Last year’s sweep of the Cardinal saved the Bruins from a last-place finish in the Pac-12 to close out the regular season.

But a final sweep this year could land UCLA the top seed in next week’s Big Ten tournament.

No. 14 UCLA baseball (37-14, 20-7 Big Ten), which finished 2024 second-to-last in its final Pac-12 season, is in second place in the Big Ten heading into its regular season finale against Northwestern (24-25, 12-15), which begins Thursday at Jackie Robinson Stadium and continues Friday and Saturday.

“We’re very excited for the weekend,” said coach John Savage. “We’ve put ourselves in a really good position after this weekend, coming off a tough weekend last week against USC.”

UCLA is trailing first-place Iowa by a single game – coincidentally, the Hawkeyes will host the third-place Ducks this weekend, which are one game back of the Bruins. UCLA would win the tiebreaker for top seed against Iowa but lose against Oregon, but all three have a shot at the regular-season title. The Bruins will need to at least win their series against the Wildcats for their first conference crown since 2019 — when they finished the regular season as the best team in the country and ended the campaign one win short of a trip to Omaha, Nebraska.

The 2019 Bruins also represent the last UCLA squad to host an NCAA regional. However, D1Baseball predicted Tuesday that the regionals would return to Jackie Robinson Stadium with UCLA as the tournament’s No. 11 seed.

Still, with the ballpark’s future left uncertain because of ongoing legal proceedings regarding UCLA’s lease with the West Los Angeles Department of Veterans Affairs, the three-game series could be the team’s last at its home field of 44 years. Additionally, the weekend slate could be Savage’s last regular-season contests as UCLA’s head coach as he is in the final year of his contract amid his 21st campaign at the helm in Westwood.

Continuing to lead the charge in the Bruins’ rebound season, sophomore shortstop Roch Cholowsky leads the nation with 5.36 WAR, according to 6-4-3 Charts. The Chandler, Arizona, local also mashed his team-leading 18th home run on Sunday, the fourth highest tally in the Big Ten.

Phoenix Call, whose batting average dropped to .207 Friday, turned in a career day at the plate Sunday, recording two home runs, a double and four RBIs to help lift the Bruins to their 11th series win this season and the sophomore second baseman’s mark up to .230 – its highest since April 13.

“We’re a great group. We gel together pretty well,” Call said. “It never seems like we’re out of a game.”

With Cholowsky and Call manning the middle infield, UCLA leads the nation with 53 double plays turned and paces the Big Ten with the country’s 11th-best fielding percentage of .980.

When looking toward the postseason, the Bruins’ ability to generate outs and pitch out of jams may be critical. Though his staff walked 11 batters and hit two Sunday, Savage appreciated its ability to work around traffic throughout the recent road trip, stranding 26 runners on base throughout the Illinois series.

“At the end of the day, our guys did enough to sweep the series,” Savage said. “But we have to clearly pitch better than we did this weekend.”

The series also bears postseason implications for the Wildcats, with Northwestern in a three-way tie with Illinois and Michigan State for the final two spots in the conference tournament.

Northwestern will travel to Westwood following a series win against Ohio State. Helping push the Wildcats past the Buckeyes, shortstop Ryan Kucherak was named the Big Ten Player of the Week, going 6-for-10 with two homers, a double and five RBIs over the weekend. Leading the Wildcats with a .638 slugging percentage, designated hitter Trent Liolios has slugged 16 round-trippers on the year, the seventh most in the Big Ten.

On the mound, however, the Wildcats have struggled, with the team’s 7.61 ERA and 1.76 WHIP both ranking second worst in the conference.

“We’re prepared, we’re ready, and we’re just in control,” said freshman right-hander Easton Hawk, who’s become the Bruins’ closer in recent weeks. “Until the final pitch, the final out, nothing’s done.”