2013 LSU called, they want their revenge
The 2013 LSU Tigers might be the best team in the program’s storied history to not win it all.
Those Tigers tied the 1997 national championship team for most wins in a single season with 57. They won a program record 48 regular season games and tied the program record of 23 SEC wins. Along the way the 2013 team won the SEC West and won the SEC Tournament; they earned the No. 4 overall seed for the NCAA Tournament and swept through both the Baton Rouge Regional and the Baton Rouge Super Regional to advance to Omaha for the 16th time and the first time post-Rosenblatt Stadium.
Unfortunately for LSU, those Tigers ran into a completely bogus UCLA team that bunted its way not only to a 2-1 win over Aaron Nola, but all the way to the national championship. It’s been 12 years since that game and it still hasn’t sat right with me, it’s high time to right that wrong.
UCLA Bruins
2025 Record: 47-16 (22-8)
RPI Ranking: 9
SOS Ranking: 22
Quadrant Results: Q1 (6-7), Q2 (15-2), Q3 (17-5), Q4 (9-2)
Staff ERA: 4.29
Team Batting Average: .298
Team Fielding Percentage: .982
Conference realignment across college athletics meant that the Bruins had to trade in the sunshine and beaches that made up Pac 12 country for the cold and dreary Midwest over in Big 10 land.
Unsurprisingly, the Bruins emerged as one of the elite teams in the new-look B1G. UCLA finished tied for first place in the regular season conference standings with fellow newbie Oregon at 22-8.
The Big 10 was by far the weakest power conference this year with only four teams making the tournament. To compensate, UCLA really challenged itself outside of B1G play with a non-conference RPI of 23 and a strength of schedule of 15.
The Bruins opened up 2025 with a three-game series against Cal Poly (RPI of 31). They then closed the month of February and opened March playing five games over a course of six days: two against Arizona State (where they went 1-1), and then three at the Southern California College Baseball Classic where they lost to Vanderbilt but beat UConn and USC. UCLA also sprinkled in two midweek games against UC-Irvine (an 11-4 win at home on March 11 and a 5-3 loss at Irvine on April 22), and they also hosted Oregon State on April 15 and lost 7-1.
The Bruins head to the College World Series already familiar with Charles Schwab Field as UCLA was just there a few weeks ago for the Big 10 Tournament. UCLA won its first three games before losing the championship game to Nebraska 5-0.
Since then it’s been smooth sailing for the Bruins. UCLA earned the No. 15 overall seed and swept through the Los Angeles Regional with ease, winning its three games by a combined score of 38-14. Then, thanks to UTSA knocking out Texas, the Bruins got to stay home for a Super Regional and beat the Roadrunners in two pretty comfortable games to advance to its sixth College World Series and first since winning it all in that aforementioned 2013 season.
But unlike those Bruins that won it all in 2013 despite a team batting average of .251 (seriously man, what the hell?????) these Bruins hit it a little bit better at .298. Offensively they seem to project somewhat similarly to West Virginia, but with a bit more power. UCLA won’t strike out a lot (K rate of 15.3%, good for 22nd in the nation) and has 77 home runs, 23 coming from star shortstop Roch Cholowsky.
Cholowsky was named the Perfect Game player of the year as well as the Big 10’s player and defensive player of the year. In addition to his .367 batting average, Cholowsky has an absurd 1.236 OPS and has totaled 178 bases this season.
UCLA’s got a couple of power bats outside of Cholowsky. Mulivai Levu and AJ Salgado each have 12 homers, and Roman Martin has nine; Levu also has a team-leading 87 RBI.
The Bruins only allowed two runs in the Super Regional round and pitched a 7-0 shutout against UTSA in Game 2. While they have a pretty good staff, statistically speaking they finished behind Oregon and Iowa in ERA and WHIP and for whatever reason they don’t strike out a ton of batters. The Bruins K/9 rate of 8.06% ranked 15th in the Big 10 and 152nd nationally.
Assuming UCLA throws Michael Barnett in its CWS opener against Murray State on Saturday (1:00 CT, ESPN), LSU could potentially face Landon Stump (6-1, 4.54 ERA in 17 starts and 73.1 innings). Stump was 5-0 in 10 B1G starts with a 4.63 ERA. Ian May has made 24 appearances this season with 12 starts and while he has a respectable 7-3 record, he has an even 5.00 ERA and has been taken deep 15 times.
The Bruins have six other pitchers who have made at least 20 appearances and Jack O’Connor has been the most effective with a 1.80 ERA in 25 innings. Easton Hawk has been the Bruin closer with seven saves, and while Justin Lee has five saves, he’s also got an ERA north of six. Freshman righty Wylan Moss has logged the most innings out of the UCLA pen with 47.1 and has a 2.47 ERA across 19 appearances. He’s 2-1 and has also been credited with a pair of saves.