Josh Lewin tabbed as UCLA’s new play-by-play announcer

There will be a new Voice of the Bruins starting next season. On Thursday, UCLA announced that Josh Lewin, who currently calls games for the San Diego Chargers and New York Mets, will handle play-by-play duties for UCLA football and basketball games.

In a statement, UCLA Athletic Director Dan Guerrero called Lewin, “a star in the industry.”

“Josh has consistently demonstrated remarkable talent, poise, sound judgement, a knack for vividly describing the action and a sense of humor that reminds us this is, after all, a game that is supposed to be fun,” Guerrero said.

Lewin replaces Bill Roth, who stepped down last month after a year at UCLA. Roth said he missed his home across the continent, where he called Virginia Tech football and basketball for 27 seasons.

Roth, in the statement, said the job at UCLA was, “in every way, a dream come true,” but he continued, “my roots are back East and unexpectedly, I missed home more than I ever imagined possible.”

Guerrero offered a defense of Roth’s hiring a year ago.

Roth "expressed tremendous interest in this position,” Guerrero said. He added: "With his pedigree, it was impossible to say no."

Lewin has called the Chargers since 2005, the Mets since 2012 and has spent a total of 21 seasons calling Major League Baseball games. He has also called the NFL, NHL and NBA, as well as college football, hockey and basketball.

Chris Roberts had called Bruins games for 23 years, until his retirement before the 2015 football season.

zach.helfand@latimes.com

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