A Weekend in Westwood
The top-ranked UCLA Bruins toppled the rival USC Trojans in a hard-fought weekend sweep. (© Janwayne Orme/BruinLife)
On Easter Weekend, college baseball fans were treated to a highly-anticipated matchup between two of Division I’s most exciting squads: the No. 1 UCLA Bruins, who famously boast the presumed No. 1 draft pick in Roch Cholowsky among their formidable ranks, and the No. 12 USC Trojans, whose pitching staff in particular has exceeded expectations and landed them two Pitcher of the Year watchlist candidates.
UCLA swept the series, but it was a tremendously entertaining weekend of baseball nonetheless. It was a high-stakes set of games: beyond the implicit implications of the schools’ long-standing rivalry, this is the first time they’ve squared off as ranked opponents in over a decade (2015). UCLA entered the series on a 20-game win streak; a sweep would set a new school record for most consecutive victories. Doing so against this specific iteration of its crosstown rival — a group that opened its season 20-0 — would be a significant statement about the strength of this roster.
On the other side of the city, the Trojans are in the midst of their best season in recent history. Though the school owns the most tournament titles in NCAA history (12), USC has made just six appearances in the last 25 years, including a full decade between its 2015 and 2025 berths. With head coach Andy Stankiewicz in his fourth season, this season is all about proving that the Trojans’ next championship isn’t all that far away.
Game 1 featured a matchup between two of the country’s best collegiate arms in UCLA’s Logan Reddemann and USC’s Mason Edwards. It was a low-scoring, close contest late into the evening, with each team knotted at four runs apiece until the Bruins recaptured the lead in the seventh on an RBI single from season standout Will Gasparino. It was only then, following a scoreless outing from Zach Strickland to open the eighth inning, that UCLA broke open the floodgates with a seven-run outburst in the home half of the frame, including another RBI from Gasparino. Easton Hawk finished things off with two strikeouts in his scoreless final inning to seal an emphatic series-opening victory.
The Bruins swarm Will Gasparino upon his return to the dugout after his Sunday homer. (© UCLA)
Gasparino is enjoying a career year, hitting .365 with a near-1.300 OPS in 144 plate appearances — a far cry from the numbers he was putting up in Texas the past two years. Between him and slugging lefty, first baseman Mulivai Levu, the middle of the Bruins’ lineup packs an almost unfair amount of punch, especially hitting behind the likes of Cholowsky and on-base machine Dean West. With Roman Martin and Payton Brennan sandwiched between Levu and Gasparino, the Bruins handily have the deepest lineup in college baseball, and it was on full display in this series.
Game 2 was an even more exciting back-and-forth affair, one that each starter surely wishes they could have back. USC’s Grant Govel took the mound on Saturday, but looked hardly like his dominant self. Entering the game with a 1.20 ERA to his name this season, Govel surrendered four runs on eight hits against just three strikeouts in his five innings on the hill, which is more a testament to the strength of the Bruins’ bats than anything else. It was a hitless day for Cholowsky, but the middle of UCLA’s lineup reared its ferocious head once again, with all of Levu, Martin, Brennan, and Gasparino turning in multi-hit afternoons.
Saturday was hardly just the UCLA show, though. The Trojan offense battled fiercely throughout, with especially strong showings from second baseman Abbrie Covarrubias, center fielder Kevin Takeuchi, and catcher Isaac Cadena. Takeuchi is enjoying his best collegiate season yet, hitting .306 with an .872 OPS, and he was a key contributor across the weekend despite committing one of USC’s five errors on Friday.
The Bruins clearly wanted to end the series with a bang, and that’s precisely what they did. Game 3 saw five Bruins homers, starting with a leadoff mash from West off USC’s Sunday mainstay Andrew Johnson. All but one of the finale’s homers would come off Johnson: West’s game opener, one from Gasparino in the fifth, and two from Levu in back-to-back innings. The Trojans kept the game close, trailing just 7-4 after six innings — but after a scoreless seventh on both sides, Cholowsky's three-run knock off USC reliever Adam Troy in the 8th was a fitting exclamation point to a string of exciting games that were all far closer than their final scores may have suggested.
Mulivai Levu circles the bases after his second homer on Easter Sunday. (© Dylan Petrossian)
While just about the entire UCLA lineup came to play, Levu and Brennan put up two particularly impressive series performances. The pair hit a combined 15-for-26 across the three games, responsible for 19 of UCLA’s 31 total runs scored in the series. Currently ranked 94th among MLB’s Top 100 draft prospects, Levu is having a truly impressive season — his 1.107 OPS is third-best among qualified hitters on UCLA’s roster, and he leads the team in hits (50) while sitting second in homers (9) to Gasparino and Cholowsky. Brennan’s 2026 campaign has been plenty productive as well — he comfortably ranks among the team’s top five hitters by most metrics, including doubles (6), homers (6), RBI (34), and OPS (.833). With no qualified hitters on their roster posting below a .260 average or .820 OPS, Levu and Brennan are just two of the numerous weapons UCLA can roll out at any time.
If any Trojan performance from this series deserves a moment in the spotlight, it’s that of designated hitter Augie Lopez. The sophomore has been on a tear this season, slugging .602 and leading the team in homers. As with Levu, Lopez put on a clinic over the three games, reaching base safely in each game and accounting for roughly a third of the Trojans’ 16 runs. Though that boost in power has come at the slight expense of batting average and on-base rate, he’s been an incredibly productive run creator; as long as he keeps driving guys in, USC shouldn’t have much to worry about here.
Despite some occasionally messy innings, UCLA played up to its ranking. Rather than being a showcase for its prized shortstop, the sweep was a complete team effort. This is a group that just wins — no matter what USC did, the Bruins had an answer, every time. USC took the lead at least once in every game, and UCLA never flinched. The first two games were both tied as late as the sixth inning, and the Bruins held just a one-run lead entering the home half of Sunday’s sixth. It was a very competitive series, and no game felt firmly in hand until the very end.
The main advantages UCLA had in this matchup were obvious: depth and experience. This is a lengthy Bruins lineup, and the program’s recent reputation is a big reason why. If USC continues on its current trajectory, it’ll be a tournament regular and true contender again in no time.
But for now, it’s UCLA’s world — and with a little more than a month left to play, there are no signs of that changing.
Player of the Series: Mulivai Levu — 6-for-13, 6 R, 6 RBI, 2 HR, 1 BB, 1 K
UCLA Standouts
Payton Brennan: 9-for-13, 4 R, 6 RBI, 1 HR, 1 2B, 1 BB, 1 K, 1 HBP
Will Gasparino: 6-for-13, 3 R, 5 RBI, 1 HR, 2 BB, 4 K
Roch Cholowsky: 5-for-16, 4 R, 6 RBI, 1 HR, 3 K
Roman Martin: 5-for-12, 5 R, 2 RBI, 1 HR, 1 2B, 3 BB, 1 K
Logan Reddemann: 6.0 IP, 6 H, 4 R (4 ER), 1 BB, 5 K
USC Standouts
Augie Lopez: 4-for-11, 4 R, 3 RBI, 2 HR, 2 BB, 2 K
Kevin Takeuchi: 5-for-13, 4 R, 1 RBI, 0 BB, 1 K
Isaac Cadena: 4-for-13, 0 R, 2 RBI, 2 2B, 1 BB, 2 K
Abbrie Covarrubias: 3-for-12, 2 R, 2 RBI, 2 BB, 0 K, 1 SB
Andrew Lamb: 2-for-15, 2 R, 3 RBI, 1 HR, 0 BB, 2 K
About the Author:
Drew Van Buskirk is a writer, baseball junkie, and diehard Mets fan currently based in Los Angeles. He launched Piazza Party in the 2024-25 offseason when he couldn’t find a more fitting way to channel his obsessive need to talk ball. Through a combination of player profiles, deep data dives, and walks down Mets memory lane, Drew strives to tell accessible, interesting stories that are equal parts entertaining and educational. He also provides weekly commentary for the Just Mets newsletter, where you can find him waxing poetic about the team every Wednesday and Sunday.