There have been more early-season struggles than expected for the UCLA Bruins baseball program. The Bruins are 6-2 with a sweep over No. 7 TCU but UCLA has lost games to UC San Diego and San Diego State.
Baseball is a weird sport where outlier games can absolutely happen, still it’s a bit of a surprise to see the Bruins, who entered the season as the No. 1 team in the country, drop games against non-Power Four competition.
The losses doesn’t change the fact that UCLA has a stacked lineup, with one of the country’s best players, Roch Cholowsky, but it does raise the question of how the Bruins would fare in the SEC. The SEC is still vastly superior to the Big Ten in baseball and could harsher competition lead to a more pessimistic outview on this year’s UCLA team?
1. LSU Tigers
The LSU Tigers are off to an 8-1 start to the season, with the Tigers dropping a surprise game to McNeese on Tuesday.
Zach Yorke and Jake Brown pace LSU with four home runs and on the mound, the Tigers can miss bats. LSU has recorded 118 strikeouts in 75 innings pitched this season.
2. Texas Longhorns
Texas is unbeaten on the season at 8-0 with series sweeps over UC Davis and Michigan State. The Longhorns are fresh off of a 44-win season in 2025 but appear set for another productive season in 2026.
Aiden Robbins and Ethan Mendoza are both hitting over .400 with double-digit RBI totals so far this season. Dylan Volantis has been Texas’ best pitcher this season, with 17 strikeouts in 14 scoreless innings.
3. Mississippi State Bulldogs
Like Texas, Mississippi State is unbeaten on the season, with the Bulldogs getting off to a 9-0 start to the year. Mississippi State has yet to face any Power Four programs but they’ve outscored their opponents 93-26.
Ace Reese is off to an absurd start at the plate for the Bulldogs, batting .514 with three home runs and 15 RBI. Blake Bevis hasn’t been much worse either, with a .429 average with two homers and eight RBI.
4. Arkansas Razorbacks
Arkansas, like UCLA, is 6-2 on the season. The Razorbacks lost a game to TCU, whom the Bruins swept, and Arkansas State.
Colin Fisher has looked like an ace for Arkansas, having thrown 13 shutout innings over his first two starts of the season while racking up 19 strikeouts. At the plate, the Razorbacks have been led by Kuhio Aloy, who has three home runs and is batting .435 on the season.
5. Florida Gators
After losing on Opening Day to UAB in extra innings, the Florida Gators have won eight games in a row.
Four of the Florida regulars are batting over .400 to start the season with Blake Cyr having slugged three home runs while Ethan Surowiec pacing the team with 15 RBI. On the mound, Aidan King is 2-0 with a 0.00 ERA through his first 12 innings of the season.
This article originally appeared on UCLA Wire: How UCLA baseball matches up versus top teams in the SEC
Reporting by Dylan McNeill, UCLA Wire / UCLA Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
