Super Sophomores and Timely Pitching Propel UCLA Past Murray State

Photo Courtesy of UCLA Athletics

OMAHA, NE– UCLA survived a late charge by the Murray State Racers to open up their 2025 College World Series with a 6-4 win. Outstanding defense and timely pitching proved to be the difference as the Bruins won their first game in Omaha since their National Championship clinching victory in 2013.

It was a team effort from UCLA in all phases of the game as they held the relentless Murray State offense to just four runs on nine hits. In five of their seven NCAA Tournament games coming into today, the Racers had scored at least one run in the first inning. Dan Skirka’s squad has a great approach and tends to jump on starting pitchers before those arms can settle into a rhythm.

Against starter Michael Barnett to open up the game, Murray State hitters looked to work counts and grind out at-bats. The first four hitters of the game saw three ball counts with two striking out and two drawing walks. A sharp ground ball that appeared destined to drive in yet another first inning run was scooped by UCLA second baseman Phoenix Call, who made a great play to flip the ball to second and end the threat. 

Call flashed the leather again in the 2nd after a one out walk put a runner on first. The sophomore infielder ranged to his left to snag another ground ball before spinning to throw a dart to second for the first out. Fellow sophomore Roch Cholowsky turned the double play with ease and UCLA extended their pitching staff’s hitless streak to seven straight innings.  

“That's what our game feeds off of,” Call explained when asked about the defense. “We're a big defensive team and we've done it all year, so it's kind of just natural for us. We've got a good infield, a good outfield, we've got everything we need.”

Call was fantastic in every phase of the game for UCLA. In addition to his defense early, the Porter Ranch, California native put down a perfect sacrifice bunt later in the 2nd that led to a second Bruins run, then sparked the big four-run inning that ultimately gave UCLA all the offense they needed. Call hit a flare to shallow right for a single, then advanced on a Dean West single to left– challenging the Murray State left fielder by going first to third base right in the left fielder’s face.

Yeah, it feels great,” Call said of his role in the line as the nine hole hitter. “I'm just trying to do my job, play my role, and hopefully win a national championship.” Call would end the day 2-for-3 with a run, but it’s his defense and aggressive baserunning that will be remembered.

Call has struggled somewhat in his sophomore season, but his dynamism can not be denied. He’s been getting hot lately and now has nine hits over his last six games. He only amassed 27 at-bats as a freshman before gaining crucial experience playing for the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox in the Cape Cod League over the summer. Despite playing second base for the Bruins this season, Call played shortstop and the outfield over the summer before returning to campus for his second season in Los Angeles. Having him in the nine-hole has given UCLA a spark on numerous occasions and it’s like having a second lead-off man at the bottom of the order.

“He's been phenomenal from about early April on,” said UCLA head coach John Savage. “He can run. He can bunt. He sprays the ball all over the ballpark. He does have a little power at times. So he's coming into his own. He's still a very young player, but he's an elite player.” 

After Call’s aggressive baserunning in the 4th inning put runners on the corners with no outs for the Bruins, star shortstop Roch Cholowsky stepped up to the plate. Cholowsky is one of the best shortstops in the country and was a finalist for the Dick Howser Trophy, an award given out annually to the best player in college baseball as voted on by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA).

UCLA was ahead 2-0 and while the Bruins are known to bunt, Murray State head coach Dan Skirka didn’t expect it. In his post-game press conference Skirka mentioned asking one of his assistants if Cholowsky would bunt in this situation and both men agreed that it wasn’t going to happen.

And then it did happen. 

The slugging shortstop laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt back towards the pitcher which allowed Call to scamper home from third and Dean to advance to second. Murray State’s pitcher was able to secure the out with a good throw to first base, but the damage was done as the Bruins tacked on another run.

“I said on ESPN, ‘Fans, do not harpoon me. Please, please.’” said Savage. “That was on his own. That was not us. I'm like, ‘Come on, Roch, what are we doing here?’ But you know what, it's a baseball play, and he did that in the Big Ten Tournament. If you saw that play in the Big Ten Tournament, he pushed with first and third, got a double out of it. He pushed it a little harder and this clearly wasn't hard enough. But it led to four runs, kind of the difference in the game. And you know, how can you blame a guy for playing baseball? But it was not -- let's be clear, it was not called from the bench.”

As many media and fans alike were questioning the decision to bunt, Mulivai Levu was hit by a pitch to add another UCLA runner to the basepaths. Roman Martin added an RBI single to make it 4-0 and then AJ Salgado– the lone upperclassman in the lineup– hit a 115 MPH liner down the right field line to make it 6-0. At that point, the decision to bunt earlier in the inning appeared to be a good one.

“We go off winning innings, and we had no runs there,” Cholowsky said. “So I thought that with a guy on the mound like that, he was just going to throw me sliders. So to take out the chance of rolling over a slider into a double play, I put a bunt down on the right side of the field.”

Following that impactful 4th inning, Murray State retired the next 10 batters and 12 of the final 13. UCLA would not score again, but they didn’t need to.

The vaunted Murray State offense created traffic and opportunities throughout the game, but that one clutch hit seemed just out of reach. Murray State outfielder Dom Decker put great swings in back-to-back plate appearances that would have swung the momentum. The first one, in the 5th inning, came after the Racers had scored their first run. With runners on first and second, Decker lined a ball sharply to left. Instead of another run or more, a fully stretched diving catch by Dean West ended the inning.

In his next plate appearance in the 7th inning, it was 6-2 and there were runners on first and second again. Decker drilled a deep fly ball 102 MPH off the bat that was projected to travel 3-4 feet beyond the right field fence. Instead the wind knocked it down on the warning track and into the glove of UCLA right fielder AJ Salgado.

From there it was a matter of quality pitching. Ian May, Jack O’Connor, and Easton Hawk all worked scoreless innings out of the bullpen. August Souza allowed two runs that ultimately cut the lead to 6-4 in the 8th, but closer Hawk put the Racers down 1-2-3 in the 9th to preserve the win.

While it was a great overall team win, much of the success came on the shoulders of the offense and defense of UCLA’s position players. Of their nine starters, eight are sophomores, including the aforementioned names of Phoenix Call, Roch Cholowsky, and Dean West. And unlike the rest of the schools represented in Omaha this year, 37 of their players are homegrown, which means this group of sophomores have grown and developed together over the last two seasons.

“I don't like to say that we're young,” Savage said when asked about the youth of his lineup. “I said this in the press conference a couple of days ago, a lot of these guys have played over 100 Division I games, 115 Division I games. You can't play the young card too much. I think that's a mistake.”

Whether they’re deemed young or not, there’s no denying the team chemistry and advantages of carrying a roster of mostly homegrown talent. Cholowsky explained that this sophomore class all lived next to each other in the dorms last season as freshmen, and they’d rarely have their doors shut. If doors were shut, then windows were open so that they could move and communicate freely whenever they wanted.

“We're just so close in personalities and we all get along so well,” Call said. “We get along really well, and that's the reason we're so good– it’s because of that class and the older guys above us doing a great job of involving us and gelling with us.”

Center fielder Payton Brennan, who is hitting .500 (19-for-38) over his last 10 games since the beginning of the Big 10 tournament, credits the struggles of last season as a reason for the team’s bond.

“We didn't really have a choice because I didn't have another bad year,” said Brennan. “You can see we came together and everything's going well, so we just keep grinding and keep a good clubhouse going.”

This sophomore class and the rest of the team will get a chance to stay in the winner’s bracket on Monday night when they play either Arkansas or LSU for a spot in what is effectively a semi-final for the National Championship. Murray State will face the loser of the Arkansas/LSU game on Monday morning in an elimination game.