Roch Cholowsky seemingly hit a grand slam in the bottom of the seventh, with the sophomore shortstop launching his 19th long ball of the year with the bases loaded.

Instead, Phoenix Call retreated to retouch third base, as if he had missed the bag on his first go-around. And when the sophomore second baseman allowed Dean West to pass him on the base paths, the sophomore left fielder was ruled out and Cholowsky would have to settle for a three-run homer, while the Bruins would trail by two.

John Savage said Call did, in fact, touch third initially. However, the coach didn’t seem too pressed about the incident, chuckling about it after the game.

“It was a little league play,” Savage said. “God, we had the big momentum swing right there and it came to a screeching halt.”

And not only did No. 14 UCLA baseball (37-15, 20-8 Big Ten) lose momentum, Northwestern (25-25, 13-15) picked it right up, scoring three in the top of the ninth and holding the Bruins to just a single the rest of the way for the 9-4 series opening victory for the Wildcats on Thursday night at Jackie Robinson Stadium.

The Bruins were at a deficit before they even stepped into the batter’s box, with redshirt junior southpaw Ian May surrendering a two-run home run to Wildcats’ shortstop Ryan Kucherak.

Later in the third, Kucherak tagged May for a solo shot before catcher Bennett Markinson hit a home run of his own on the very next pitch.

May’s night would be over after only 2.1 innings, allowing four runs on six hits. Through four appearances as UCLA’s series-opening starter, May has pitched just 14.1 frames, posting an 8.79 ERA.

The Bruins sent six other pitchers to the mound, with Chris Grothues bouncing back after giving up seven earned runs in Illinois last weekend. In 2.2 innings, the redshirt sophomore southpaw struck out two and only allowed one hit keeping the Bruins within three.

“I just told myself there’s always the next day,” Grothues said. “There’s always room to get better, improve and learn from the last outings.”

Wylan Moss, who posted a 1.93 ERA across three starts, hasn’t pitched since May 2 due to a back issue, Savage said. However, the coach added that the freshman right-hander could see the mound come the conference tournament next week.

However, the Bruin offense – which has commandeered 18 comeback victories this season – didn’t go down without a fight.

Sophomore third baseman Roman Martin and West had multi-hit games, both recording two singles. Cholowsky, who’s third in the conference in total home runs, joined his teammates with his team-leading 16th double of the season.

“Just gives the guys some energy when we’re down like that,” Cholowsky said. “It feels good to be able to do that and jump start innings when we need it.”

The Wildcats sent only two pitchers to the mound Thursday. Starter Sam Hliboki pitched into the seventh inning, allowing four runs on seven hits while striking out five, before left-hander Crawford Wade held UCLA scoreless over the final 2.2 frames, striking out four.

Big Ten standings

With Oregon’s 10-0 run-rule win over Iowa on Thursday, the Bruins and Ducks are tied for second place in the Big Ten, one game back of the Hawkeyes. UCLA needs to win its next two games against Northwestern for a chance at the regular-season crown, while Oregon needs a sweep.

“You better be able to recover,” Savage said. “There’s a lot of baseball left this weekend, but as I told the guys, we got to play a lot better than we did today.”

Junior right-hander Michael Barnett will take the mound for the Bruins on Friday, with first-pitch slated for 7 p.m.