UCLA returned to national prominence last season, ending a two-year NCAA Tournament drought and reaching the College World Series for the first time since 2013.

Through the first two weeks of the 2026 season, the Bruins look the part of a legitimate national championship contender, due in large part to college baseball’s most dangerous 1-2 punch. Shortstop Roch Cholowsky, the early favorite to be the No. 1 pick in the 2026 MLB Draft, and outfielder Will Gasparino are putting up eye-popping numbers through the first 10 days of the season.

Cholowsky is slashing .393/.486/1.143 with six home runs and 12 RBIs while playing flawlessly in the field. Gasparino, a transfer from Texas, is slashing .391/.548/1.304 with six home runs and 15 RBIs. This is quite a jump for the junior from Los Angeles, who hit .242 with 13 home runs last season with the Longhorns.

UCLA is 6-1 after sweeping TCU at home. The Bruins host San Diego State on Tuesday before hitting the road for the first time this season. They will travel to Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas, to play three SEC schools: Tennessee, Texas A&M and Mississippi State.

WILL ARE YOU SERIOUS?!?!?!

📺B1G+#GoBruins pic.twitter.com/gI05E6ZiNd

— UCLA Baseball (@UCLABaseball) February 22, 2026

Around the horn

Auburn’s offense got untracked over the weekend at the Amegy Bank College Baseball Series in Arlington, Texas.

After scoring two runs or fewer in three of their first four games — yet still managing to go 3-1 — the Tigers scored a combined 23 runs en route to wins over Kansas State, Florida State and Louisville. They totaled 35 hits in three games and scored in six different innings in the wins over Florida State and Louisville.

All-America second baseman Chris Rembert, who injured his ankle in the second game of the season, did not play over the weekend. He could be out another week or two.

Oregon State sophomore Dax Whitney, a preseason All-American, is off to a fast start in 2026. On Friday night, the right-hander from Idaho struck out 17 of the 25 batters he faced in the Beavers’ 3-1 win over Baylor in the Round Rock Classic. His final line: seven innings, two hits, no earned runs, 17 strikeouts (tying a single-game school record) and one walk.

Whitney, who was a weekend starter as a freshman on Oregon State’s College World Series team in 2025, has allowed one earned run and seven hits in 12 innings this season and leads the nation with 23 strikeouts.

Two of the nation’s top freshman pitchers made their debuts on Tuesday. And to no surprise, there was some good and some bad.

UCLA right-hander Angel Cervantes allowed five hits and four earned runs in 2 1/3 innings against Tulane. Cervantes, selected No. 50 overall by the Pirates in the 2025 draft, was the only player picked in the first five rounds who did not sign with an MLB team. The Southern California native was ranked No. 34 in the Class of 2025 by Perfect Game.

At Mississippi State, flamethrowing lefty Jack Bauer struck out the side against Troy in the top of the eighth but ran into some trouble in the ninth and was chased after retiring just one batter. His final line: 1 1/3 innings, one hit, two earned runs, three strikeouts, three walks. Bauer, ranked No. 21 by Perfect Game, threw the fastest pitch ever recorded by a high schooler (103 mph) during his senior season at Lincoln-Way East High School in Frankfort, Ill. His fastball topped out at 99 mph in his collegiate debut.

Lefty phenom Jack Bauer made his D1 debut tonight 🔥🔥🔥

Sat 96-99 with wipeout slider K’ing the side in the 8th. Ran into trouble in the 9th pic.twitter.com/t9pFMZuCAk

— 11Point7 College Baseball (@11point7) February 18, 2026

Wake Forest is 6-1 after a weekend sweep of Siena. That’s the good news. The bad news: Friday night starter Blake Morningstar has struggled in both of his starts. In a season-opening loss to Houston in Puerto Rico, the junior allowed five earned runs and five hits in only three innings. On Friday, he gave up six earned runs in four innings against a Siena team that scored a total of one run in its first three games.

The Deacs’ other two weekend starters — sophomore Chris Levonas and junior Matthew Dallas — have been solid, but they will need more from Morningstar to be a threat in the ACC.

What a start for Kent State. The Golden Flashes, picked second in the MAC, improved to 5-2 after taking two of three at Tennessee. It was the first time the Vols lost a weekend series to a nonconference opponent since 2020, when they dropped two of three to Wright State, just a week before the season was shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

It was the biggest series upset of the season to date, according to PEARatings.

No – Kent State beating Tennessee is the 23rd and 24th biggest upsets of the year. It is the biggest series upset of the year by a good margin.

The single biggest upset of the year was Alabama A&M beating New Orleans 10-8 on Feb 20th. This is followed by Maine beating Duke. https://t.co/oTv4d4yomn pic.twitter.com/Ww4vsdhH0b

— PEARatings (@PEARatings) February 23, 2026

The Flashes opened the season by sweeping Southeastern Louisiana on the road and then lost a midweek game at No. 1 LSU, 10-7. They play at Wright State on Wednesday, then return home to host Rhode Island next weekend.

Kent State advanced to the College World Series in 2012 but has played in the NCAA Tournament only twice since, in 2014 and 2018.

USC is 7-0 after a dominating weekend sweep of Rice. The Trojans allowed a total of 12 hits and three runs in the three games and have a 1.68 team ERA through seven games.

Their three weekend starters, Mason Edwards, Grant Govel and Andrew Johnson, are each 2-0 and have allowed a combined eight hits and one earned run in 33 innings. None of the three started more than six games in 2025. Last year’s No. 1 starter, Caden Aoki, transferred to Georgia in the offseason.

The Trojans play a four-game series at Cal Poly next weekend.

Coastal Carolina reliever Dominick Carbone, a key piece out of the bullpen for the 2025 CWS finalists, is out for the season with a torn UCL. All-American Cameron Flukey, the Chanticleers’ Friday night starter, did not pitch over the weekend after throwing 5 2/3 innings in Week 1 against Fairfield. It was reportedly just a precautionary measure, and the issue is not with his arm.

Coastal, the preseason pick to win the Sun Belt, is 5-2 after splitting four games this week — two wins over VCU and losses to the College of Charleston and Illinois. Next weekend, the Chants head to Houston to play Texas, UTSA and Ole Miss at the Bruce Bolt College Classic.

It was a good weekend for several other teams expected to contend in the Sun Belt.

Southern Miss went 3-0 at the Round Rock Classic, beating Purdue, Oregon State and Baylor. The Golden Eagles are 5-1 and have a series win over UCSB.
Troy took two of three against Campbell to improve to 3-4.
Louisiana swept Maryland to improve to 5-2.

The Sun Belt placed only two teams in the 2025 NCAA Tournament (Coastal Carolina and Southern Miss) after sending four teams in 2022, 2023 and 2024.

And finally

• Arkansas second baseman Cam Kozeal hit for the cycle in the Razorbacks’ 7-6 win over Xavier on Saturday. Kozeal homered in the first, tripled in the third, singled in the seventh and doubled in the ninth (and then scored the winning run on a single by Kuhio Aloy). Kozeal, a junior, is hitting .385 and has four home runs.

• UTSA is 7-0 for the first time in program history after sweeping Dallas Baptist in San Antonio.

• Arizona’s early-season struggles continue. The Wildcats, who reached the CWS last season, lost three of four at home to UConn and are now 1-7. The offense has been the biggest issue; the Cats have scored five runs or fewer in their last seven games.

• The competition hasn’t been too difficult, but Georgia Tech is hitting .437 as a team in its 8-0 start. Three regulars are hitting over .500 — first baseman Alex Hernandez (.581), catcher Vahn Lackey (.556) and outfielder Will Baker (.538). Drew Burress, a preseason All-American, is hitting .353 with two home runs.

• Florida State beat Michigan 6-1 on Friday but dropped its next two games in Arlington, Texas, losing to Auburn 8-5 on Saturday and Nebraska 10-1 on Sunday. The Seminoles are 4-2.

• Mitch Hannahs is getting things done in Year 2 at South Florida. The Bulls are 7-1 after sweeping Georgia Southern in Tampa. Hannahs guided Indiana State, his alma mater, to the NCAA Tournament in four of his final six seasons at the school.

• West Virginia is 5-1 after taking two of three at Liberty. The Mountaineers gave up 10 runs to Georgia Southern in their second game of the season, but have allowed four runs or fewer in their other five games. They shut out Liberty in the first two games of the series.

• Seven Vanderbilt pitchers combined to no-hit Eastern Michigan in a 16-2 seven-inning run-rule victory on Wednesday. It was the fifth no-hitter thrown by Vanderbilt since 2019 and the sixth overall under coach Tim Corbin.

• With its offense struggling a bit, Texas A&M’s pitching led the way in a sweep over Penn. The Aggies allowed a total of two runs en route to wins of 1-0, 2-1 (11 innings) and 7-1. As Ryan Brauninger from TexAgs points out, A&M has gone 44 consecutive innings without walking a batter. For the season, the Aggies have walked five batters in 63 innings.