How Losing Jackie Robinson Stadium Fueled UCLA's CWS Run

In September, just a few months before the UCLA Bruins started their baseball season, a federal judge ruled that the lease between the university and the Department of Veteran Affairs for the land that Jackie Robinson Stadium is on was illegal, prohibiting the team from it's home stadium for the forseeable future.

For a month the Bruins had to practice at nearby high school's with the uncertainty that they'd ever get to play at the stadium again. The university ended up regaining its rights to the stadium until July by doubling its lease payment for the rest of the year.

The Bruins were coming off a 19-win season, the lowest win total under coach John Savage since 2005 (15-41, not including COVID year where they went 13-2 before the season shut down). Now, a young team with the hopes of improving was suddenly uncertain. But this situation grew them closer together and sparked a stellar 48-win year and the program's first trip to Omaha since 2013.

"Coming off of last year, no one really thought we'd be here," redshirt sophomore Payton Brennan said Tuesday after their CWS-ending loss to Arkansas. "To be here, it was a long season and we battled and we came together. All the stuff we had to deal with in the fall, losing the field. I think that just built the team, built us up stronger. I have like 40 best friends now from this season and everything we went through.

"It's been an awesome ride. Sucks the way it ended, but we fought and that's all that we could do."

UCLA's College World Series Run ended on Tuesday after losing to LSU early in the morning in a continuation game from Monday that was rained out after three innings, and then turning over later that evening to play No. 3-seeded Arkansas and losing 7-3.

By the Bruins' standards, this young team made up mostly of sophomores overperformed. Just being in Omaha meant everything to them, never mind all they had to overcome. With most of the roster returning next season, star shortstop Roch Cholowsky won't forget this year.

"The only people that really did think that we'd be here was our guys and the people around us," Cholowsky said. "It's a great group of people and I think that that's what really made this year."