10th inning

Saint Mary’s has achieved the seemingly unthinkable — the Gaels have eliminated UCLA, the nation’s top-ranked team, from the NCAA tournament.

With two outs in the 10th inning, Makoa Sniffen drove in Cody Kashimoto on a walk-off single off UCLA reliever Easton Hawk to lift Saint Mary’s to a 6-5 comeback win Sunday in a Los Angeles Regional elimination game at Jackie Robinson Stadium.

The Gaels (36-26), who also stunned the Bruins (52-8) in the regional opener on Friday, made the Big Ten champions just the second NCAA No. 1 overall seed — after Vanderbilt in 2025 — to be eliminated from the regional round since the current format was established in 1999.

“Obviously, this weekend, we just did not play up to our standards,” UCLA coach John Savage said. “I really felt it was a struggle, for whatever reason — all three games, really. But it’s nothing to take away from this team. You win 52 games [and are] preseason [No.1], and you never leave that spot; it’s really remarkable and a lot of credit to our captains, to our seniors, to the entire program … I just can’t say enough about the people that I’m around and that I’ve coached.”

Against all odds, Saint Mary’s is still alive and playing Cal Poly in the regional final on Sunday night.

“Felt like 12 rounds with the heavyweight champ,” Saint Mary’s coach Eric Valenzuela said of the Gaels’ wins over UCLA. “So proud of our group, the fight.”

Favored to win their first national title since 2013, the Bruins led the Gaels 5-4 entering the ninth and needed just three outs to continue what had been the program’s best season ever.

But Tanner Griffith led with a base hit off UCLA reliever Cal Randall and — after being moved to second following a sacrifice bunt from Diego Castellanos — catcher Ian Armstrong brought Griffith home with an RBI single to right field off Hawk.

Saint Mary’s reliever David Roberts retired the Bruins in order in the 10th. Hawk then struck out Brayden Gutierrez before Kashimoto hit an infield single. Griffith advanced Kashimoto to second on a groundout to first. Two batters later, Sniffen’s hit to left field gave Kashimoto just enough time to beat a throw to the plate, sealing the Gaels’ win.

Randall and Hawk pitched in all three of UCLA’s regional games. Savage saluted the entire pitching staff — highlighting Angel Cervantes’ development as a freshman — but added that Logan Reddemann’s absence had a “major effect” on the staff. The ace right-hander hadn’t pitched since April 17 because of arm soreness.

“It had a ripple effect on the starters, had a ripple effect on the bullpen,” Savage said of Reddemann’s absence. “The effect it had on roles, the effect it had on usage [was a] major deal. No excuses, because [we] still won. But at the same time, it looked a little different and it felt a little different, and at the end, I think it really hurt losing a potential first-rounder the last six weeks.”

The Big Ten coach of the year took the time to acknowledge the Bruins’ junior class for sticking with the program throughout its ascent, admiring the “all kinds of players” he expects to be selected in July’s MLB draft.

Savage, though, was particularly emotional when discussing the eventual departure of shortstop and back-to-back Big Ten player of the year Roch Cholowsky, who is widely expected to be a first-round pick.

“Cholowsky just meant so much to the program,” Savage said. “He just had such an impact on the program. He had such an impact on people. Had impact on a fan base. Had impact on the community. Just such a winning, winning player. It’s hard to watch a guy like that leave … but it’s what he’s all about. He’s all about the right things.

“He’s a Bruin through and through. And at the end of the day, you couldn’t ask for a better player or a better person than Roch.”

Led by Cholowsky and eight other All-Big Ten selections, with the best team ERA (3.27) throughout the regular season, the Bruins had lost merely six times before the regional and had won every series.

But after losing two games to Saint Mary’s, as regional hosts for a second consecutive year, UCLA has no choice but to go back to the drawing board in preparation for 2027.

“I feel for them,” Savage said of his clubhouse. “It’s the college game … anything can happen. We didn’t play well enough this weekend.”

Oswald Peraza hit a two-out RBI single in the 10th inning and the Angels snapped a seven-game losing streak with a 4-3 victory over the New York Mets on Saturday night.

Jorge Soler drew a leadoff walk from Austin Warren (0-1) to open the 10th and Jo Adell singled to load the bases with no outs.

Warren got Josh Lowe and Vaughn Grissom on flyouts and was one strike away from escaping the jam when Peraza dunked an 0-2 curve into left-center for the win.

The Angels got 3 2/3 scoreless innings from their beleaguered bullpen. Sam Bachman struck out three in 1 2/3 innings and Ryan Zeferjahn (2-1) threw a scoreless ninth and 10th for the win.

Brett Baty reached on catcher’s interference to open the Mets’ 10th. But Zeferjahn got Bo Bichette to ground into a double play and, after an intentional walk to Juan Soto, Francisco Alvarez to pop out to second.

Reid Detmers limited the Mets to one run and four hits through six innings but ran into trouble in the seventh, when Mark Vientos doubled and Marcus Semien singled. Andy Ibáñez’s sacrifice fly pulled the Mets within 3-2 and Tyrone Taylor’s RBI single tied it.

Austin Slater and Ronny Mauricio then reached on infield singles to load the bases. But Bachman replaced Detmers and got Bichette to ground to third baseman Peraza, who threw home for a forceout, and struck out Soto with an 89-mph slider to end the inning.

Mets ace Nolan McLean was one strike away from escaping a second-and-third, one-out jam in the fourth when he struck out Lowe. But Grissom hit a two-run single to make it 3-1.

The Angels took a 1-0 lead in the first on consecutive two-out singles by Nolan Schanuel, Soler and Adell. Schanuel crossed the plate as Soler was thrown out at third by Slater from right field.

Plate umpire John Tumpane ruled Schanuel touched the plate before Soler was tagged, allowing the run to score. New York didn’t challenge, but replays showed Soler was tagged before Schanuel reached the plate.

The Mets tied it at 1 in the third on Bichette’s RBI single.

It’s not every day that umpires decide a player used an illegal bat in a high school baseball game, so Wednesday’s Mission League game between host Sherman Oaks Notre Dame and Sierra Canyon began with a bang. A Sierra Canyon batter in the first inning was declared out after the umpires inspected the aluminum bat following an appeal from Notre Dame.

Sierra Canyon coach Tom Meusborn had a brief discussion with the umpires but their decision was not reversed. The bat apparently had a crack, which caused a strange sound. So began a sometimes tense, nearly four-hour game for second place in the Mission League.

Sierra Canyon scored two runs in the top of the seventh inning to take a one-run lead, keyed by an RBI double from Brayden Goldstein and a bases loaded walk. In the bottom of the seventh, the Knights received two walks with one out. Sierra Canyon brought in sophomore pitcher Milo Benattar, who got a fly out and force play to save a 3-2 victory.

Sierra Canyon is 8-3 in league and Notre Dame 7-4.

Harvard-Westlake 12, St. Francis 1: The Wolverines, ranked No. 1 in the Southern Section power rankings, received home runs and four RBIs each from James Tronstein and Ira Rootman. Evan Alexander struck out 10 in 4 1/3 innings.

Chaminade 7, Crespi 0: Jackson Schroeder struck out 11 and gave up one hit. Isaiah Hearn and Robby Morgan each hit home runs.

Loyola 11, Bishop Alemany 4: Bobby Rapp had three hits to lead the Cubs.

Simi Valley 8, Royal 3: The Pioneers handed their rivals a first Coastal Canyon League defeat. Ryan Whiston had three hits, including two doubles.

Garfield 3, Bell 1: The Bulldogs improved to 7-0 in the Eastern League with a nine-inning win, possibly locking up a City Section Open Division playoff spot. Michael Santillan broke the 1-1 tie with an RBI single in the ninth.

Cypress 1, Foothill 0: Jake DeLaquil had the game-winning RBI single in the bottom of the 10th inning. Drew Slevcove struck out 13 in eight scoreless innings. Landon Smith pitched the final two innings for Cypress. Caden Lauridsen threw nine scoreless innings for Foothill.

St. John Bosco 6, Servite 3: Brayden Krakowski threw four innings of scoreless relief. Aaron Garcia had two RBIs.

Mater Dei 8, JSerra 5: Jack Reis hit a home run and Ezekiel Lara, Jaxon Olmstead and Emilio Young each had two hits for Mater Dei.

King 4, Corona Centennial 1: Eli Lipson had a two-run double and Jason Jones threw a complete game.

Corona 17, Eastvale Roosevelt 5: Adrian Ruiz had three hits and four RBIs.

Norco 3, Corona Santiago 2: After a scoreless game for five innings, Norco broke through for three runs in the sixth. Marcus Blanton had a two-run single. Santiago scored two runs in the bottom of the seventh before Jordan Ayala got the final out on a strikeout.

El Dorado 1, La Habra 0: Juilian Rodriguez struck out five and walked none in throwing the shutout. Brady Abner drove in the winning run in the sixth.

Gahr 9, Warren 1: Bryce Morrison gave up one run in five innings with six strikeouts and Andres Gonzalez had two hits and three RBIs.

San Clemente 2, Aliso Niguel 1: Easton Muraira threw a complete game for the Tritons.

Huntington Beach 4, Los Alamitos 2: Jared Grindlinger struck out eight in five innings.

Rancho Christian 10, Hillcrest 0: Jake Brande struck out 12 in five innings and gave up one hit. Hudson Abbe and Sean Downs each hit home runs.

Bishop Amat 4, La Salle 2: The Lancers clinched the Del Rey League title. Joaquin Ortiz went three for three.

Ayala 13, Diamond Bar 3: Easton Sarmiento finished with three hits and Dylan Wood added two hits and two RBIs.

Oaks Christian 2, Agoura 1: Justin Baird struck out eight in six innings for Oaks Christian. Carson Sheffer had two hits.

Mira Costa 7, West Torrance 1: Caden Ceman finished with three hits.

Torrance 4, Palos Verdes 3: Tessei Magori delivered a walk-off hit in the bottom of the eighth inning.

Softball

Norco 15, Corona Centennial 0: Peyton May gave up one hit and struck out 10 with no walks and Camryn May contributed three RBIs.