Matt Zemek
 |  UCLA Wire

I have a feeling UCLA really, quite badly, needs those three early runs today.

Sophomore RHP Landon Stump hasn’t been all that sharp as of late, only pitching into the sixth three times in his last nine starts.

UCLA leads LSU 3-0 after top of the first.

— Benjamin Royer (@thebenroyer) June 16, 2025

UCLA baseball prepares for a moment of opportunity at the College World Series. The Bruins, after beating Murray State, face LSU with a chance to move to the semifinals. A win over LSU gives UCLA a strong chance to reach the CWS finals and play a three-game series for the national championship.

UCLA is playing for its second College World Series national championship. The Bruins are making their first CWS appearance in Omaha since they won the event in 2013. LSU is aiming for its eighth national championship. The Tigers’ current collection of seven NCAA national championships puts them alone in second place on the all-time list, behind only USC (12).

LSU’s pitching was very strong in shutting down Arkansas 4-1 in the Tigers’ CWS opener. UCLA’s pitching wasn’t nearly as sharp, but the Bruins did stay out of the big inning, preserving a 6-0 lead in a 6-4 win over Murray State. UCLA will need to pitch a lot better in this game than it did versus Murray State. UCLA pitchers gave up a lot of hard-hit balls which were caught. BABIP luck helped the Bruins in Game 1. UCLA can’t rely on the same level of performance getting the same result. Coach John Savage knows his pitching staff has to be at its very best in this game.

Scroll down to the bottom for our live blog of UCLA-LSU as it unfolds at the College World Series:

Game suspended

An announcement was made just after 11:10 p.m. Eastern time — 10:11 p.m. on site in Omaha — that the game will be suspended and will resume Tuesday morning at 11 a.m. Eastern, 10 in Omaha, 8 in Los Angeles. Breakfast baseball with the Bruins is on tap. Both starting pitchers will very clearly not be available for the remainder of this UCLA-LSU game. 5-3, Tigers, top 4. So long for now.

Stump gets knocked out of the game, failing to give UCLA the length it needed. John Savage goes to the bullpen far earlier than he hoped. LSU takes a 5-3 lead to the fourth. Then the rain hits. We will see how long this weather delay lasts.

Nothing for UCLA. The Bruins have to stay close here and not let LSU extend its margin. 4-3, LSU.

Stump gets through the second inning. He really needs to get through four or five so that the bullpen isn’t overworked in the event the Bruins lose and have to play an elimination game. 4-3, LSU.

UCLA, with a runner on first and one out, tries to bunt for a hit. The bunt goes to the pitcher’s mound, not down the third-base line. That’s a crucial mistake, which leads to an out. Cholowsky whiffs on a bad at-bat. 4-3, LSU.

UCLA starter Landon Stump gets a three-run lead. Can he deliver a shutdown inning?

The answer quickly arrives. LSU hammers him for four runs in five at-bats. A number of hard-hit balls put traffic on the bases and give LSU a run. Then Jared Jones homers to right for a three-run blast. 4-3, LSU.

Roch Cholowsky, with a runner on first, hits a soft ground ball to short. He just can’t get going. UCLA is likely to need him to get a big knock at some point.

However, if Roman Martin continues to get big hits, it might not matter. Martin doubles in one run to put runners at second and third with one out. UCLA really needs at least one more run here.

The Bruins get two more. UCLA hitters put the ball in play. Two ground balls to a pushed-back infield bring in the two runs. 3-0, UCLA before LSU comes to bat.