Roch Cholowsky put the Bruins on his shoulders for the second straight game.

With his team clinging to a one-run lead in the bottom of the fourth, the sophomore shortstop came to the plate with the bases loaded and one away.

And Cholowsky took the opportunity and sent a grand slam to the palm trees in left field, providing the game winner in UCLA baseball’s (7-1) 8-4 win over Arizona State (6-2) on Tuesday night at Jackie Robinson Stadium. After slugging a go-ahead grand slam against Michigan State on Sunday, Cholowsky hit his second of the season Tuesday.

“I was just happy that we strung some at-bats together,” said coach John Savage. “We had two big innings, two four spots, and that was kind of the difference in the game.”

Down a run in the second, the Bruins had runners on the corners with one out after redshirt senior center fielder AJ Salgado led off the inning with a walk and junior right fielder Jarrod Hocking reached on an error by first baseman Jacob Tobias. Sophomore catcher Cashel Dugger tied the game on a successful safety squeeze.

Freshman designated hitter Logan de Groot then gave the Bruins the lead with an RBI infield single to second before sophomore left fielder Dean West extended the advantage to three with a two-run blast to right.

However, Salgado could not track down a two-out fly ball in the third, resulting in a two-RBI Tobias double that pulled the Sun Devils within a run.

But back-to-back one-out singles by Dugger and de Groot – followed by a plunking of West – filled the bases for Cholowsky, who didn’t miss right-hander Rohan Lettow’s hanging breaking ball.

Cholowsky launched three big flies over the past two games. But the Bruins’ starting shortstop said the credit is not his to take.

“Just being together as an offense, that’s been helping us,” Cholowsky said. “No one guy is going to do it all.”

After freshman right-hander Wylan Moss tossed 4.1 innings, surrendering three runs on three hits and two walks while striking out four in his second collegiate start, the Bruin bullpen combined for 4.2 frames of one-run ball.

Chris Grothues was the first to follow Moss. The redshirt sophomore left-hander picked off an inherited baserunner to begin his outing and finished having pitched 1.2 innings and striking out three.

Grothues’ only blemish on an otherwise spotless outing was a solo shot by Tobias.

“I kind of felt like I was a veteran out there just because of all the support from my teammates,” said Grothues, who made just his second collegiate appearance after undergoing Tommy John surgery in September 2023. “Finally got over those setbacks, and I feel like I’m part of the team again.”

Junior right-hander Jack O’Connor pitched a scoreless seventh and eighth innings, earning his first career win. After batting injuries for the past two seasons, O’Connor made his Bruin debut on Opening Day and has yet to allow a run through four innings of work.

“Grothues is a real left-hander, and O’Conner can get left-handers out – that’s a big deal,” said Savage. “I thought both those guys were outstanding. … We can build off that.”

Sophomore right-hander Justin Lee shut the door, retiring the side after a four-pitch leadoff walk in the ninth.

The Bruins’ next challenge amid their slate of eight games in 10 days begins Wednesday at 1 p.m. in game two against the Sun Devils at Jackie Robinson Stadium.