Only two teams were left out of the final Pac-12 tournament last year.

The Bruins were one of them.

In its inaugural Big Ten season, No. 2 seed UCLA baseball (39-15, 22-8 Big Ten) qualified for the conference tournament after winning a share of the Big Ten regular season crown. After beating the Bruins in the season series, however, Oregon, took the No. 1 seed.

In pool play, UCLA will take on No. 11 seed Illinois (29-23, 14-16) on Wednesday and No. 7 seed Michigan (33-21, 16-14) on Thursday at Charles Schwab Field in Omaha, Nebraska. The tournament semifinal will be Saturday and the title game Sunday.

“We’re in a good spot,” said redshirt senior outfielder AJ Salgado. “All the guys get along well, it’s great. It means a lot, turning it around from the bad year we had last year, being able to win the conference this year and making the postseason.”

Charles Schwab Field is also the home of the Men’s College World Series, where the final eight teams in the NCAA baseball tournament battle for the national championship. The Bruins haven’t played at the storied field since winning the 2013 tournament.

While teams automatically move on to the semifinal if they win their first two games, the top four seeds – including the Bruins – will have an automatic tiebreaker if all three teams in their pool go 1-1 in the round robin.

All four pool winners will advance to the semifinal, where the tournament then becomes a single-elimination affair.

The champion of the conference tournament will receive an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

The postseason tournament will be UCLA’s final opportunity to bolster its resume before the NCAA committee makes selections for the national tournament next Monday. The Bruins, who have missed the NCAA tournament each of the past two seasons, are currently projected by D1Baseball to host a regional tournament for the first time since 2019.

“You better be present, and you better make sure that you’re where you need to be,” said coach John Savage. “You’re still fighting for seeds. You’re still fighting for hosts. There’s ramifications for winning, and there’s ramifications for losing.”

UCLA is 4-0 this season against Illinois and Michigan combined. It swept Illinois in a three-game set on the road earlier in May and defeated Michigan by 17 runs at Jackie Robinson Stadium in an early March midweek matchup.

While the Bruins’ spot in the NCAA tournament is all but guaranteed because of their high RPI and national ranking, the Wolverines and Fighting Illini will likely need to win the Big Ten tournament to continue their seasons.

“Whoever we play, it’s going to be an opponent that still has life,” Savage said. “They still believe that they can go to the NCAA tournament. The ultimate goal is to win the national championship.”

UCLA will enter the tournament having won five of its last six games – including its sweep of Illinois – while Michigan and Illinois have both gone 2-4 over the same period.

Sophomore shortstop and Golden Spikes Award semifinalist Roch Cholowsky has led the way for the Bruins’ offense by batting .360 with four home runs over his last six games.

Cholowsky – who finished the regular season leading the nation in WAR, according to 643 Charts – is the first Bruin position player to be named a semifinalist for the award since Jeff Gelalich in 2012.

“Just taking it day by day is the biggest part,” Cholowsky said. “As everyone does, I’ve had a few game stretches where I’ll have some tough at bats, and I can’t really buy a hit. Just sticking with it every day, coming to the park with a fresh mentality, has been good for me.”