Arizona State Baseball Preview: UCLA

The Sun Devils and Bruins are set to square off later today.

Josiah Cromwick (21) of the Arizona State Sun Devils celebrates as he reaches second base during ASU’s home opener against Ohio State on Feb. 14, 2025, in Phoenix, Ariz. | Megan Mendoza/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Arizona State Sun Devils (36-22) pulled off a mild surprise on Friday night by defeating regional foe UC Irvine - the next challenge on the table is a former Pac-12 rival UCLA (43-16) with a spot to play for the regional title on the line.

An Arizona State victory would ensure that the program would have to lose two games on Sunday to fail to advance to Super Regional play - the magnitude of this game remains significant.

UCLA hammered Fresno State by a score of 19-5 earlier on Friday - and now await Willie Bloomquist's squad, who defeated the Bruins by a score of 2-0 back in February.

This contest will be based around a pair of sluggers - Isaiah Jackson has headlined the potent Sun Devil offense with 17 home runs and an OPS of 1.022 in 2025.

Kien Vu and Jacob Tobias are massive players in this matchup as well - the duo have supplemented the power that Jackson provides by putting forth efficient seasons at the plate themselves for an ASU offense that was the class of the Big 12 over the course of the season.

Bloomquist's unrelenting belief in the trio of great Sun Devils has paid off - and the fourth year head coach prefers to remain humble ahead of one of the most significant games the program has faced in years.

Per Jake Sloan of SunDevilSource:

"I give the credit to my coaches, My coaches are the ones who have developed these young men and continue to grind with them, but I also give credit to my players. They're the ones that buy into what we're selling. They believe in themselves as well as the coaches and what we're doing."

Roch Cholowsky - an alum of Hamilton high school (Chandler, AZ) leads the number 15 national seed Bruins with 23 homers and 69 RBI's this season.

As the game fast approaches, this appears to be a matchup that could be a stark contrast to the previous meeting.

Details on tonight's matchup:

Arizona State-UCLA Details

First Pitch: 6 P.M. Arizona time

Where: Jackie Robinson Stadium, Los Angeles

Network: ESPN+

Read more about the current dealings within the Sun Devil baseball program - more specifically around the ceiling the program has this tournament here.

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