Saint Mary’s has achieved the seemingly unthinkable — the Gaels have eliminated UCLA, the nation’s top-ranked team, from the NCAA tournament.
With two outs in the 10th inning, Makoa Sniffen drove in Cody Kashimoto on a walk-off single off UCLA reliever Easton Hawk to lift Saint Mary’s to a 6-5 comeback win Sunday in a Los Angeles Regional elimination game at Jackie Robinson Stadium.
The Gaels, who had already stunned the Bruins 3-2 in the regional opener on Friday, made the Big Ten champions just the second NCAA No. 1 overall seed — after Vanderbilt in 2025 — to be eliminated from the regional round since the current format was established in 1999.
Saint Mary’s will face Cal Poly on Sunday night in the regional final. The Bruins are finished after entering the tournament as favorites to win the national title for the first time since 2013.
The Bruins, however, had their chances.
UCLA led the Gaels 5-4 entering the ninth and needed just three outs to continue what had been the program’s best season ever.
But Saint Mary’s center fielder Tanner Griffith opened with a base hit off reliever Cal Randall and — after being moved to second following a sacrifice bunt from Diego Castellanos — catcher Ian Armstrong brought him home with an RBI single to right field off Hawk.
The Bruins had only lost six times during the regular season. But after losing two games to Saint Mary’s, as regional hosts for a second consecutive year, UCLA has no choice but to go back to the drawing board in preparation for 2027.
The post UCLA baseball’s national title hopes shattered in season-ending loss to Saint Mary’s appeared first on Los Angeles Times.
