Next stop: Omaha, Nebraska.

With only one hurdle remaining at the Los Angeles Super Regional, No. 15 seed UCLA baseball (47-16, 22-8 Big Ten) cleared it with a 7-0 shutout of UTSA (47-15, 23-4 AAC) on Sunday at Jackie Robinson Stadium, sweeping the Roadrunners to advance to its first Men’s College World Series since 2013.

“It’s great to be back and looking forward to the challenge,” said coach John Savage, who took the Bruins to Omaha in 2010, 2012 and 2013 before missing college baseball’s biggest stage for 11 straight seasons. 

Flipping game one’s series of events, UCLA scored first Sunday, when junior designated hitter Toussaint Bythewood – making just his third start of 2025 – smacked an RBI single the other way in the top of the fourth.

Sophomore second baseman Phoenix Call led off the fifth with a bunt single pushed down the first-base line before sophomore left fielder Dean West moved him to second with a sacrifice bunt. Then, sophomore shortstop Roch Cholowsky doubled the Bruins’ lead with an RBI single of his own – his first RBI hit since May 31. 

“It’s never going to be one person,” Cholowsky said. “Our lineup, one through nine, is as deep as it could be.”

UCLA’s pitching made the once-explosive UTSA offense look feeble, as the Bruins combined for just their second shutout of the season – the first coming Opening Weekend. 

Landon Stump’s outing, albeit a short one, set the tone for the pitching staff. Despite four hits, the sophomore right-hander kept the Roadrunners at bay with five strikeouts – three coming consecutively –  while issuing just one free pass. 

“I definitely got more in the tank moving on,” Stump said after getting the hook following 72 pitches.

The Bruin bullpen stayed ahead of the Roadrunner offense, no-hitting them through the remaining five frames and striking out four.

Redshirt sophomore southpaw Chris Grothues would be the first to get the call – relieving Stump in the bottom of the fifth. And Grothues induced a 6-6-3 double play before striking out the next man looking to close the frame. 

UCLA doubled its lead to 4-0 in the eighth. Redshirt sophomore center fielder Payton Brennan struck right-hander Braylon Owens with a comebacker, and first baseman Lorenzo Morresi’s errant throw toward first allowed redshirt senior right fielder AJ Salgado to score. Later in the frame, Brennan would come home on Call’s sacrifice fly. 

The Bruins added three in the ninth when Brennan drove home two with a single to left before Bythewood drove home another with an RBI groundout, setting his career high.

“Toussaint has been really consistent in practice,” Savage said. “He should have had more opportunities at the end of the day. He was ready for that opportunity.”

Freshman right-hander Easton Hawk recorded the final three outs of the Los Angeles Super Regional, inducing a lineout and a groundout before walking one. Then, on a full count, Hawk got designated hitter Drew Detlefsen to pop out to Call in shallow right field, punching the Bruins’ ticket to Omaha. 

“They felt that they could turn the needle, and at the end of the day, that’s what they did,” Savage said. “They did it together.”