Author: KEYT

Mike Klan

RIVERSIDE, Calif. – The UC Santa Barbara (24-11) and California Baptist (21-16) baseball teams went for a roller coaster ride on the baseball diamond Monday night, playing a game that included four ties and four lead changes and required all nine innings to be decided. With CBU set to join Santa Barbara in The Big West beginning in the 2027 season, if Monday’s game is anything to go on, those series will be must-watch baseball. Ultimately, the hosting Lancers walked off with a 7-6 win on this occasion, snapping the Gauchos’ six-game winning streak. Santa Barbara got home runs from Cole Kosciusko and Nate Vargas and a stellar cameo on the mound from Raymond Olivas, who will be a junior when these two teams play their first series as conference foes.

HOW IT HAPPENEDIt was a pitchers’ duel to start on Monday, with both starters facing the minimum in their halves of the first. Frank Camarillo, making his second start of the season for the Gauchos, helped himself out by starting a slick, 1-6-3 double play to erase a lead-off walk in the bottom of the first. He issued back-to-back strikeouts to strand a one-out single and walk in the bottom of the second, but gave up two runs in the third after a lead-off single, walk, error and RBI single, though he did pick up his third strikeout of the day in the process.

Donovann Jackson relieved Camarillo and ended the inning with a groundout and a strikeout. In the top of the fourth, the Gaucho offense provided some relief to their junior right-hander as well, with two big swings. Xavier Esquer led off the inning with a single, and Kosciusko’s home run off the scoreboard in right center drove him home to tie the game at two runs apiece. Two batters later, Vargas drove a solo homer to the same part of the park, giving Santa Barbara a 3-2 lead, their first of the night.

Jackson worked a one-two-three fourth with the help of some slick glove work. Nolan Farley made a diving stop and on-time throw to first from his backside at second base for the second out of the inning, and, not to be outdone, Esquer made a diving stop himself at third before firing across the diamond for the third out of the frame. In the top of the fifth, both infielders also had a hand in creating the Gauchos’ fourth run of the game as Santa Barbara extended their lead. After Ian Fernandez led off the inning with a double, Farley’s one-out single put Gauchos on the corners, and Fernandez was able to score on Esquer’s fielder’s choice groundout.

Unfortunately, it was not time to get off the ride, and Santa Barbara’s two-run lead lasted only two thirds of an inning. A single, then two one-out walks loaded the bases for CBU, and a two-out single tied the game at 4-4. The Lancers went hitless for the next 3 1/3 innings, but they were able to scratch across another run in the sixth after their lead-off man got all the way to second on an error. Two flyouts put CBU back in front, 5-4.

Again, that lead did not last long either. Fernandez hit his second double of the night to lead off the top of the seventh, then took third on a wild pitch and scored on Farley’s RBI single. The Gauchos went on to re-take the lead in the top of the eighth. Back-to-back singles from LeTrey McCollum and Kosciusko put two Gauchos on before anyone got out, but two outs later, McCollum had only managed to go 90 feet, from second to third. Rowan Kelly remedied that with a two-out single, scoring McCollum and putting Santa Barbara back on top, 6-5.

Olivas came on to start the eighth and got the only two Lancers he faced out, a strikeout and a flyout. The Gauchos took him out to get a better matchup against the next CBU hitter, though the scheduled batter was lifted for a pinch hitter. All the shuffling around ended with a hit for the Lancers, which turned into the tying run thanks to a two-out double. After another pitching change, Santa Barbara got out of the inning, but they were in for more trouble in the ninth. A one-out double put the winning run on second base, but the Gauchos got the second out of the inning without that runner going anywhere. An intentional walk was issued to get a more favorable matchup, but that matchup ended in an eight-pitch walk. The next man up also faced a full count before hitting a walk-off single down the right field line.

BY THE NUMBERSPerhaps fittingly for a man whose first collegiate hit was a double, Fernandez recorded his second multi-double game of the season on Monday. He has six total on the year, accounting for nearly half of his 13 hits. In total, more than half of his hits so far (eight) have gone for extra bases.Like Fernandez, Farley was one of four Gauchos with multiple hits on Monday night. Over the four games that Santa Barbara played in Riverside, Farley went 4-for-12 (.333) with four RBIs and zero strikeouts.McCollum was another Gaucho with multiple hits on Monday; his two singles extended his on-base streak to 31 games.

UP NEXTSanta Barbara returns home for a marquee conference series this weekend, hosting Cal Poly in the 2025 Blue-Green Rivalry, April 17 through 19. Friday’s game will be nationally televised on ESPNU and therefore starts at 6 p.m. First pitch times on Thursday and Sunday are scheduled for 4:35 p.m. and 1:05 p.m. respectively. Following the rivalry series, the Gauchos will have a shot at revenge against the Lancers as they host CBU on Monday, April 21 at 4:35 p.m.

(Article courtesy UCSB Athletics

Caleb Nguyen

CAMARILLO, Calif. – Ventura County Fire Department crews put out a fire at a business on Acasio Street in Camarillo, just before 5:00 a.m. Sunday.

Smoke came out of the single-story business before firefighters broke into the building and confirmed the incident, detailed the VCFD.

According to the VCFD, nobody was inside the building when the fire started, and nobody was injured.

Firefighters contained the fire to a single building and knocked it down with a sprinkler system, detailed the VCFD.

Crews aired the building out and were on scene for another two hours. The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

Mike Klan

RIVERSIDE, Calif. – The UC Santa Barbara Baseball team (22-10, 8-8) kept their bats hot on Friday night, scoring runs in each of the first five innings en route to a 13-4 win over UC Riverside (12-20, 3-13 Big West). Tyler Bremner struck out 10 Highlanders and earned the win on the mound, climbing to second on Santa Barbara’s career strikeouts list in the process. At the plate, all nine Gauchos in the lineup got a hit, with three of them tallying three, while LeTrey McCollum led the team with three RBIs.

HOW IT HAPPENEDSanta Barbara took the lead early, putting up a crooked number in the top of the first. Xavier Esquer led off with a single on the first pitch of the game, then Cole Kosciusko’s double put Gauchos on second and third with just one out. The doubles continued, with Jonathan Mendez plating two runs on one to the gap in left center, then Ian Fernandez driving one over the center fielder’s head to plate Mendez and make it 3-0.

Bremner struck out two Highlanders in the bottom of the first, allowing just a two-out single, and the Gaucho offense tacked on another run in the top of the second. Reiss Calvin led off the frame with another double and moved to third on Nolan Farley’s sacrifice bunt. Calvin then scored on Kosciusko’s infield single, a towering pop-up that dropped between the third baseman and shortstop.

Bremner got into trouble for the one and only time in the bottom of the fourth. The Highlanders scored four runs on six hits in the inning, though the Santa Barbara ace did get all three of his outs by way of the K in the frame. Even better for Bremner, the offense picked him up and re-took the lead in the top of the third. Kelly’s two-out double put a Gaucho in scoring position, and Fernandez’s two-out, two-strike single brought him home to put Santa Barbara back in front, 5-4. Bremner came back and retired the Highlanders in order in the bottom half of the inning.

In the fourth and fifth innings, the Gauchos broke the game wide open. In the top of the fourth, McCollum’s two-run home run to left center made it 7-4. In the fifth, Fernandez continued his great night with another RBI, singling to left center to plate Nate Vargas, who had led off the inning with a bunt single. Nolan Farley made it 9-4 with a sacrifice fly, then Esquer plated two more runs with a single into the right center field gap, putting Santa Barbara up, 11-4. Bremner stayed in firm command on the mound in the bottom of the fifth, striking out the side on just 11 pitches.

The righty put up another perfect inning in the bottom of the sixth, and the Gaucho offense put their finishing touches on the game in the top of the seventh. After an error and an infield single, McCollum scored Santa Barbara’s 12th run of the night with a sacrifice bunt, then Kosciusko made it 14 with a single up the middle.

Donovann Jackson took over on the bump in the bottom of the seventh and worked around a lead-off infield single, then worked around a lead-off hit batter in the eighth, with two strikeouts. Stunner Gonzalez took over for the lefty in the ninth and got the first two Highlanders he faced, including his first career strikeout. After his first career hit batter, he bounced back with his second career K to end the game.

BY THE NUMBERSAfter a second consecutive 10-strikeout performance on Friday, Bremner overtook both Shane Bieber and Rodney Boone on UC Santa Barbara’s career strikeouts list, moving into second in program history. With 241 in his career, he is 33 away from matching Dan Yokubaitis’ record.Friday was the first game this season in which the Gauchos have tallied 18 or more hits. The last time Santa Barbara had that many hits was on May 24, 2024, when they faced… UC Riverside.Gonzalez’s ninth-inning cameo was his second appearance in as many games for the Gauchos after he debuted in the ninth of Tuesday night’s win.As one of the three Gauchos with three hits on the night, Kelly set a new career high, his first three-hit outing as a collegiate baseball player. He has hits in each of his last five games now.

UP NEXTSanta Barbara will look to secure the series win on Saturday, April 12 in game two from the Riverside Sports Complex. First pitch is set for 6 p.m., with Calvin Proskey set to take the mound for the Gauchos. The game will be live on ESPN+ with live stats and an audio broadcast available through ucsbgauchos.com.

(Article courtesy of UCSB Athletics).

Mike Klan

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. – Two opponents at the top of the Big West and receiving votes in multiple national polls, the Mustangs and Rainbow Warriors went the distance in a 10-inning nailbiter that saw Cal Poly’s win streak end with the 4-2 loss.

In front of 2,818 fans at Baggett Stadium, the venue’s second-largest crowd of the season, Cal Poly (23-9, 12-1 BWC) and Hawai’i (24-8, 10-6 BWC) battled to the bitter end in game one of D1Baseball.com’s mid-major weekly spotlight series.

Tanner Sagouspe (3-2) was shackled with the loss after allowing Shunsuke Sakaino’s go-ahead home run in the top of ten.

Ryan Fenn went 3-for-5 in his second straight three-hit effort and seventh of the season, while Alejandro Garza extended his hitting streak to 15 after notching his first collegiate home run.

On the defensive end, Griffin Naess enjoyed one of his best starts on the mound, providing eight complete innings for the Mustangs while allowing just four hits and one run. Naess, the reigning Big West Freshman Pitcher of the Year, tallied seven strikeouts for the second time this season to tie his single-game career high.

All was quiet on both fronts through the first three innings. Naess was dealing and the Mustangs were having trouble finding consistency at the plate, but all that changed with Cam Hoiland’s second home run in as many games.

The solo homer went 353 feet and stayed just inside the right-field foul pole to put Cal Poly up by one in the third.

Naess did not allow a Hawai’i baserunner until a lead-off walk in the fourth inning, but the Rainbow Warriors built on the breakthrough to pull back a run on a fielder’s choice and close play at home plate.

For the most part, both side’s bats went relatively silent through the next two innings until the bottom of six when Garza clobbered his first career collegiate home run over left field. The pair of solo shots from Hoiland and Garza were the only runs Cal Poly would gather in the end.

With Tanner Sagouspe relieving Naess to start the ninth, Hawai’i later found itself working with a pair of one-out baserunners in scoring position.

A fly ball to shallow left field allowed Vachini to earn the second out, which sent the Rainbow Warrior home on a tag-up. Vachini slightly overthrew Castellon’s cut-off and Downing gathered the rolling ball to gun down a runner heading to third. Despite the final out via Downing, the Hawai’i baserunner from third made it home in time, tying the game at two.

Jack Collins was intentionally walked in the ninth with two outs and a chance to walk off the game with the go-ahead run at third, sealing extra innings after Casey Murray Jr. was struck out.

Shunsuke Sakaino hit a no-doubter for the go-ahead two-out, two-run homer at the top of ten, and Cal Poly never really found enough offense in the tenth for a comeback. Hawai’i took game one 4-2 with the win going to Isaiah Magdaleno.

The Mustangs and Rainbow Warriors play game two on Saturday with the first pitch set for 3:05 pm at Baggett Stadium.

(Article Courtesy of Cal Poly Athletics).

Caleb Nguyen

SANTA MARIA, Calif. – A car crashed into an embankment after hitting a tree off the side of Highway 166 near Santa Maria, injuring three people Friday at 5:41 p.m., according to CAL Fire SLO.

All three patients had minor injuries and were taken to the hospital following the accident, detailed CAL Fire SLO.