Colton Bower's dominant day leads Washington past No. 1 UCLA 8-0

The Washington Huskies have their second upset victory over a top-ten team this season after an impressive 8-0 win over the No. 1 UCLA Bruins on Thursday night. Coach Eddie Smith's team was led by a massive performance from designated hitter Colton Bower, who went 3-for-4 on the day with a pair of home runs and a triple, finishing with 3 runs batted in and 3 runs scored, while right fielder Braeden Terry went 2-for-4 with 2 RBIs, including a run-scoring single as part of a five-run fifth inning that fueled the win.

Third baseman Blake Wilson also went 2-for-4 with a pair of doubles and a run scored on a day where the UW pitching staff didn't need a ton of support, as it shut down the second-highest-scoring offense in the Big Ten, holding UCLA to just 3 hits and handing the Bruins just their second conference loss of the year. The Huskies lead 6-0 😤 @UW_Baseball 📺: @BigTenNetwork pic. twitter.

com/ekrxKSF46a — Big Ten Baseball (@B1Gbaseball) May 15, 2026 Starter Jackson Thomas turned in a strong outing, working 6 innings and allowing 3 hits and 4 walks with 2 strikeouts to improve to 2-4 on the year before he handed things over to Gunnar Nichols, who worked the final 3 innings and let up just a walk with 3 strikeouts to seal the deal. Washington's pitching staff was also effective in dealing with the projected No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 MLB draft, shortstop Roch Cholowsky, who went 0-for-2 on the day but reached on a walk and a strikeout.

Right fielder Payton Brennan notched two of UCLA's hits with a single and a triple. The Huskies beat up on another projected first-round draft pick on the mound, Wylan Moss, who took his first loss of the year and dropped to 5-1 after working 4 1/3 innings and letting up 4 runs on 4 hits with a walk and 6 strikeouts. With the win, the Huskies improved to 23-29 on the year and 12-16 against Big Ten opponents.