The Bruins began the 2024 campaign ranked No. 22 in the nation by D1Baseball and climbed to No. 20 after an opening weekend sweep.

But after then-No. 5 TCU swept UCLA in its second weekend series, the Bruins wouldn’t enter the top 25 again for 399 days.

Following six weekend series wins to begin 2025 and victories in 11 of its last 13 contests, No. 24 UCLA baseball (18-5, 7-2 Big Ten) broke into national rankings Monday, just in time for its Tuesday bout against Loyola Marymount (14-10, 2-1 WCC) at Jackie Robinson Stadium.

“I want to see a good game on Tuesday,” said coach John Savage. “It’s about us getting momentum and establishing the week.”

The midweek affair against the Lions – against whom the Bruins are 18-1 since 2014 – will conclude UCLA’s eight-game homestand before a weekend series in West Lafayette, Indiana.

“We played them (LMU) tight last year,” said sophomore shortstop Roch Cholowsky, who went 5-for-8 between Saturday and Sunday after an 0-for-4 performance in the Bruins’ Friday loss. “So just getting out there and getting after them before the weekend.”

Amid their 19-33 campaign last year, the Bruins bested the Lions 4-1 at Page Stadium, largely thanks to a combined 7.1 innings tossed by then-freshman right-handers Luke Rodriguez, Justin Lee and Cal Randall.

The now-sophomore Rodriguez pitched on two days rest, making his third career start. Lee allowed just one run across 3.1 frames – a career-best performance at the time – and earned his first collegiate win while Randall made his NCAA debut.

Despite becoming UCLA’s closer in 2025 and leading the team in appearances this season, Lee said he felt more stressed to perform last season amid a heftier workload due to injuries that plagued the rest of the pitching staff.

“Last year, it would be a lot of pressure on me just to do good in front of coach, but now it’s kind of like, ‘I’m going to beat every hitter,’ and I’m just comfortable out there,” Lee said. “It’s not a good thing for guys to get injured, but that’s when I got my chance, and I think I took advantage of that. … I think I’m getting run out there a little less than I did.”

Like last season, Savage said he’s giving the nod to a freshman Tuesday – right-hander Wylan Moss. And while Moss didn’t pitch over the weekend against Indiana, Savage added that he won’t necessarily push his starter deep into Tuesday’s contest so that he can still be available for the upcoming series at Purdue.

Instead, the coach said he’s planning a bullpen game in the midweek affair.

“We’re going to need Randall, we’re going to need Rissas (graduate student left-hander Ryan Rissas), we’re going to need Bott (freshman right-hander CJ Bott), we’re going to need Hawk (freshman right-hander Easton Hawk),” Savage said. “You’re going to see a lot of those guys on Tuesday.”

Offensively, Cholowsky and sophomore first baseman Mulivai Levu carried UCLA to its win over LMU last season – combining for four hits and three RBIs – and have maintained similar offensive production through 2025, leading the team in OPS with marks of 1.259 and .980, respectively.

While UCLA went without a midweek game last week because of winter quarter finals, it is 4-1 in midweek contests this season, outscoring opponents 56-19. And its bout against the Lions will begin a seven-week stretch of consecutive Tuesday affairs for the Bruins.