A magical moment: Ian Armstrong smashed a solo shot against UCLA to make it a one run ballgame, en route to the Gaels’ victory over the No. 1 overall seed in the country. / Photo by Eric Brown Jr. for SMC Athletics
Saint Mary’s Makes History, Defeats No. 1 UCLA in Elimination Round to Earn a Place in the NCAA Baseball Regional Final for the First Time
The Gaels stunned the country by beating UCLA once again with a walk-off win on Sunday. Then they battled Cal Poly in the the Regional Final and were edged out by the Mustangs 5–2.
What a magical and drama-filled Sunday afternoon it was for Saint Mary’s Baseball. The Gaels shocked the country once again, with a walk-off win over No. 1 overall seed and regional host UCLA to advance to the regional final for the first time in program history. The Gaels erased a three-run deficit, tying the game at five in the bottom of the ninth and walking it off with an RBI single from Makoa Sniffen in the tenth to stun the Bruins and end their season on their home field.
Just over an hour later, the Gaels were back on the field for the Los Angeles Regional final against Cal Poly. And after five innings, Saint Mary’s held a 2–1 lead. The magic wasn’t quite enough for the Gaels, though, as Cal Poly erupted for a four-run sixth inning to take a 5–2 lead.
True freshman Jake Nobles came in and gave the Gaels good length with 3.1 scoreless innings to give them a chance to make a comeback in the final innings. The Saint Mary’s offense, coming into the regional with the third best team batting average in the country, had the game-tying run come to the plate in the eighth with runners on the corners—but the Mustangs escaped with an inning-ending double play. The Gaels went down in order in the ninth as Cal Poly was crowned champions of the Los Angeles Regional for the first time in program history, punching their ticket to the NCAA Super Regionals.
While Saint Mary’s season ended here, the Gaels accomplished something no other team in college baseball had done before: They became the first four-seed to defeat the No. 1 overall seed twice since the expansion of the NCAA Tournament in 1999. SMC Head Coach Eric Valenzuela and his team also recorded a program-record two NCAA Tournament wins in what was the Gaels’ third postseason appearance in program history.
Game 1 | Saint Mary’s 6, UCLA 5
Saint Mary’s (36–27) started the day with a rematch and elimination game with No. 1 overall seed and regional host UCLA (52–8). Despite the tough loss the night prior to Cal Poly, the Gaels were up for the test again in another closely contested matchup with the Bruins. Sophomore right hander Sam Kretsch made his seventh start of the season for the Gaels on Sunday. The Bruins got to Kretsch early with an RBI knock in the first and two more runs in the second to take a 3–0 lead. The Gaels pitching staff did a good job of taking their medicine the first time around with UCLA and limiting big innings, and they showed that same resolve on Sunday. Kretsch settled in and went on to retire the next 10 Bruin hitters to keep the Gaels offense within striking distance.
Saint Mary’s got on the board with an RBI single in the home half of the second from Tanner Griffith. Then Ian Armstrong smashed his team-leading 16th home run of the season in the third—a solo shot over the batter’s eye to make it a one run game. Saint Mary’s took more medicine in the fifth, surrendering two runs to bump Kretsch from the ballgame. Head coach Eric Valenzuela called on Cam Staton for his second appearance of the regional. Staton plunked the first batter he saw to plate the second run of the inning, but then he got back-to-back strikeouts to strand the bases loaded, limiting the damage and leaving the Gaels down 5–2.
Staton put together another stellar outing, pitching 4.2 scoreless innings and allowing just two hits—to give the Saint Mary’s offense a chance to strike back. The offense managed to chip away one run at a time. First came a solo home run from Jacob Johnson in the fifth, his third of the regional and 15th of the season. Then a two-out RBI single in the sixth from Diego Castellanos made it 5-4. With the season on the line, UCLA turned to some of the best bullpen arms in the country for a second time this weekend in Landon Stump, Cal Randall, and Easton Hawk.
Stump got through a clean seventh before turning things over to the flamethrower Randall to start the eighth. Randall struck out a pair of batters and then started the ninth with a one-run lead. Tanner Griffith battled to a full count and then rifled a single up the middle to represent the tying run for Saint Mary’s.
UCLA Head Coach John Savage turned to Hawk, whom the Gaels scored off of on Friday to win the regional opener 3–2. Castellanos bunted Griffith to second. Two batters later, with the Gaels down to their final out, Ian Armstrong hit a high chopper over the first baseman’s head into right field—good enough to score the speedy Griffith from second and tie the game. Hawk is known as one of the best closers in the country with 14 saves, but he appeared to be running out of gas as he went on to walk the next two batters and load the bases. Jared Mettam came to the dish and tagged a ball to third, but the Mustangs’ Roman Martin played it cleanly and stepped on his own base to end the inning. But the damage had been done: Saint Mary’s managed to erase a three-run deficit to force extra innings.
Staton could not go a fifth inning for the Gaels on the mound; he made way for redshirt freshman David Roberts in the top of the tenth, who sat the Bruins down in order with soft contact. He let out an emphatic yell to the Gael faithful and sent Saint Mary’s batters back to the plate with a chance to do the improbable: beat the No. 1 overall seed twice to end their season.
The Saint Mary’s rally in the bottom of the tenth started with a one-out infield single from none other than Cody Kashimoto, four-year senior and starter for the Gaels. Kashimoto found his way to second after a hit-and-run from Tanner Griffith that resulted in a ground out to first. UCLA chose to intentionally walk Diego Castellanos, who had two hits in the game, making way for a hitless Makoa Sniffen. On a 1–1 pitch, Sniffen went to the pull side and yanked a single through the 5–6 hole, scoring Kashimoto from second and sending the Gaels dugout and crowd into a frenzy.
The game itself was thrilling baseball. And Saint Mary’s became the first four-seed in NCAA Tournament history to single-handingly eliminate the No. 1 overall seed.
Saint Mary’s outhit UCLA 15–9 in Sunday’s match-up, including a game high three hits from Tanner Griffith and Ian Armstrong. David Roberts got credit for his second win of the season, while Makoa Sniffen—the RBI leader in the West Coast Conference—recorded the walk-off hit to make more history for Saint Mary’s and keep its season alive. The Gaels were set for a rematch with Cal Poly later that evening in their first NCAA Regional final.
Game 2 | Saint Mary’s 2, Cal Poly 5
Despite all the drama in the upset win over UCLA, Saint Mary’s refocused in the regional final and jumped out to a two-run lead over Cal Poly, thanks to an RBI double from Jared Mettam in the second and an RBI single from Makoa Sniffen in the third. On the mound, senior transfer Jake Hilton has been a pleasant surprise all year for the Gaels, and he got the ball for Sunday’s nightcap. Hilton’s unique style—all about control, not speed—got the Gaels through four scoreless innings. But Cal Poly (39–22) put traffic on in the fifth and sixth to get to Hilton. The Mustangs rattled off a pair of hits for their first run of the ballgame in the fifth and then connected on a solo homer in the sixth to tie it. The Gaels brought in David Roberts once again as a reliever, but after walking two batters he gave up a three-run homer that gave the Mustangs a 5–2 lead.
That four-run sixth inning would prove to be the difference, as Cal Poly held on to win 5–2 and claim its first regional championship.
Jake Nobles came in and pitched 3.1 scoreless innings to give the Gaels bats a chance. The bottom of the eighth seemed to offer the best opportunity, with runners on first and third and only one out. But the Mustangs executed an inning-ending double play to shut down the Gaels’ rally. As darkness deepened on this last day of May, a magical Sunday came to an end as the Gaels went down in order in the ninth, ending their historic 2026 campaign.
Tanner Griffith had arguably his best game of the regional, going three-for-three out of the leadoff spot, and he was just a home run shy of hitting the cycle. Diego Castellanos continued to make history: He had a single in the eighth inning to extend his record-breaking hit streak to 39 games—the longest hit streak in Gael history and West Coast Conference history, and the longest active hit streak in Division I baseball.
Deepest Run in Gael History
The NCAA Regional witnessed all-time performances from a historic Saint Mary’s team—one that will be remembered for having pitched and hit and fielded their way through the program’s deepest postseason run in its 55-year history.
For the Gaels, catcher Ian Josephson, outfielder Diego Castellanos, designated hitter Jacob Johnson, and pitcher John Damozonio were named to the regional’s All-Tournament team.
