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NCAA Baseball Tournament: Saint Mary's stuns No. 1 overall seed UCLA in historic upset

ns_headshot_2024-clearby: Nick Schultz05/29/26NickSchultz_7

For the first time in NCAA Baseball Tournament history, the No. 1 overall seed fell in the Regional opener. Saint Mary’s took down UCLA 3-2 on Friday in the opening game of the Los Angeles Regional.

UCLA headed into Game 1 of the Regional as the top seed in the 2026 NCAA Baseball Tournament after winning the Big Ten Tournament. That meant the Bruins played the first of two games on Friday at Jackie Robinson Stadium as they looked to continue their dominant season.

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However, Saint Mary’s rose to the occasion and pulled off the stunner. The Bruins became the first No. 1 overall seed in tournament history to lose Game 1 of the Regional. National seeds were introduced in 1999.

Saint Mary’s struck first in Friday’s game in the top of the fourth inning on a solo home run from Jacob Johnson before UCLA responded in the bottom half when Roman Martin hit one of his own. The Bruins then took a 2-1 lead in the fifth as Roch Cholowsky recorded a sacrifice fly, but the Gaels had an answer in the top of the sixth. Makoa Sniffen sent an RBI double down the right field line to make it a 2-2 ballgame.

That score held until the top of the ninth inning when Johnson launched his second home run of the day to put Saint Mary’s ahead 3-2. UCLA then got a runner on in the ninth, but Cholowsky flew out to center field to end it.

UCLA entered Friday’s game with a 51-7 overall record and was fresh off a thrilling victory over Oregon to win the Big Ten title. The game went to 11 innings before Phoenix Call was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to bring in the winning run.

From there, the Bruins became the top seed in the 2026 NCAA Baseball Tournament and hosted Saint Mary’s to start the Regional. The Gaels took a 34-25 record into Friday’s matchup, including a 15-12 mark in West Coast Conference play. They then took down San Francisco in the WCC title game to repeat as conference champions.

Following Friday’s game, UCLA will now take on the loser of Virginia Tech vs. Cal Poly on Saturday at 4 p.m. ET. Saint Mary’s, meanwhile, will get the winner Saturday night.