You can say these things happen, call it playoff baseball, but there’s really no other way to spin this.
UCLA will go down as the flop of the NCAA Tournament.
Ranked No. 1 from the beginning of the season to the start of a Los Angeles Regional they got to host, the Bruins had nevertheless fallen off a notch over the last six weeks amid some sloppy play, needing one ninth-inning comeback after another to hold things together.
In a cruel twist, as the designated visiting team Sunday, they got to watch another team bolt out of the dugout in celebration.
Makoa Sniffen’s single past diving third baseman Roman Martin with two outs in the 10th inning drove in the winning run for fourth-seeded Saint Mary’s during a 6-5 stunner at Jackie Robinson Stadium that ended the Bruins’ season.
After giving up 3-0 and 5-2 leads, UCLA (52-8) became only the fifth top overall seed to lose in a Regional.
“Obviously this weekend, we did not play up to our standards,” Bruins coach John Savage said, “really felt it was a struggle for whatever reason — all three games, really.”
This was the latest in a series of rough outings for UCLA closer Easton Hawk, who had given up a run in the ninth inning in each of the Bruins’ previous two games.
Wanting to preserve his closer for the late game Sunday, Savage stuck with reliever Cal Randall to start the ninth with the Bruins holding a 5-4 lead over the team that had beaten them on Friday with Jacob Johnson’s homer in the ninth.
But after Saint Mary’s center fielder Tanner Griffith ripped a full-count single to center field, Savage went back to Hawk, who retired the next two batters on a sacrifice bunt and strikeout.
That brought up Ian Armstrong, who chopped a single past first baseman Mulivai Levu, who was drawn in on a pull shift, to score the tying run from second base.
“A little Baltimore chopper,” Savage said. “A good pitch — unfortunate.”
Unable to work any walk-off magic of their own, the Bruins went quietly in the 10th.
Hawk (7-4) got a strikeout to start the bottom of the inning before Cody Kashimoto, the Gaels’ No. 9 hitter, hit an infield single off Hawk’s glove. After retiring Griffith on a groundout and intentionally walking Diego Castellanos, Sniffen came through to send the team’s small cheering section into delirium over its second win of the Regional over the Bruins.
The game had started with so much promise for UCLA. Starting pitcher Angel Cervantes continually worked out of early jams and the Bruins built a 3-0 lead behind some timely hitting, including a run-scoring single from Martin and a run-scoring double from Trey Gudoy.
But missed opportunities continued to be a theme. UCLA stranded 10 baserunners and went 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position.
That had a familiar feel for a team that seemed to just be getting by in recent weeks even while stacking victories.
“We just could not break away from anybody, it felt like — 3-2, 2-1, 4-3, 5-4 [scores], and it just took a toll on Easton,” Savage said, “and we couldn’t get those insurance runs and paid the price at the end.”
The Bruins’ loss of dominance could be traced in large part to the loss of ace Logan Reddemann, who last pitched April 17 and never returned because of arm fatigue.
“It had a ripple effect on the starters, it had a ripple effect on the bullpen,” Savage said. “The effect it had on roles, the effect it had on usage — major, major deal. No excuses, we still won, but at the same time it looked a little different and felt a little different, and at the end it really hurt losing a potential first-rounder [in the Major League Baseball draft] the last six weeks.”
Savage said it was tough to leave a clubhouse full of players who had combined to win more than 100 games the last two years — including a trip to the College World Series — after having endured a 19-33 season in 2024.
“They had a wonderful, wonderful career that came to a harsh ending,” Savage said, “but you can’t take away what they did, and they left this place in a much better place than where they found it.”