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Woochifer
Joined: 12/15/11 Posts: 9,118
Baseball: UCLA begins season with home series vs Cal Poly
Posted Thu, Feb 13 8:59 pm
Revamped schedule for the Bruins this year as they start in the B1G, a considerably weaker baseball conference than the former Pac-12. UCLA's coming off of its worst season in 20 years, as the pitching fell prey to the injury bug yet again. UCLA lost several pitchers to graduation and the transfer portal. The Bruins' best reliever Cody Delvecchio begins the season as the Friday starter. It remains to be seen where the pitching depth will come from, as the Bruins brought in 3 pitchers from the portal. Here's the Daily Bruin's preview.

https://dailybruin.com/2025/02/13/ucla-baseball-gears-up-for-2025-season-opener-games-against-cal-poly

The Bruins start with a lot of question marks, but they carry over several key position players from their #1 recruiting class from last year.
Woochifer
Joined: 12/15/11 Posts: 9,118
Baseball: Bruins complete sweep of CP with 16-0 shutout
Posted Sun, Feb 16 7:36 pm
In response to Baseball: UCLA begins season with home series vs Cal Poly (Woochifer)
UCLA got off to a great start to the season with a weekend sweep over Cal Poly. After winning a 3-2 pitcher's duel on Friday night, UCLA routed the Mustangs 18-2 on Saturday and 16-0 today. The Bruin pitching was very effective with Cody Delvecchio moving over from the bullpen to the Friday starter spot. Cal transfer Ian May allowed only 1 earned run in 5 innings on Saturday, while Landon Stump threw 6 shutout innings today allowing only 1 hit.

Stump was winless in 11 starts last season as the Bruin pitching staff was decimated by injuries. The Bruin staff was so depleted that UCLA had to use OF (and football DB) Jon Jon Vaughns as a pitcher.

The two highly touted UCLA pitching recruits from last year, Justin Lee and Cal Randall begin the season out of the bullpen. Another touted arm, Finn McElroy did not pitch over the weekend. It remains to be seen who will be the midweek starter. Last year, the Bruins used Luke Rodriguez until the injuries elevated into the weekend rotation.

With the Bruin lineup, some of the cornerstones of last year's #1 recruiting class are coming through. Sophomores Roch Cholowski, Mulivai Levu, and Dean West are all hitting over .400 so far, and another sophomore Roman Martin batted .333 over the weekend.

Last year, a lot of things went wrong across the board. But, this is a good start for the Bruins. Of course, they also swept their opening series last season as well, and moved into the top 10 before getting swept by TCU the following week.
Woochifer
Joined: 12/15/11 Posts: 9,118
Bruins win 3rd straight 10+ run blowout vs BYU
Posted Wed, Feb 19 10:32 am
In response to Baseball: UCLA begins season with home series vs Cal Poly (Woochifer)
The Bruin offense keeps humming along, scoring 15 more runs against BYU. BYU briefly held a 4-2 lead after scoring 3 runs in the 5th. But, then the Bruins blew the game wide open in the 6th and 7th innings, scoring 12 runs to blow the game wide open. UCLA drew 15 walks for the game, and AJ Salgado got the big grand slam that put the game out of reach.

The big surprise for me was seeing Wylan Moss as the starting pitcher. Moss was used as a closer in the opening game against Cal Poly. Last night he threw 4 innings, allowing no earned runs and striking out 6. BYU had its rally against Michael Barnett, who made his 1st appearance of the season but allowed 3 runs in the 5th. It looks like the bullpen will continue to get sorted out over the next few weeks.

But, for the moment, the Bruin bats are off to a hot start. The sophomores from last year's stellar recruiting class have stepped up and are leading the charge.
Woochifer
Joined: 12/15/11 Posts: 9,118
UCLA goes 2-1 at the Kleberg Bank Classic
Posted Sun, Feb 23 3:01 pm
In response to Baseball: UCLA begins season with home series vs Cal Poly (Woochifer)
The Bruins began play in the Kleberg Bank Classic with their first loss of the season -- a 4-3 nailbiter against host Texas A&M - Corpus Christi. But, the Bruins rebounded with wins over Washington State and Michigan State.

In the win over Michigan State this morning, UCLA had to come back from an early 6-0 deficit. The Bruins responded with 9 runs in the 4th inning. The Spartans tied the game in the bottom of the 4th, but UCLA kept hitting and put the game away 15-9. After the 4th, the Bruin bullpen shut down the Spartan lineup.

UCLA is now 6-1 on the season. This week they host a rare two-game midweek series against ASU before hosting the Southern California College Baseball Classic with games against Vanderbilt, UConn, and Southern Cal.
Woochifer
Joined: 12/15/11 Posts: 9,118
Baseball: UCLA splits midweek series vs ASU
Posted Thu, Feb 27 3:03 pm
In response to Baseball: UCLA begins season with home series vs Cal Poly (Woochifer)
The Bruin offense cooled off in the midweek series against former Pac-12 rival, Arizona State. They had big comeback win in the series opener, scoring 8 runs on only 6 hits. The Bruins batted around .200 for the game, but hit over .800 with runners in scoring position. UCLA broke the game open with a grand slam from Roch Cholowski. Freshman Wylan Moss had his first subpar outing of the season, going 4 1/3 innings allowing 3 earned runs on 3 hits and 2 BB. He still fanned 4 batters. It looks like sophomore Justin Lee is getting the first crack and locking down the closer position.

In the Wednesday matinee, UCLA cooled off all the way, with only 3 hits on the day and no runners in scoring position until the 9th inning. Too bad, because Luke Rodriguez had a great outing as the 2nd midweek starter, throwing 5 shutout innings and allowing only 2 hits and a walk. After Rodriguez left the game, the Bruins used 5 pitchers with some of them making their first appearances of the season. Still no sign of P Finn McElroy.

This weekend, UCLA hosts the Southern California Baseball Classic. They'll play #13 Vanderbilt on Friday, UConn on Saturday and Southern Cal on Sunday.
Woochifer
Joined: 12/15/11 Posts: 9,118
Baseball: UCLA goes 3-1 to start B1G play
Posted Mon, Mar 10 1:14 pm (Edited Mon, Mar 10 1:15 pm)
In response to Baseball: UCLA begins season with home series vs Cal Poly (Woochifer)
The Bruins mercy ruled Michigan in the midweek game, before flying to Maryland for their first B1G conference series. UCLA won the opener 12-6 in 10 innings, but then got mercy ruled 13-3 in the Saturday game. In the rubber match, the Bruins scored 11 runs in the 2nd inning. That was all UCLA would score and all the Bruins would need in an 11-5 series clincher.

https://uclabruins.com/news/2025/3/9/baseball-ucla-uses-11-run-inning-to-secure-series-win-over-maryland

UCLA will now play #18 UCI in Tuesday's midweek game before hosting Nebraska over the weekend. The Bruins overall record is now 12-4.
Woochifer
Joined: 12/15/11 Posts: 9,118
Baseball: UCLA looks to sweep Neb and go 6-1 in B1G play
Posted Sun, Mar 16 10:35 am (Edited Sun, Mar 16 10:42 am)
In response to Baseball: UCLA begins season with home series vs Cal Poly (Woochifer)
UCLA looks to complete the weekend sweep over Nebraska and go to 6-1 in B1G conference play. The Bruins are currently 15-4 overall and have won 8 of their last 9 games, including a midweek win over #18 UCI. With a weekend sweep, UCLA will likely return to the top 25 after a long absence.

Last year's #1 recruiting class has really come up big in their sophomore seasons. Roch Cholowski and Mulivai Levu are leading the way for the Bruin bats, both hitting over .300 and leading the team in home runs with 6 and 7, respectively. The Bruin defense has also been stellar. Cholowski is having an All-American caliber season so far.

The only hiccup so far has been the Bruin weekend starting rotation. Cody Delvecchio saw his ERA balloon to over 9.00 before pitching 5 shutout innings on Friday against Nebraska. And it looks like transfer Ian May is no longer the Saturday starter, as he came out of the bullpen on Friday and Michael Barnett had a great start in Saturday's win over Nebraska.

The setup and closer roles are also still a work in progress. The bullpen as a whole has been very good so far, but freshman Wylan Moss looks destined for the weekend rotation, as he currently starts midweek games but has excelled in games where he appeared as a closer. He has 25 Ks in 18 innings pitched with only 5 walks. Justin Lee has been used as the closer in recent weeks and it appears that's where he will remain.

The B1G is a weak baseball conference, and that's something to watch out for as the season progresses and the postseason bracket projections start coming out. It might not be enough to just win the B1G series, the Bruins will need to have some sweeps on their resume.
Woochifer
Joined: 12/15/11 Posts: 9,118
Baseball: UCLA completes sweep; now 16-4 (6-1 B1G)
Posted Sun, Mar 16 3:05 pm
In response to Baseball: UCLA begins season with home series vs Cal Poly (Woochifer)
Good weekend for Bruin baseball. UCLA fell into an early 3-0 deficit, as starter Landon Stump gave up 3 runs in the 2nd and 3rd innings. But, the Bruins kept chipping away at the Husker lead and ultimately took a 5-3 lead in the 6th and the bullpen shut down the Nebraska lineup, not allowing a run over the last 5 innings. Wylan Moss was the setup man, going 1 2/3 innings, and Justin Lee set the Huskers down in order in the 9th to get the save.

UCLA's now 16-4 on the season, 6-1 in B1G play.