Top-seeded UCLA eliminated from NCAA baseball tournament - ESPN

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