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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.”

COLLEGE STATION, Texas — USC couldn’t hold on to the lead Adrian Lopez provided with a home run in the bottom of the eighth Friday night.

Texas State’s Chase Mora greeted reliever Adam Troy with a monstrous two-run home run to left field in the top of ninth inning, propelling the Bobcats to a 5-4 upset before a crowd of 6,956 at Blue Bell Park.

The Trojans had plenty of chances, and they wasted most of them in the opening round of the NCAA tournament’s College Station Regional.

Even though the Bobcats’ shaky defense spotted USC two unearned runs, the Trojans will surely lament stranding runners in scoring position in each of the first seven innings.

The Trojans will face Lamar University, which blew a five-run lead in a 7-5 loss against host Texas A&M, on Saturday at 1 p.m. PT.

If coach Andy Stankiewicz’s Trojans return to the Men’s College World Series for the first time since 2001, the 12-time national champions must do it out of the losers bracket.

USC right-hander Grant Govel, an All-Big Ten First Team selection, settled for a no-decision after giving up three runs on four hits with two walks and six strikeouts over 5⅔ innings.

He was relieved by freshman left-hander Sax Matson with one on and two outs in the top of the sixth. Matson escaped unscathed in the sixth, but he was relieved by right-hander Andrew Johnson with one on and two outs in the seventh.

The Trojans (43-16), who reached the Big Ten Tournament semifinals, have lost four of their last five games.

Mora’s sacrifice fly to right field gave the Bobcats a 1-0 lead in the second inning. The Trojans countered to tie the score with a run in the bottom of the second.

With runners on first and second and two outs, Abbrie Covarrubias hit a grounder to first. Texas State first baseman Jaquae Stewart booted the grounder for an error, allowing Isaac Cadena to score. Stewart almost made the situation worse with a wild throw to second, but Dean Carpentier was thrown out trying to reach third on the poor throw to second.

The Trojans benefited from more poor defense in the third. With one out in the inning, Augie Lopez reached on an error by Mora at third. Kevin Takeuchi followed with a double off the center-field wall. Jack Basseer broke the tie with an RBI single through the left side.

Covarrubias hit a solo home run to left in the fourth to put USC ahead 3-1. Texas State sophomore shortstop Brady Boles, who entered the regional with only one home run this season and two in his college career, tied the score 3-3 with a two-run home run to left field in the top of the fifth.

The UCLA comeback kings are Big Ten tournament champions.

A clutch hit by Aidan Espinoza and two reviews fueled the No. 1 Bruins’ rally for a dramatic 3-2 win over Oregon in 11 innings in the Big Ten tournament title game Sunday in Omaha, Neb.

UCLA rallied for wins during all three of its Big Ten tournament games and has earned 28 comeback wins this season.

“I’m just glad we won,” UCLA junior Mulivai Levu said during a postgame interview on the Big Ten Network. “It was a team effort today. Everyone did their job. Once again, we came from behind and did it.”

The Bruins trailed Oregon 2-1 with two outs in the bottom of the ninth when Espinoza tied the game with a single. The Bruins could not tack on another run, and the contest moved to extra innings.

In the bottom of the 11th, UCLA loaded the bases with no outs after an official review determined that Roman Martin was narrowly safe at third base following a bunt.

Oregon closer Devin Bell got Cashel Dugger and Espinoza to strike out swinging. Then the winning run advanced after the umpire ruled Phoenix Call was hit by Bell’s pitch. After a lengthy review, the call on the field was upheld, and UCLA celebrated the program’s first Big Ten tournament title.

“Just a lot of fight,” UCLA coach John Savage said on the Big Ten Network when asked about the Bruins’ penchant for comeback wins. “They certainly believe in one another. We’ve done it all season long. Good teams keep getting better.

”… You might see a couple of Big Ten teams back here in a couple of weeks.”

Will Gasparino was ejected in the fourth inning for malicious contact after he was caught in a rundown and ran over an Oregon player ready to tag him out at third base.

Oregon challenged the on-field ruling that Gasparino was simply out on the play. After a review, Gasparino was ejected and will miss UCLA’s NCAA regional opener.

The Bruins, the top-ranked team in the country, will learn their NCAA tournament seeding and regional matchup Monday morning.

Jeff McNeil hit a tying homer in the ninth inning and Tyler Soderstrom had an RBI single in the 10th to rally the Athletics past the Angels 6-5 on Wednesday night.

The Angels loaded the bases with two outs in the bottom of the 10th but left-hander Hogan Harris got Jorge Soler to ground out, sending the Angels to their 23rd loss in 29 games.

A’s reliever Scott Barlow (1-0) threw a scoreless ninth for the win. Angels right-hander Chase Silseth (1-1) took the loss after giving up an unearned run in the 10th.

The teams combined for eight runs in the first two innings, with the Angels taking a 5-3 lead on Soler’s two-run homer in the first and Jo Adell’s solo shot and Josh Lowe’s two-run drive off A’s starter Aaron Civale in the second.

Soderstrom hit a two-run single in the first, and Henry Bolte scored when Lowe misplayed Carlos Cortes’ single to left field in the second.

Angels starter Jack Kochanowicz walked four and hit a batter with a pitch in the first two innings, but the right-hander retired 12 straight batters — six by strikeout — from the third through the sixth before handing the ball to the bullpen.

Mike Trout rounds second during the first inning Wednesday.

(Ronaldo Bolaños / Los Angeles Times)

Angels reliever Ryan Zeferjahn plunked two batters in the seventh, and Sam Bachman gave up an RBI single to Nick Kurtz, trimming the Angels’ lead to 5-4.

Bachman retired the side in order in the eighth, but Kirby Yates couldn’t convert his first save opportunity for the Angels, as McNeil led off the ninth by curling his second homer inside the right-field foul pole, tying the score at 5.

Cortes walked with two outs and Shea Langeliers was hit by a pitch, but Angels left-hander Tayler Saucedo, called up from triple-A earlier Wednesday, got Kurtz to tap back to the mound to end the inning.

As left-hander Alex Vesia emerged from the Dodgers bullpen, heard the electric guitar riff of Seether’s “Gasoline,” and felt his adrenaline spike with the roar of the crowd, he knew 27 of those cheering fans had helped him and wife Kayla through a devastating loss just months prior.

He and Kayla had chosen the Dodgers’ game against the Mets on Tuesday, Healthcare appreciation night at Dodger Stadium, to celebrate the hands-on staff at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center who had cared for them last October, through the death of their newborn daughter Sterling Sol.

He’d spotted their suite by shirts Kayla had customized for the group, bearing the initials SV with a heart, and signed by Alex.

“Today was the first time I’ve seen pretty much all of them since everything,” Alex Vesia said after earning the save in the Dodgers’ 2-1 win Tuesday. “So it was very special, very emotional. … I couldn’t have written it any better.”

Vesia authored the ending to what manager Dave Roberts called an “old school” pitcher’s duel. Dodgers starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Mets starter each yielded only one run apiece, both in the first inning.

Yamamoto retired 20 straight after surrendering a leadoff home run to Francisco Lindor. And he came back out in the eighth, with right-hander Blake Treinen and Vesia preparing for the call.

When Yamamoto allowed back-to-back two-out singles, just his third and fourth hits allowed, Roberts brought in Treinen to face Luis Robert Jr. Treinen struck out Robert on a sweeper that caught the bottom of the strike zone and withstood an ABS challenge.

“Not having [closer Edwin Díaz] available, I felt very confident to use Blake to get out of that inning, to get Robert,” Roberts said, “and to have Vesia take on some righties in a close situation.”

Díaz hadn’t pitched since last Friday, when he didn’t feel quite right and his velocity dropped during a blown save. Though he insisted over the weekend that he felt good physically, the Dodgers proceeded with caution.

Because of the time off, Roberts said, the training and coaching staff wanted Díaz to throw a bullpen Tuesday before returning to game action. As long as he responds well, Roberts said, Díaz will be “ready to go” Wednesday in the series finale.

Kyle Tucker singles in the go-ahead run in the eighth inning Tuesday.

(Ronaldo Bolanos / Los Angeles Times)

On Tuesday, a clutch swing from Kyle Tucker in the bottom of the eighth created a save situation with Díaz down.

With runners on first and second, Tucker fell behind in the count against Mets left-handed reliever Brooks Raley. Then, shaking off his slow offensive start to the season, Tucker sent a 1-and-2 cutter into shallow left field.

“He’s going through it right now,” Roberts said. “But for him to stick his nose in there against Raley and find a way … to just flare a ball to get a game-winning hit, he helped us win a baseball game.”

Then it was Vesia’s time.

The heart of the order was coming up for the Mets: Jorge Polanco, Bo Bichette and Francisco Alvarez.

“Doc trusting me to get those three hitters out, those are no-joke hitters right there,” Vesia said. “So I definitely knew I needed to be on my game.”

A top-rail fastball got him a called first strike against Polanco. Then Vesia, who mostly throws fastballs and sliders, got Polanco to whiff on an outside changeup.

“I think even Will [Smith] and I surprised each other with the changeup that I threw,” Vesia said.

He went above the zone with a fastball, and Polanco chased it to complete a three-pitch strikeout.

Vesia then only needed four pitches to strike out Bichette on a slider in the dirt. Three straight sliders to Alvarez finished the job.

Vesia hopped and fist-pumped as the Dodgers (13-4) formed their handshake line. He met SportsNet LA’s Kirsten Watson outside of the dugout for the on-field interview and choked back tears after waving to the Cedars-Sinai suite.

“That’s what I do it for, man,” he said later in the clubhouse. “I wear my heart on my sleeve when I’m out there. So I was pretty fired up to be put in that spot.”