POSTGAME QUOTES
Saint Mary's 6, UCLA 5
Los Angeles, Calif. (at Jackie Robinson Stadium)
May 31, 2026
Head Coach John Savage
opening statement
“That’s a tough clubhouse to leave. Those guys have been such wonderful Bruins, teammates, and guys to coach. They’ve won over 100 games in the last two years. No one in the country’s done that. Do the math. Obviously this weekend, we did not play up to our standards. It’s nothing to take away from this team. You win 52 games, you go preseason number one, and you never leave that spot. It’s really remarkable. A lot of credit to our captains, to our seniors, to the entire program. To the assistant coaches, I just can’t say enough about the people that I’ve gone around and that I coached day in and day out. Great people, very loyal. Guys that will have tremendous future outside of baseball along with inside of baseball. I feel for them. It’s the college game, and anything can happen. We didn’t play well enough this weekend. Saint Mary’s, to their credit, I thought played very well. A really good team. Another example of a West Coast #4 being so good. Doesn’t surprise me. I’ve known the west my whole life. Whenever you see a West Coast team on the four, they’re dangerous. They’ve got good players, good coaches. We didn’t get it done, but to all the guys in that clubhouse, we just tip our hat, because they are what college players should be. They trusted themselves, they trusted the program, they trusted their coaches, they trusted the administration, and they stayed. They had a wonderful career that came to a harsh ending, but you can’t take away what they did, and they left this place in a much better place than when they found it. We’ve had championship teams, we’ve been preseason #1 before. We’ve been the number one seed before. At the end of the day, we didn’t play up to our standards and didn’t get it done. That’s where we’re at.”
on if sophomore Easton Hawk’s pitching impacted the decision to leave junior Cal Randall in to start the ninth
“It had nothing to do with Easton not pitching well. We had complete faith in Easton. We wanted to try to steal one potentially and have Easton be available tonight. We played so many one run games, and the games have been so tight, and that’s taken a toll. It took a toll on our bullpen. Just do the math. I didn’t want to use him. I thought Cal could get through that first inning. I thought the 2-1 pitch, I’ll have to look at the 2-1 pitch, but I thought that was a strike. It flipped the count a little bit to the first hitter, but I just wanted to get through a game without using Easton with a one run lead. But, we had to go to Easton, so it was unfortunate. It was a chopper to right, a little Baltimore chopper like (Cal Poly Head Coach) Larry Lee would say, that got us in the ninth. A good pitch, but unfortunate.”
on if not playing their best baseball recently caught up to them
“I think it did. That’s what I’m saying. I don’t think we played up to our standards in the last couple of weeks. We played really well against Oregon. Did not play well against Washington. Played okay in the Big Ten Tournament. We came back and won some games, but I didn’t think we played that well. We didn’t play that well for the last three games, so for sure. But you have to give who you’re playing credit. You can sit there all you want and say ‘UCLA didn’t play very well.’ You can check that box, but you also talked about USC and Oregon, and a lot of good teams. Beat Oregon two out of three at home here, and we won every series this season. So I can’t sit up here and dwell that we didn’t play very well. We’re still winning. But that’s a sign of a good team, in winning in a lot of different ways, but we could not break away from anybody. It felt like 3-2, 2-1, 4-3, 5-4, and it just took a toll. It took a toll on Easton, and we couldn’t get those insurance runs. We couldn’t get more runs, and it paid the price at the end.”
on freshman Angel Cervantes’ development this season
“He threw the ball very well. I thought Angel really grew up. He turned a corner. It’s taken Angel a little while to get where he’s got, and it’s fun to watch. Fun to call pitches for him. He’s going to be a star. We thought that coming out of high school. Clearly, he was the 50th pick. Everybody knew that one. But nobody knows what it takes to develop if you’re not involved with that person. It’s taking time with Angel. We’ve taken baby steps, and to his credit, that Washington start. The Oregon start. The five shutout. He pitched very well today in a hot ballpark. We played three days where the ballpark was very hot. When I say hot, I mean very offensive. We just were not that offensive, and we normally are. Solo home runs got us over the last three days. I think we gave up a bunch of solo home runs. Those usually don’t beat you, but to answer your question. I thought Angel took a major step today.”
on missing junior Logan Reddemann for the past month
“I think it had a major effect. It had a ripple effect on the starters, a ripple effect on the bullpen. Logan was about as good as… I think him and (USC sophomore) Mason (Edwards) were probably the two best guys in the country in terms of performance and going toe-to-toe every Friday. It was big. We lost him. He didn’t pitch since Minnesota, and (sophomore) Wylan (Moss) did a good job, and Barney (senior Michael Barnett) did a good job. We had a lot of guys do (well)… I think we led the country in ERA. If we didn’t, we were second. After today, I don’t know. But the effect it had on roles, on usage, major deal. No excuses, but we still won. But at the same time, it looked a little different, and it felt a little different. And at the end, it really hurt losing a potential 1st rounder for the last six weeks.”
on the positioning of junior first baseman Mulivai Levu on Saint Mary’s game-tying run
“It’s a pull shift defense. We have all these spray charts and analytics, and we have guys in position to where we want them to be. It was a high chopper that went through his baseball. If you could play 18 guys out there, you would. But you have nine, or eight, I guess you could say with the catcher. It went over his head, but that’s where we played him in the last couple of games. If you look at our defense, if you look at tonight’s game, the whole world’s playing a different way defensively because they have so much more information, and they have so many more trends to where guys are hitting the ball, breaking ball, fastball. I don’t have any issue where we were playing. It’s just baseball.”
on Roch Cholowsky’s impact as a player
“Roch… he meant so much to the program. He had such an impact to the program, on people, on the fan base, on our community. Just such a winning player. It’s hard to watch a guy like that leave. In (junior) Roman (Martin), and all kinds of guys that are going to get drafted in July. But it’s what he’s all about. He’s all about the right things. He’s been raised the right way. Tika Belanger-Cholowsky did a remarkable job. He’s a Bruin through and through. At the end of the day, you can’t ask for a better player or person than Roch.”
on if he envisioned this year’s team being so successful after the 2019 season
“I don’t have many strengths, but I do believe in evaluation and development, and that’s somewhat our sweet spot. We have a lot of deficiencies, but we believe Coach Ward did a remarkable job with these guys day-to-day out offensively. Coach Barnes with the development of (junior) Cashel (Dugger), Coach Palmer with the development of our outfield. Josh Alger, Chris Minnick. There’s so many guys that contributed - strength coach, nutrition - to the whole operation. I can’t say enough. But to say that we’re going to win 100 games after that 19. I don’t think I can be up here and say we expected that, but we knew we were going to be very good if we stayed together. That did come true. Just a really tough finish.”
Saint Mary's 6, UCLA 5
Los Angeles, Calif. (at Jackie Robinson Stadium)
May 31, 2026
Head Coach John Savage
opening statement
“That’s a tough clubhouse to leave. Those guys have been such wonderful Bruins, teammates, and guys to coach. They’ve won over 100 games in the last two years. No one in the country’s done that. Do the math. Obviously this weekend, we did not play up to our standards. It’s nothing to take away from this team. You win 52 games, you go preseason number one, and you never leave that spot. It’s really remarkable. A lot of credit to our captains, to our seniors, to the entire program. To the assistant coaches, I just can’t say enough about the people that I’ve gone around and that I coached day in and day out. Great people, very loyal. Guys that will have tremendous future outside of baseball along with inside of baseball. I feel for them. It’s the college game, and anything can happen. We didn’t play well enough this weekend. Saint Mary’s, to their credit, I thought played very well. A really good team. Another example of a West Coast #4 being so good. Doesn’t surprise me. I’ve known the west my whole life. Whenever you see a West Coast team on the four, they’re dangerous. They’ve got good players, good coaches. We didn’t get it done, but to all the guys in that clubhouse, we just tip our hat, because they are what college players should be. They trusted themselves, they trusted the program, they trusted their coaches, they trusted the administration, and they stayed. They had a wonderful career that came to a harsh ending, but you can’t take away what they did, and they left this place in a much better place than when they found it. We’ve had championship teams, we’ve been preseason #1 before. We’ve been the number one seed before. At the end of the day, we didn’t play up to our standards and didn’t get it done. That’s where we’re at.”
on if sophomore Easton Hawk’s pitching impacted the decision to leave junior Cal Randall in to start the ninth
“It had nothing to do with Easton not pitching well. We had complete faith in Easton. We wanted to try to steal one potentially and have Easton be available tonight. We played so many one run games, and the games have been so tight, and that’s taken a toll. It took a toll on our bullpen. Just do the math. I didn’t want to use him. I thought Cal could get through that first inning. I thought the 2-1 pitch, I’ll have to look at the 2-1 pitch, but I thought that was a strike. It flipped the count a little bit to the first hitter, but I just wanted to get through a game without using Easton with a one run lead. But, we had to go to Easton, so it was unfortunate. It was a chopper to right, a little Baltimore chopper like (Cal Poly Head Coach) Larry Lee would say, that got us in the ninth. A good pitch, but unfortunate.”
on if not playing their best baseball recently caught up to them
“I think it did. That’s what I’m saying. I don’t think we played up to our standards in the last couple of weeks. We played really well against Oregon. Did not play well against Washington. Played okay in the Big Ten Tournament. We came back and won some games, but I didn’t think we played that well. We didn’t play that well for the last three games, so for sure. But you have to give who you’re playing credit. You can sit there all you want and say ‘UCLA didn’t play very well.’ You can check that box, but you also talked about USC and Oregon, and a lot of good teams. Beat Oregon two out of three at home here, and we won every series this season. So I can’t sit up here and dwell that we didn’t play very well. We’re still winning. But that’s a sign of a good team, in winning in a lot of different ways, but we could not break away from anybody. It felt like 3-2, 2-1, 4-3, 5-4, and it just took a toll. It took a toll on Easton, and we couldn’t get those insurance runs. We couldn’t get more runs, and it paid the price at the end.”
on freshman Angel Cervantes’ development this season
“He threw the ball very well. I thought Angel really grew up. He turned a corner. It’s taken Angel a little while to get where he’s got, and it’s fun to watch. Fun to call pitches for him. He’s going to be a star. We thought that coming out of high school. Clearly, he was the 50th pick. Everybody knew that one. But nobody knows what it takes to develop if you’re not involved with that person. It’s taking time with Angel. We’ve taken baby steps, and to his credit, that Washington start. The Oregon start. The five shutout. He pitched very well today in a hot ballpark. We played three days where the ballpark was very hot. When I say hot, I mean very offensive. We just were not that offensive, and we normally are. Solo home runs got us over the last three days. I think we gave up a bunch of solo home runs. Those usually don’t beat you, but to answer your question. I thought Angel took a major step today.”
on missing junior Logan Reddemann for the past month
“I think it had a major effect. It had a ripple effect on the starters, a ripple effect on the bullpen. Logan was about as good as… I think him and (USC sophomore) Mason (Edwards) were probably the two best guys in the country in terms of performance and going toe-to-toe every Friday. It was big. We lost him. He didn’t pitch since Minnesota, and (sophomore) Wylan (Moss) did a good job, and Barney (senior Michael Barnett) did a good job. We had a lot of guys do (well)… I think we led the country in ERA. If we didn’t, we were second. After today, I don’t know. But the effect it had on roles, on usage, major deal. No excuses, but we still won. But at the same time, it looked a little different, and it felt a little different. And at the end, it really hurt losing a potential 1st rounder for the last six weeks.”
on the positioning of junior first baseman Mulivai Levu on Saint Mary’s game-tying run
“It’s a pull shift defense. We have all these spray charts and analytics, and we have guys in position to where we want them to be. It was a high chopper that went through his baseball. If you could play 18 guys out there, you would. But you have nine, or eight, I guess you could say with the catcher. It went over his head, but that’s where we played him in the last couple of games. If you look at our defense, if you look at tonight’s game, the whole world’s playing a different way defensively because they have so much more information, and they have so many more trends to where guys are hitting the ball, breaking ball, fastball. I don’t have any issue where we were playing. It’s just baseball.”
on Roch Cholowsky’s impact as a player
“Roch… he meant so much to the program. He had such an impact to the program, on people, on the fan base, on our community. Just such a winning player. It’s hard to watch a guy like that leave. In (junior) Roman (Martin), and all kinds of guys that are going to get drafted in July. But it’s what he’s all about. He’s all about the right things. He’s been raised the right way. Tika Belanger-Cholowsky did a remarkable job. He’s a Bruin through and through. At the end of the day, you can’t ask for a better player or person than Roch.”
on if he envisioned this year’s team being so successful after the 2019 season
“I don’t have many strengths, but I do believe in evaluation and development, and that’s somewhat our sweet spot. We have a lot of deficiencies, but we believe Coach Ward did a remarkable job with these guys day-to-day out offensively. Coach Barnes with the development of (junior) Cashel (Dugger), Coach Palmer with the development of our outfield. Josh Alger, Chris Minnick. There’s so many guys that contributed - strength coach, nutrition - to the whole operation. I can’t say enough. But to say that we’re going to win 100 games after that 19. I don’t think I can be up here and say we expected that, but we knew we were going to be very good if we stayed together. That did come true. Just a really tough finish.”