Payton Brennan declares UCLA is 'back on the map' in college baseball

After an excellent season, the UCLA Bruins were able to make a run to Omaha and the College World Series. However, after dropping a pair of games on Tuesday, that run has now come to an end.

After the game, outfielder Payton Brennan reflected on the season and what UCLA had accomplished. In particular, he declared that the 2025 team managed to put the Bruins back on the map.

“All Pac-12 schools, I feel like everyone doubts the West Coast,” Payton Brennan said. “And I think it was a good showing from us. It’s kind of nice to put UCLA back on the map.”

2025 was the first season for UCLA in the Big Ten after their exit from the Pac-12. It ended up being a magical one for the program. They’d go 48-18 overall and 22-8 in Big Ten play, which was good enough to win the Big Ten in the regular season. Without losing a game in the Regional or Super Regional, they’d make their run to Omaha.

For head coach John Savage, it was his 21st season leading the UCLA program. He previously won a national championship in 2013. However, the Bruins hadn’t been back to the College World Series since then.

“I think everyone hyped us up last year,” Brennan said. “It didn’t turn out. Kind of got overlooked this year, and then we came out swinging. So, nothing we could really do more. We worked hard and just happy to be here.”

Payton Brennan had a standout season individually for UCLA. He hit .303 with a .381 OBP and a .487 slugging percentage. He also had six home runs with 10 doubles and four triples to go with 41 RBIs. He even stole 11 bases. Still, that was nothing compared to the season of his teammate, Roch Cholowsky. The Big Ten Player of the Year feels the season did more than put UCLA on the map, it proved the quality of West Coast baseball.

“The West can hang with anybody,” Cholowsky said. “I mean, we’re one of the last eight teams standing along with Arizona and Oregon State. Something that I thought was pretty cool today as we were taking BP and Coach (Mitch) Canham told us to represent the West well. I thought that was pretty special because coming from the same conference last year and really being together. The West can play with anybody. We showed that this year, Oregon State showed that, so did UA.”

Several key UCLA players, including Brennan and Cholowsky, are set to return for next season. So, now the Bruins are going to need to prove that they can live up to their potential when facing high expectations.