Once Pac-12 rivals, the Sun Devils and the Bruins now compete in separate conferences, with Arizona State in the Big 12 and UCLA in the Big Ten—two of the nation's premier baseball leagues.

Sophomore shortstop Roch Cholowsky led the way for the Bruins in game one, continuing his hot start to the season with a four-RBI performance that put ASU to bed by the fourth inning.  

All four of Cholowsky’s RBIs came on one swing, sending his second grand slam in as many games deep into the night sky to send the crowd into a frenzy and put UCLA in full control.

Rohan Lettow, who had replaced a struggling starter Easton Barrett, took the blow from Cholowsky who was teammates with him at Hamilton High School back in the day.

While the Bruins were cruising on offense, the Sun Devils had trouble getting the ball off the ground, recording 11 groundouts as a team to cap their batting average at .182 against the UCLA staff. 

Jacob Tobias provided all the offense for ASU on the day, going 4-4 with a double, a home run, and four RBIs. For Tobias, it was his fourth career four-hit performance, an effort that would go unsung in the absence of Arizona State’s usually potent production. 

Easton Barrett took the loss in game one after allowing four runs across two innings of work. A pair of errors by Tobias and Jax Ryan would result in all four runs going unearned for Barrett, who kept his 0.00 ERA intact.   

A bright spot for the Sun Devils came after the departures of Barrett and Lettow when Jonah Giblin, Sean Fitzpatrick, and Eli Buxton combined for five shutout innings to close out the rest of the game. Together, the trio allowed just one baserunner and struck out six.

For the Bruins, freshman Wylan Moss got the start and pitched four and a third innings, surrendering just three runs to ASU’s lineup while striking out four. 

Similar to Arizona State, UCLA’s bullpen was nails for the rest of the game. After Tobias’ solo off southpaw Chirs Grothues, the Bruins kept the Sun Devils scoreless the rest of the way.

A recurring issue for the Sun Devils has been the inability to prevent innings from getting out of hand. UCLA went 4-10 (.400) as a team with runners on base and 3-5 (.600) with runners in scoring position.

On the flip side, the goal for ASU heading into Wednesday will be capitalizing on those same opportunities. The Sun Devils went 2-11 (.182) as a team with runners on base and 2-7 (.286) with runners in scoring position. 

Arizona State will look to bounce back against the Bruins on Wednesday at 2 p.m. at Jackie Robinson Stadium.