UCLA's First-Round World Series Opponent Revealed

The UCLA Bruins advanced to the Men's College World Series for the first time since 2013 after sweeping UTSA in the Los Angeles Super Regional and now know their first-round opponent in Omaha.

Murray State defeated Duke in three games in the Durham Super Regionals and will advance to the College World Series to take on the Bruins in the first round of bracket play.

UCLA and Murray State will be joined by No. 6 ranked LSU and No. 3 ranked Arkansas in their double-elimination bracket in Omaha. Eight teams made it out of Super Regionals and will be cut to two to play in the World Series final.

The winner of the first round matchup will move on to play the winner of the Tigers and Razorbacks; losers will play each other as well. If the Bruins lose two, they are out of Omaha.

The Bruins will face off against Murray State in the first round on Saturday, June 14, at 2 p.m. PT on ESPN.

"This is surreal to me," UCLA shortstop Roch Cholowsky said following the win over UTSA. "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." 

UCLA will now be a sixth-time participant in the Omaha World Series. It has won once, when it last made an appearance in 2013.