This post was updated June 18 at 3:43 p.m.

OMAHA, Neb. – A steal of home.

It’s an image former Bruin Jackie Robinson made famous with the Brooklyn Dodgers.

But Tuesday evening at Charles Schwab Field, it signaled the end of the Bruins’ once-Hollywood season. 

With the bases loaded and one away in the top of the first, No. 15 seed UCLA baseball (48-18, 22-8 Big Ten) squandered what would be its best opportunity to take a lead, as redshirt senior right fielder AJ Salgado lined out to short before sophomore left fielder Dean West was caught on a straight steal of home.

And following West’s play at the plate, UCLA’s offense would fail to get into a rhythm until it was just too late. No. 3 seed Arkansas (50-14, 20-10 SEC) took the Men’s College World Series elimination game 7-3. The Bruin offense that had been explosive all season was held to six hits and a 1-for-8 performance with runners in scoring position.

“No one really thought we’d be here,” redshirt sophomore center fielder Payton Brennan said. “I chose to go to UCLA, to play under coach (John) Savage and make it to Omaha … It’s been an awesome ride. Sucks the way it ended, but we fought and that’s all we can do.” 

In the bottom of the first, Golden Spikes Award finalist shortstop Wehiwa Aloy did what the Bruins couldn’t do in their three MCWS games: leave the ballpark. His 21st home run of the year – a two-run no-doubter to right – put the Razorbacks ahead for good before the Bruins could record an out.

Zach Root – a projected late-first or second-round pick in the 2025 MLB Draft – rebounded from the shortest start of his career, during which he surrendered three runs in 1.2 innings pitched against LSU on Saturday.

The southpaw settled in after the bases-loaded first, facing the minimum over the next three innings – managing to allow just one baserunner. And after Mulivai Levu reached on a throwing error by third baseman Brent Iredale to leadoff the fourth, the sophomore first baseman slipped rounding first and was caught trying to advance, unable to scramble back to the bag.

Arkansas’ ace finished with five shutout innings and five strikeouts, surrendering just three hits and two walks, before turning it over to the bullpen.

On the Bruins’ side of the equation, junior right-hander Cody Delvecchio, who was academically ineligible the entirety of UCLA’s spring quarter, finished his first start since March 28 with four-plus innings and three earned runs.

Delvecchio tossed three scoreless frames after his two-run first, but no matter how well he rebounded, he wouldn’t be able to lower the two-run deficit. Savage turned to six more arms to gather the remaining 12 outs – five of whom pitched against LSU in a game that stretched from Monday evening till Tuesday afternoon because of a weather delay. 

In addition to his homer, Aloy – the SEC Player of the Year – added an RBI triple in the fifth before the Bruins elected to intentionally walk him in the seventh. Meanwhile, sophomore shortstop Roch Cholowsky – the Big Ten Player of the Year – went 1-for-4 at the plate, finishing his first MCWS 1-for-12 with a walk, a run and two strikeouts. 

“I’m just really excited to get another chance to come back here next year,” Cholowsky said. “This has felt like baseball heaven – just going through the village and getting to see all the little kids with the smiles on their face and just getting to make their days has been really good the last couple days.”

The Bruins rallied for three runs in the top of the ninth, taking advantage of two Razorback errors and a wild pitch, but it proved too little too late. 

“We got to get stronger physically,” Savage said. “There’s a lot of things that you’ve got to still look at and say what we got to get better in those areas. And I love doing that.”

Now, UCLA will plunge into uncertainty – and more than the typical transfer portal and MLB Draft rumors that circle every program’s season’s conclusion. The end of the 2025 campaign means the end of Savage’s contract year and the last season the Bruins were guaranteed to have Jackie Robinson Stadium. 

So while the Razorbacks sent the Bruins home packing, they may simply not have a home to return to.