Makoa Sniffen's run-scoring single in the 10th inning gave Saint Mary's an improbable 6-5 win over UCLA on Sunday in Los Angeles, eliminating the top-seeded Bruins from the NCAA baseball tournament.
The Gaels (36-27) couldn't keep up the momentum, though, as they lost to Cal Poly 5-2 later Sunday night, sending the 39-22 Mustangs off to the NCAA super regionals next week.
UCLA posted a 51-6 record heading into the Los Angeles Regional, and won the Big Ten tournament last week with a title-game victory over Oregon. But the Bruins went 1-2 on their home field, Jackie Robinson Stadium, this weekend, and needed a late rally Saturday over Virginia Tech just to force Sunday's elimination game against the Gaels.
"That's a tough clubhouse to leave. Those guys have been such wonderful Bruins, teammates, and guys to coach," UCLA coach John Savage said at his postgame news conference. "They've won over 100 games in the last two years. No one in the country's done that. Do the math. Obviously, this weekend, we did not play up to our standards."
The Bruins joined the 2025 Vanderbilt Commodores as top seeds who failed to advance to their respective regional final. According to ESPN Insights, before last year, no No. 1 national seed had ever failed to do so. Now, it has happened twice in two tournaments.
"We didn't play well enough this weekend," Savage said. "Saint Mary's, to their credit, I thought played very well. A really good team. ... They've got good players, good coaches. We didn't get it done, but to all the guys in that clubhouse, we just tip our hat, because they are what college players should be."
On Sunday against the Bruins, the Gaels trailed for most of the game before tying the score in the bottom of the ninth on an RBI single from Ian Armstrong. Cody Kashimoto, who went 2-for-4, hit a one-out single and later scored the winning run on Sniffen's hit. Armstrong finished 3-for-5 with a home run and two RBIs. Tanner Griffith also had three hits, driving in a run, and Diego Castellanos went 2-for-3 with an RBI.
"Hard-fought game. ... Feels like 12 rounds with the heavyweight champion of the world," Saint Mary's coach Eric Valenzuela said at his postgame news conference. "So proud of our group, their fight. ... To have the fight that we showed, I'm just super proud of these guys."
Hours later, against the Mustangs, Saint Mary's raced out to a 2-0 lead through three innings but failed to score again as its season ended.
For the Bruins, they simply could not build off a promising start against the Gaels. They built early leads of 3-0 and 5-2, powered by Dean West, who hit a solo home run and drove in two runs. Roman Martin went 2-for-4 with an RBI, and Mulivai Levu added two hits. Trey Gudoy drove in a run with a second-inning double.
"They had a wonderful career that came to a harsh ending, but you can't take away what they did, and they left this place in a much better place than when they found it," Savage said of his departing Bruins players. "We've had championship teams. We've been preseason No. 1 before. We've been the No. 1 seed before. At the end of the day, we didn't play up to our standards, and didn't get it done. That's where we're at."