The 15th-ranked Bruins lost two games against Southeastern Conference teams in the span of 12 hours on Tuesday, ending their season rather abruptly after six straight postseason wins.

UCLA dropped a pair – first 9-5 in the completion of Monday’s suspended game against sixth-ranked LSU, then a 7-3 loss to No. 3 Arkansas in an evening elimination game at Charles Schwab Field Omaha.

The losses bounced the Bruins (48-18) from their first CWS appearance since 2013.

“It feels somewhat easy when you’re here, but I think everybody knows how difficult it is to get here,” UCLA head coach John Savage said. “I’m just so proud of our guys.”

After scoring three runs in the first inning on Monday night before a lengthy weather delay against LSU, UCLA scored in just two of 15 frames on Tuesday.

LSU (50-15) got stellar pitching Tuesday morning from freshman Casan Evans and did enough at the plate to advance into Wednesday’s Bracket 2 final.

Star shortstop Wehiwa Aloy drove in three runs for Arkansas (50-14) in the nightcap – two coming on a first-inning home run – to support a Razorbacks pitching staff that ran their scoreless streak to 18 innings before a few late ones for the Bruins.

“Disappointing day for sure,” Savage said. “Tough day. Tough circumstances. But at the end of the day, you know, you’ve got to give credit to LSU and certainly Arkansas.”

Arkansas will meet LSU again – the two squared off in their Saturday CWS opener – on Wednesday at 4 p.m. PDT. Arkansas will need to beat the Tigers twice in two days to advance to the best-of-three championship series.

With their backs against the wall for the first time this postseason, the Bruins were aggressive from the start. Dean West and Roch Cholowsky both singled to open the game and moved into scoring position on a long flyout.

Roman Martin walked to load the bases, but AJ Salgado lined out to shortstop and West was caught trying as straight steal of home, a play that was reviewed and confirmed by the narrowest of margins.

After ducking that early shot, Arkansas threw a roundhouse of its own with a couple of quick runs in its half of the frame.

Leadoff hitter Charles Davalan greeted UCLA starter Cody Delvecchio, who was making his first appearance since the end of March, with a quick single. Aloy, the SEC Player of the Year, then belted a 377-foot, opposite-field home run into the bullpen in right – his 21st homer of the season.

“Just a really solid job by our offense, getting on base,” Razorbacks coach Dave Van Horn said. “And Wehiwa got the big hit, gave us a cushion. Went oppo and hit it really hard.”

Added Aloy: “Got it pretty good and put some runs on for the team.”

With the lead in hand, starter Zach Root (9-6) then settled in. The junior left-hander retired the next six in a row – including four straight strikeouts at one point in that stretch – and faced the minimum through the next four innings.

He got into trouble in the fifth when Payton Brennan singled to open the frame and Phoenix Call later walked. But West was called out on strikes to end that threat.

Root covered the first five innings, striking out five and giving up just three hits on 87 pitches, just three days after being pulled in the second inning of Arkansas’ loss to LSU.

“He went out today and just proved why he’s one of the best left-handed pitchers in the country,” Van Horn said of Root. “If we get to play long enough, maybe he’ll get to pitch again.”

Aiden Jimenez followed Root with three shutout innings of his own to make it 18 straight zeroes that Razorback pitchers put up, a span that included Monday’s historic no-hitter by Gage Wood.

Logan Maxwell gave the Hogs some breathing room in the seventh, driving in a pair on a double to left. They tacked on two more in the eighth – one on a wild pitch that scored Cam Kozeal, and another via a Justin Thomas Jr. double to left.

UCLA capitalized on uncharacteristic blunders to break through against Will McEntire in the ninth. Mulivai Levu tripled leading off and scored when third baseman Brent Ireland couldn’t come up with a grounder. McEntire’s wild throw to first on a comebacker and a wild pitch brought in two more runs, before McEntire shut the door to keep the Hogs alive.

Delvecchio went four respectable innings in his first appearance back after missing more than two months while academically ineligible.

The junior right-hander struck out three and limited the damage from seven Arkansas hits. He was charged with three earned runs, the last of which came when Aloy tripled to center against reliever Ian May.

UCLA used eight pitchers in all against LSU, tying a CWS record. Seven Bruins pitched against Arkansas in the night game.

With one of the younger rosters in the NCAA tournament, the Bruins were already talking about getting back to Omaha.

“Going out the way we did, nobody was happy in terms of how that ended,” Savage said. “But at the same time, just in terms of what they accomplished as a group, I think they just like almost staying out on the field.”

In the early game …

LSU 9, UCLA 5: Leading 5-3 after three complete innings before play was suspended on Monday night, the Tigers jumped on UCLA reliever Wylan Moss when play resumed on Tuesday, tallying a pair of runs with two outs in the fourth.

Derek Curiel singled to left and Ethan Frey walked before back-to-back RBI singles from Steven Milam and Jake Brown extended the lead.

A Daniel Dickinson blooper to right drove in another for the Tigers in the seventh.

They got 4⅓ innings of steady pitching from Evans. The right-hander out of Houston struck out five and scatted four hits to earn his fifth win of the season.

Evans, who had three starts this season, threw 68 pitches just three days after closing out Saturday’s 4-1 opening-round win over Arkansas with a scoreless ninth inning for his team-leading seventh save of the year.

UCLA eventually chased Evans with two on in the eighth via a Mulivai Levu one-out single and a Roman Martin hit by pitch. Freshman lefty Cooper Williams replaced Evans and added to the troubles with a walk of AJ Salgado.

Two ground balls to second – first an RBI groundout by Payton Brennan, then a Blake Balsz infield hit – produced a pair of runs. After Cashel Dugger walked to again load the bases – with the sophomore representing the tying run – LSU went back to its bullpen in the form of 6-foot-8, 252-pound sophomore Chase Shores.

The big right-hander needed just one pitch to get his team out of the jam, getting No. 9 hitter Phoenix Call on a groundout to short.

Jared Jones, who had a three-run home run in the first inning on Monday, tacked on an insurance run with a two-out single to center against UCLA closer Easton Hawk in the bottom of the eighth.

LSU was 7 for 15 in the game with two outs.

Shores had a clean ninth with three groundouts for the save.

The 15th-seeded Bruins lost to sixth-seeded LSU, 9-5, on Tuesday morning in the resumption of a winner’s bracket game that was postponed after a lengthy weather delay on Monday night.

The first loss of the postseason puts UCLA into a 4 p.m. PDT elimination game against third-seeded Arkansas back at Charles Schwab Field Omaha later in the day Tuesday (ESPN).

Leading 5-3 after three complete innings Monday night, the Tigers jumped on UCLA reliever Wylan Moss in their first cracks Tuesday, tallying a pair of runs with two outs in the fourth.

Derek Curiel singled to left and Ethan Frey walked before back-to-back RBI singles from Steven Milam and Jake Brown extended the lead.

A Daniel Dickinson blooper to right drove in another for the Tigers in the seventh.

They got 4⅓ innings of steady pitching from freshman Casan Evans. The right-hander out of Houston struck out five and scatted four hits to earn his fifth win of the season.

Evans, who had three starts this season, threw 68 pitches just three days after closing out Saturday’s 4-1 opening-round win over Arkansas with a scoreless ninth inning for his team-leading seventh save of the year.

UCLA eventually chased Evans with two on in the eighth via a Mulivai Levu one-out single and a Roman Martin hit by pitch. Freshman lefty Cooper Williams replaced Evans and added to the troubles with a walk of AJ Salgado.

Two groundballs to second – first an RBI groundout by Payton Brennan, then a Blake Balsz infield hit – produced a pair of runs. After Cashel Dugger walked to again load the bases – with the sophomore representing the tying run – LSU went back its pen in the form of 6-foot-8, 252-pound sophomore Chase Shores.

The big right-hander needed just one pitch to get his team out of the jam, getting No. 9 hitter Phoenix Call on a groundout to short.

Jared Jones, who had a three-run home run in the opening inning Monday night, tacked on an insurance run with a two-out single to center against UCLA closer Easton Hawk in the bottom of the eighth.

LSU was 7 for 15 in the game with two outs.

Shores had a clean ninth with three groundouts for the save, pushing LSU into Wednesday night’s Bracket 2 final and one win away from the weekend’s best-of-three championship series.

UCLA, meanwhile, now must come back later in the day Tuesday. The Bruins tied a tournament record for pitchers in a game with eight, that after using six in Saturday’s opening-round victory over Murray State.

That’s where the 15th-seeded UCLA baseball team found itself Monday night when weather halted play against No. 6 seed LSU at the College World Series.

After a delay just shy of two hours at Charles Schwab Field Omaha, the winner’s bracket game was suspended with LSU leading, 5-3, in the fourth inning.

It will resume Tuesday at 8 a.m. PT (ESPN).

Thunderstorms in the area put an end to a game that started with a bang, as the teams traded crooked numbers in the first inning.

UCLA did its damage in the three-run frame by putting the ball in play. Four hits – three of the infield variety – led to a trio of runs, with an RBI double by Roman Martin the lone big blow.

The Tigers answered back with the long ball.

One batter after Jake Brown drove home a run with the third single of the inning for the Tigers, junior Jared Jones went opposite field for a three-run homer to deep right center, a blast with an exit velocity of 110 mph. It was the 21st homer of the season for the 6-foot-4, 246-pound first baseman.

The seven runs in the first inning matched a tournament high this season.

LSU added another in the third as Frey, who opened the inning with a walk, came around to score on a two-out single by infielder Luis Hernandez.

The winner of Tuesday’s resumed game will improve to 2-0 in the bracket and into a Wednesday evening game, one win away from a trip to the best-of-three championship series that concludes the eight-team event.

A loss, however, means a doubleheader on Tuesday, with a 4 p.m. PT elimination game against No. 3 seed Arkansas – a 3-0 winner over Murray State in the other game on Monday – to stay alive.

After using six pitchers in Saturday’s opening round victory over Murray State, UCLA again went to the bullpen early on Monday.

Starter Landon Stump went two innings, but he was replaced by Chris Grothues after issuing a pair of walks to open the third inning. Grothues struck out three in his inning of work, but allowed the single to Hernandez that plated LSU’s fifth run.

A four-run fourth inning led the 15th-seeded Bruins to a 6-4 victory over unseeded Murray State in the opener for both at Charles Schwab Field Omaha.

It puts UCLA (48-16), now 6-0 in the postseason, into a winner’s bracket game against No. 6 seed LSU (49-15) on Monday at 4 p.m. PT. LSU defeated third-seeded SEC rival Arkansas, 4-1, in Saturday’s evening game.

“Yeah, you want to win the first game, no question about it,” UCLA coach John Savage said. “But we’ve got a long, long ways to go.”

His club got the always-important opening win thanks to a fast start from the offense – the Bruins tallied runs in three of the first four frames on the way to a 6-0 lead – and some timely outs from the bullpen behind starter Michael Barnett.

The junior sputtered through the first, walking two before getting a good bounce and a fortunate call to navigate a scoreless opening frame.

UCLA grabbed a lead in the bottom of the inning, but plated just one – a Roman Martin walk with the bases loaded – and left the bases loaded after each of the first four batters reached base against Murray State starter Nic Schutte.

A nation-leading 64th double play of the season got the Bruins out of the second inning, and the offense generated another run in their half on Dean West’s single to right that scored Cashel Dugger.

Barnett again worked into and out of trouble in the third, giving up back-to-back singles to create traffic before getting a pair of flyouts to left.

“He threw up three zeroes. I don’t know if they’ve been the prettiest zeroes, but they’re zeroes,” Savage told ESPN during an interview in the third inning. “At this level, zeroes are zeroes.”

Barnett put up the game’s first 1-2-3 inning in the fourth, needing just 11 pitches to get his team back in the dugout quickly.

And the offense again responded.

Back-to-back singles by Phoenix Call and West set up the Bruins in the fourth before sophomore shortstop Roch Cholowsky laid down a safety squeeze for his team-leading 80th RBI of the year.

Savage said it was a play Cholowsky, who earlier this week was named the Perfect Game Player of the Year, called on his own.

“But you know what, it’s a baseball play,” Savage said. “It led to four runs, kind of the difference in the game.”

After Mulivai  Levu was hit by a pitch, Martin singled to center to drive in his second run of the game and keep the rally going. AJ Salgado brought home two more before the inning was over with a double to right, pushing the lead to 6-0.

Staked to a big lead, Barnett got a pair of quick outs in the fifth. But a two-out single and four-pitch walk by the next two Murray State batters ended his outing due to what Savage said were leg cramps.

“Very hot out there today,” Savage said. “I think our guys dealt with that a little bit.”

A Bruins bullpen that hadn’t allowed a hit in 29 at-bats entering the day saw that streak snapped on right-hander Wylan Moss’ second pitch.

Carson Garner singled to right, a run charged to Barnett, to get the Racers (44-16) on the board. They nearly added more, but West made a diving catch in left to prevent any additional damage.

Murray State chipped into the lead again in the sixth, with a Luke Mistone single chasing Moss. Will Vierling greeted reliever Ian May with a single of his own, and Tauken flew out to bring in Mistone and make it a 6-2 game.

The Racers had a chance to get closer in the seventh, with Jonathan Hogart and Dustin Mercer starting the inning with singles against Jack O’Connor – the third of five UCLA relievers to throw Saturday.

But long flyouts by each of the next two batters – including one to the warning track – helped put out the fire before August Souza came on for O’Connor to get the final out of the frame on a lineout to center.

It wasn’t, however, the end of the Murray State threat.

After again putting the first two on, this time against Souza to start the eighth, both would score on a pair of groundouts to pull within two.

But Bruin freshman closer Easton Hawk shut things down in the ninth, punctuating his eighth save of the season with a pair of strikeouts in a perfect frame.

“Hard-fought win,” Savage said. “Murray State is very competitive. We knew when we put up a four in the fourth, they probably wouldn’t blink an eye, and they didn’t. They kept battling back.

“It wasn’t an easy victory.”

UCLA improved to 27-1 this season when scoring first, the best mark in Division I.

“That’s as good a defensive team and display that I’ve seen,” Murray State coach Dan Skirka said. “The play in the first, up the middle, the double play that they turned in the second, the sliding catch in left, the catch at the wall in right – they just made that look easy on the defensive side.”

Murray State, making its first appearance at the CWS, will play in an elimination game against Arkansas (48-14) on Monday at 11 a.m. PT.

Asked about their initial thoughts of Omaha, both Skirka and Hogart complimented the atmosphere. Saturday’s game drew 24,346.

“Obviously, it’s baseball heaven here,” Mercer said. “I was talking about it yesterday – I walked around (and) I never felt famous before until I got here.”

This time it just happens to be the last one of the season.

The longtime UCLA head coach brings the 15th-seeded Bruins to the College World Series – the program’s first appearance since 2013 – beginning with Saturday’s 11 a.m. PT opener against Murray State.

And he’s hoping the Bruins can leave the same way they did 12 years ago – as national champions.

“It’s been a long time since we have been back here,” UCLA sophomore outfielder Dean West said at Thursday’s introductory press conferences. “And we want to come back here, put our name back out there on the map and show everyone what West Coast baseball has to offer.”

They’ll get that chance thanks in large part to a strong finishing kick.

UCLA has won 13 of its last 15 games, including all five in the postseason. The Bruins went 3-1 at the Big Ten Tournament, played in the same Charles Schwab Stadium in Omaha that they’ll be in Saturday, losing to Nebraska in the title game. Since then, UCLA has outscored its opponents by a combined 50-16 tally.

All that momentum heading from Westwood to the Midwest has the Bruins (47-16) as a trendy sleeper pick out of their side of the eight-team bracket.

“It’s really special,” shortstop Roch Cholowsky said of UCLA returning to the CWS. “We’ve got a special group of guys. We’ve dealt with a lot of adversity through the year. Just getting back to Omaha where the Bruins should be is really special to us.”

The sophomore, who earlier in the week was named the Perfect Game College Player of the Year, is “as good a player as we’ve had,” according to Savage.

“He’s just a winning kid,” he said. “His feel for the room, his feel for his teammates, his feel for games. His IQ, baseball IQ is extremely high.”

Cholowsky’s 23 home runs are the most by a UCLA player since 2000. He won both the Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year awards in the Big Ten, the first Bruin to win the equivalent honors (in any conference) in program history.

He’s the anchor of a defense that Savaged called “championship level, clearly,” after a two-game sweep of UTSA in the Los Angeles Super Regional last weekend.

The UCLA staff has done its part, too, putting up 16 consecutive scoreless innings entering the MCWS. Savage said Thursday that junior right-hander Cody Delvecchio will be back in the mix the rest of the way as well.

Delvecchio, who started the first game of the season for the Bruins, hasn’t pitched since the end of March while academically ineligible.

“As of now, it looks like he is eligible,” Savage said. “He is with us. He’s certainly going to be able to be a big piece out of the bullpen for us.”

Delvecchio made 16 appearances out of the bullpen a year ago, with a 2.42 ERA over 26 innings. He was 1-3 with a 6.82 ERA in a typical Friday night’s starter role this season.

Matched up on the same side of the bracket with fellow national seeds No. 3 Arkansas and No. 6 LSU – the SEC cohorts meet in the 4 p.m. game on Saturday – will make for an all-hands-on-deck approach on the mound for UCLA.

But don’t forget about Murray State, Savage said. The unseeded Racers (44-15), who won the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament and are making the program’s first CWS appearance, have his full attention.

“I looked at Murray State and they had to go through Ole Miss. They had to go through Duke. They had to go through Georgia Tech. That’s all I need to know,” said Savage, who is in his 21st season in Westwood. “I don’t need to think that they’re a Cinderella story. They’ve got really good players. They are very well-coached. They’ve got pro players.”

COLLEGE WORLD SERIES

Who: No. 15 seed UCLA (47-16) vs. Murray State (44-15)

When: Saturday, 11 a.m. PT

Where: Charles Schwab Field, Omaha, Neb.

TV: ESPN