UCLA's Cholowsky Lauded by Coach for Unselfish Play in CWS

With second baseman Phoenix Call on third and left fielder Dean West on first with one out in the bottom of the fourth of UCLA's first round matchup against Murray State in the College World Series, star shortstop Roch Cholowsky came up to the plate.

Anybody in Charles Schwab field would expect arguably the best player in college baseball to swing for the fences with runners on to try and extend the Bruins' 2-0 lead. But what did the Big Ten Player of the Year do instead?

He pulled off a safety squeeze to bring Call in and advance West to second. The selfless baseball play led to three more runs in the frame and a 6-0 UCLA lead ahead of the fifth inning.

Bruins coach John Savage said after they defeated the Racers 6-4 that he did not instruct the Sophomore shortstop to attempt the sacrifice bunt, and even pleaded with fans jokingly to not go for his head because of Cholowsky's unselfish decision.

"I said on ESPN, 'Fans, do not harpoon me. Please, please.'" Savage said. "That was on his own. That was not us. I'm like, 'Come on, Roch, what are we doing here?' But you know what, it's a baseball play, and he did that in the Big Ten Tournament. If you saw that play in the Big Ten Tournament, he pushed with first and third, got a double out of it. He pushed it a little harder and this clearly wasn't hard enough. But it led to four runs, kind of the difference in the game. And you know, how can you blame a guy for playing baseball? But it was not -- let's be clear, it was not called from the bench."

In five trips to the plate, Cholowsky walked once and had that sacrifice bunt that led to a run but went 0-for-3 otherwise.

The measure of a good baseball player is how he is able to impact a game without recording a single hit, just like Cholowsky did in his first Omaha appearance.

The shortstop has been named the Big Ten Player of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year, Brooks Wallace Award winner, District 9 Player of the Year, Perfect Game USA Player of the Year, ABCA First Team All-American honors, NCBWA Second Team All-American Honors, finalist for the Dick Howser Trophy and semifinalist for the Golden Spikes Award, all in his sophomore season. Quite the resume Cholowsky has made this season alone.

The Bruins take on the winner of Arkansas and LSU on Monday in the winner's semifinals of their bracket in the CWS.