Top Pro Stars Deliver Perfect Opening Show!
West Coast college baseball aficionados are puffing out their collective chests one month into the season, and they have good cause. UCLA, Southern California and Oregon have combined to win 53 of their first 59 games. Before the sport's epicenter moved to the Southeastern Conference in the 1990s, the power resided west of the Rockies.
Since Oregon State won the 2018 national championship, no other team from the West has reached the finals over eight College World Series. The crumbling of the Pac-12 and defections of UCLA, USC, Oregon and Washington to the Big Ten shook up traditionalists. For them, the fast starts by the Bruins, Trojans and Ducks are good tonic.
UCLA (17-2, 6-0) is the consensus No. 1 team, out to its best conference start since 1977 and has won 11 straight games for its longest streak since 2020. The Bruins also have the projected No.
1 pick in the MLB amateur draft in shortstop Roch Cholowsky, a rising star in slugger Will Gasparino and an ace in San Diego transfer Logan Reddemann. USC (19-1, 5-1) set a program record with its 19-0 start, the Trojans' longest win streak since 1955. The loss, 2-1 at Northwestern, came Saturday as it was snowing in Evanston, Illinois.
The Trojans have been nails on the mound and in the field. They lead the nation with a 1. 61 ERA and 4.