No. 1 UCLA baseball loses first conference game of the season
No. 1 UCLA baseball fell apart late in their second game against No. 13 Oregon to drop for their first Big Ten Conference loss of 2026.
The No. 1 UCLA baseball suffered their first Big Ten Conference loss of the season against No. 13 Oregon in their 9-6 ballgame at Jackie Robinson Stadium on Saturday.
The Bruins win in the series opener had just matched the 1911 Illinois team's Big Ten record for the 27 straight conference wins, but the record will not be broken by the Bruins this season. The Ducks stingy defensive unit gave the Bruins batters plenty of trouble as they allowed just seven hits and six runs and a couple of bad innings from UCLA's bullpen was all Oregon needed to get the runs needed for the win. Starting off strong The Bruins started the game off strong with no base runners in the top of the first and four runs in the bottom of the inning.
Junior shortstop Roch Cholowsky started the scoring spree with a home run to left-center, followed by junior first baseman Mulivai Levu running home from second base off a double hit by redshirt junior outfielder Payton Brennan. Another double by junior outfielder Will Gasparino sent Brennan home and then Gasparino crossed home plate off of a single by junior center Cashel Dugger. UCLA walked into the second with a 4-0 lead.
Falling apart in the second Senior right-handed pitcher Michael Barnett had his worst inning of the game in the second. After allowing a run, Barnett gave up a three-run homer to have the Ducks tie the game up with four runs. Barnett allowed one more hit in the fourth, but he held firm to keep Oregon at four runs.