Bruins' Cholowsky Named 2nd-Team All-American

UCLA shortstop Roch Cholowsky continues to add to his star-studded sophomore campaign with the Bruins as we received Second Team All-America Honors from the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA).

This award adds to his trophy case, going along with being named Big Ten Player of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year, District 9 Player of the Year, and Perfect Game Player of the Year. He was also named a finalist for the Dick Howser Trophy and Brooks Wallace award, which will both be named on June 13 ahead of the College Baseball World Series.

Cholowsky did all of that while lead UCLA to its first CWS appearance since 2013. The Sophomore shortstop is making an undeniable argument for being one of, if not the best players in college baseball.

UCLA Athletics said in a statement announcing Cholowsky's honor: "At 47-16, this season marks UCLA's highest win total since the 2019 squad went 52-11. Cholowsky posted a wins-above-replacement (WAR) mark of 6.46 to lead all Division I players while batting .367 with 23 home runs and 73 RBI. He also led the Big Ten in OPS (1.261) and slugging percentage (.761), ranking third in on-base percentage (.500), total bases (175), and runs scored (78). His 23 home runs are the most by a Bruin since 2000."

After sweeping UTSA in the Los Angeles Super Regional, Cholowsky and the No. 15-ranked Bruins take on Murray State in their first round matchup in Omaha on Saturday, June 14, at 11 a.m. PT on ESPN.

"This is surreal to me," Cholowsky said following the Omaha-clinching win. "It's just something that I've dreamed of as long as I could remember. Getting to go experience [the CWS] a couple years ago just added that much more fire to the dream.

"I haven't wrapped my head around it. It's something that I'm never going to forget. But, I mean, we're not done yet. We're going there to play our game of baseball and just take it other teams, so I'm looking forward to that."

This will be Cholowsky's first trip to Omaha and UCLA's sixth in program history. Bruins coach John Savage will be making his fourth CWS appearance in 21 seasons at the helm in Westwood.

"It wasn't our goal to just get to Omaha," Savage said. "We've talked a lot about going and playing well, taking our game to whoever we play. I'm really excited for the guys, excited for the alumni, the fans. I'm excited for everyone involved. At the end of the day, it's an appreciation on my behalf towards a lot of people."