Roch Cholowsky Awarded Coaches Association First Team Honors

UCLA Bruins star sophomore shortstop Roch Cholowksy seemingly needs to make more space on his trophy shelf every day leading up the Bruins' first College World Series appearance in 12 years.

This time, Cholowsky was named to the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) All-American First Team.

Cholowsky adds this award to a stellar sophomore season in Westwood that saw him win the Big Tean Player of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year, Brooks Wallace Award winner for the best shortstop in the nation, District 9 Player of the Year, Perfect Game USA Player of the Year, NCBWA Second Team All-American Honors, finalist for the Dick Howser Trophy and semifinalist for the Golden Spikes Award.

As a sophomore, Cholowsky has already had one of the best seasons in UCLA baseball history, and topped it off with leading the Bruins to Omaha and the College World Series for the first time since 2013.

UCLA Athletics wrote in a statement announcing the award, "Heading into the College World Series, he is hitting .367 with 23 home runs and 73 RBI. He leads the Big Ten in OPS (1.235), slugging percentage (.742), total bases (178), and runs scored (79), while ranking third in on-base percentage (.494). His 23 home runs mark 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."