UCLA baseball’s postseason opened with a historic setback Friday, as Saint Mary’s beat the Bruins 3-2 at Jackie Robinson Stadium and made UCLA the first No. 1 overall national seed to lose an NCAA Regional opener since the tournament expanded in 1999.

The result immediately altered the shape of the Los Angeles Regional. UCLA, the top-ranked team in the country and the tournament’s No. 1 national seed, moved into an elimination game against Virginia Tech on Saturday. Saint Mary’s advanced to the winners’ bracket, where the Gaels were scheduled to face Cal Poly after the Mustangs beat Virginia Tech 6-2 later Friday.

Saint Mary’s won with a formula built for an upset: starting pitching that held the favorite down, a bullpen that avoided a late collapse and a middle-of-the-order swing that changed the game in the ninth inning. Jacob Johnson, the Gaels’ designated hitter, went 3 for 4 and hit two solo home runs, the second of them coming with one out in the top of the ninth against UCLA reliever Easton Hawk. Johnson’s drive to right field broke a 2-2 tie and left the Bruins with only three outs to protect their tournament standing.

UCLA put the tying run on base in the bottom of the ninth when Phoenix Call singled with one out, but Saint Mary’s reliever Cam Staton finished the inning and the game. Staton struck out Dean West and got Roch Cholowsky to fly out to center field, closing a result that Saint Mary’s described as the program’s first win over a top-ranked team.

The Bruins entered the regional with a 51-6 record and had earned the right to host at Jackie Robinson Stadium after being selected as the No. 1 national seed. UCLA had also just won the Big Ten Tournament title in its first season in the conference, giving the Bruins one of the strongest overall résumés in the 64-team field. But in the opener, the offense that had carried UCLA through much of the season produced only six hits and two runs.

Saint Mary’s, a No. 4 seed in the regional, matched UCLA’s six hits and did enough damage with them. Johnson opened the scoring in the fourth inning with a two-out solo homer off UCLA starter Wylan Moss. UCLA answered in the bottom half when Roman Martin drove a solo home run over the center-field wall, tying the game at 1-1.

The Bruins moved ahead in the fifth. Trey Gudoy led off with a double, Call bunted him to third and Cholowsky drove him in with a sacrifice fly to left field. That sequence gave UCLA a 2-1 lead and appeared to steady the host team after Saint Mary’s had scored first.

The lead did not last. In the sixth, Tanner Griffith drew a leadoff walk for Saint Mary’s, and Makoa Sniffen followed later in the inning with a run-scoring double down the right-field line to tie the game at 2-2. From there, both pitching staffs kept the game even until Johnson’s ninth-inning swing.

John Damozonio gave Saint Mary’s the start it needed. The Gaels’ right-hander worked seven innings, allowing two earned runs on five hits. UCLA’s recap credited him with seven strikeouts and two walks, while Saint Mary’s said he repeatedly handled pressure against one of the country’s deepest lineups. Damozonio left with the game tied, giving Staton a clean path to manage the final six outs.

For UCLA, Moss allowed two earned runs on three hits, struck out four and walked one. The Bruins used four relievers after him, and the bullpen largely kept the game under control until the ninth. Hawk, who took the loss, gave up Johnson’s second homer. UCLA played error-free defense, but the Bruins could not turn their limited scoring chances into a late rally.

The historical marker attached to the upset is central to the story. Saint Mary’s said the win marked the first time a No. 1 overall national seed had lost the opening game of an NCAA Regional since the tournament’s 1999 expansion. That context separates Friday’s result from a typical first-day upset: regional hosts can recover in a double-elimination format, but the No. 1 overall seed rarely faces survival pressure this early.

The win also fits into a broader Saint Mary’s postseason pattern. The Gaels won the West Coast Conference tournament to return to the NCAA tournament and, according to the school, became only the second program to win back-to-back NCAA Regional openers against top-16 teams. Saint Mary’s also defeated regional host Oregon State in a 2025 opener, giving the program consecutive headline wins against nationally seeded opponents.

For UCLA, the path is now much more difficult. The Bruins must win through the elimination side of the bracket, a route that requires more games, deeper pitching management and little tolerance for another quiet offensive day. UCLA’s next assignment was Virginia Tech, with the winner staying alive and the loser being eliminated from the regional. Even if UCLA wins that game, it would still need multiple additional victories to claim the regional and move on to super regionals.

Saint Mary’s, meanwhile, moved into the higher-leverage but more favorable winners’ bracket. A win there would put the Gaels one victory away from advancing out of the regional. The format does not guarantee anything; double-elimination weekends often turn on pitching depth and short-rest decisions. But Saint Mary’s earned the most valuable opening-day position available by beating the tournament’s top overall seed on its home field.

The NCAA tournament continued Saturday with regional play across 16 sites. The field began with 64 teams, with regional winners advancing to best-of-three super regionals and the final eight teams moving on to the Men’s College World Series in Omaha. UCLA entered that structure as the top name on the bracket. After one game, the Bruins remained alive, but the tournament’s first major shock had already landed in Los Angeles.