UCLA almost made the worst kind of history on Saturday afternoon.
The No. 1 seed curse is legendary in college baseball. Since the NCAA went to this format in 1999, only two No. 1 overall seeds, Miami in 1999 and Tennessee in 2024, managed to win the national title. So seeing UCLA fall short of the crown, or even short of reaching Omaha, would have been surprising but not shocking.
But nobody expected that the Bruins might go two games and out on their home field.
UCLA became the first No. 1 overall seed to lose its first game on Friday against Saint Mary’s, and on Saturday, the Bruins were down to their final three outs against Virginia Tech. But UCLA’s bats came alive in the ninth inning, hitting two home runs and an RBI single to erase a two-run deficit and eliminate the Hokies in a 6-5 thriller.
The Bruins hit four home runs in the game, all of them solo shots. That might be a concern moving forward, as UCLA must beat Saint Mary’s and then Cal Poly twice to keep its season alive. The Bruins tend to succeed on offense by manufacturing runs, not on the big fly.
But that’s a problem UCLA gets another day to worry about, and after the first two days in this tournament, the Bruins will happily take that.
Here's a look around the rest of the action from Saturday.
Sun Belt Struggles
The NCAA chose to treat the Sun Belt as a major conference, and deservedly so, by handing out five bids to the league. And while the conference had a fine regular season, it hasn’t done the job in the postseason.
Southern Mississippi, the No. 9 seed, became the first seed eliminated when Virginia scored four in the top of the 10th, earning a 15-11 victory in the elimination round. Coastal Carolina, seen as the second-best in the conference, finds itself down 2-1 to Florida State as of Sunday morning. That game was suspended in the sixth inning on Saturday because of storms in Tallahassee. If the Chanticleers can’t come back, that would see the league’s best two teams go two-and-out.
The rest of the conference has had only moderate success. Departing member Texas State was the one Sun Belt team to win its opener, but the Bobcats lost 17-2 on Saturday to Texas A&M. Troy and Louisiana both lost their opening game, but they’ve battled back with W’s on Saturday.
That said, the Trojans have to go through Florida and the Cajuns have to go through Cincinnati and Mississippi State to survive. It’s not a great time for the league.
Auburn Sends NC State’s Avent Into Retirement
When NC State was announced as making the field, many baseball fans thought the reason was retiring coach Elliott Avent. The Wolfpack didn’t appear to have the resume to deserve a bid, especially compared to some powerful small-conference schools. But they joined the field, giving them a chance to send Avent out with a few wins.
Instead, the Wolfpack did nothing to silence their critics. The pitching could not handle either Central Florida or Auburn, and State went two-and-out, losing 9-3 to the Knights and 17-13 to the Tigers. Avent’s career ended unceremoniously, as final batter Christian Serrano committed a pitch clock violation for strike three, handing Auburn the final out.
Avent is one of the sport’s great coaches and has done a lot for NC State baseball. But his legacy wasn’t enough for the Wolfpack to deserve a spot. It would have been nice to see if a small-conference power like Mercer could have made an impact.
Low Seeds Stand Tall
If Little Rock ends up a No. 4 seed in next year’s NCAA tournament, that top seed will take the Trojans seriously.
For the second year in a row, Little Rock finds itself one notch away from the Super Regionals as a No. 4 seed. Last year, the Trojans landed in LSU’s regional, lost their first game, then bested Rhode Island, Dallas Baptist and LSU itself to force a decisive game with the eventual national champions. Little Rock lost that game, but getting that close on an SEC team’s home field showed the Trojans were for real.
This time, Little Rock has the luxury of sitting in the winners’ bracket. The Trojans beat Southern Mississippi to open their tournament, then handled Jacksonville State. And now they await the winner of Jacksonville State and Virginia, knowing they have two chances at the win they need.
Milwaukee also is just one win from the Supers, which might be the most surprising outcome of all. After two victories over Auburn and Central Florida, Milwaukee’s record is still four games under .500. Nothing in the Panthers’ resume suggested they’d be a threat. They got run-ruled by LSU (twice), Duke, Minnesota and Notre Dame, and they would have been run-ruled by Purdue if the teams had chosen to use it. None of those teams made the NCAA tournament, and only Purdue came close.
But Milwaukee has come up with two outstanding performances, and now sits oh so close to one of the biggest shocks in NCAA baseball history.
Big Ten Looks For Respect
In football and basketball, the Big Ten reigns supreme in college sports right now. Baseball had been little more than an afterthought until the westward expansion began. Oregon, USC and UCLA all have proud baseball traditions, and weren’t about to slide when they joined the league.
So far, the Big Ten is mostly looking good. Oregon won its first two regional games, and Nebraska remained undefeated going into Sunday, as its second game was suspended. USC staved off elimination, pounding Lamar in College Station.
Ironically, the Big Ten team that's had the most trouble was the one nobody expected to struggle. Time to get it together, UCLA.
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