated 8-7 in the final game of the set by UC San Diego.
Sacramento State entered Sunday’s matchup ranked 139th in the nation in RPI, which is lower than 15 of the 17 teams in the Big Ten, none of whom have beaten UCLA this season.
Despite the sizable rankings gap between the two squads, the Hornets kept the Bruins close the entire weekend before finally breaking through in their final attempt.
“It’s good to face adversity a little bit,” said coach John Savage. “It’s been all smooth sailing. They’re kids, and they need reality checks. This is a good check. And we won the series.”
UCLA starter and junior right-hander Landon Stump opened the door for the visitors to take control of the game. After allowing no baserunners in either of the first two innings, Stump quickly got himself into trouble in the third frame by walking the first two batters that he faced.
After getting two outs, Stump allowed two doubles and a home run, affording the Hornets five runs and a lead they wouldn’t relinquish for the remainder of the contest.
“You’ve got to be able to pitch out of problems,” Savage said. “You make that a two-spot, maybe a three-spot. You can’t make it a five. He’s a junior – he’s got to be able to step up and close that inning out a lot sooner than he did.”
Sunday’s start marked Stump’s worst appearance of the season.
The Morgan Hill, California, local hadn’t surrendered more than three earned runs in a contest this season. Stump also hadn’t allowed a single earned run and just five baserunners in his last two starts combined.
Despite falling behind 5-1, the Bruins began to crawl back into the contest in the fourth and fifth frames. A sacrifice fly hit by freshman second baseman Aiden Aguayo and a solo shot by junior shortstop Roch Cholowsky brought the Bruins within two.
While the production brought the offense back into the game, freshman right-hander Elai Iwanaga helped keep the Sacramento State offense at bay, tossing two scoreless innings and stranding multiple runners in scoring position.
“We have this saying, ‘Got to NP it,’” Iwanaga said. “Turn a negative into a positive and in any way possible, just trying to attack the next hitter and not worry about the guy on third base.”
The Hornets’ offense would find additional momentum in the sixth and seventh frames, taking advantage of the Bruins’ defensive errors, despite posting a .981 fielding percentage this season – a top-20 mark in the nation.
With senior right-hander Jack O’Connor on the bump in the sixth inning, junior third baseman Roman Martin let a routine ground ball get by him, allowing the runner to score later in the inning on a sacrifice fly.
The next inning, Sacramento State would score another three runs on a rally fueled by three free passes and another Bruin defensive error. After redshirt junior southpaw Chris Grothues hit a batter to start the inning, the next batter singled, but a throwing error by Cholowsky allowed a run to score as the other runner advanced to second.
“Our defense picks us up 99% of the time,” said sophomore catcher Kasen Khansarinia. “They’re going to mess up – it’s baseball. So we have to find a way to pick them back up and get right back to it tomorrow.”
After Grothues was removed, junior right-hander Justin Lee struggled to execute on the mound as well, getting just one out but issuing two walks and allowing two well-struck singles to finish off the Hornets’ rally.
Down 9-3, the Bruin offense quickly proved that it could not yet be counted out. With runners on first and second in the bottom of the seventh, Cholowsky hammered his second home run of the day – his 17th of the year.
The home run was also his fourth in his last four games, a quick turnaround for the prospective No. 1 overall pick in the upcoming 2026 MLB Draft following a previous seven-game homerless streak.
Later that same inning, redshirt junior right fielder Payton Brennan stepped up to the plate representing the possible game-tying run with two outs and runners on first and second.
With a 2-2 count, Brennan swung in front of an outside changeup to end the inning. His at-bat effectively sealed the game for the Bruins, as his plate appearance would be the last time the game-tying run stood in the batter’s box.
“The response will be there,” Savage said. “Nonconference bye weekends have always been tough for everybody. It’s just the nature of the beast. You got a team that is a pretty good team, but they’re 19-24. But they got a lot of good players. They’re very well coached.”
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