Mike Klan
RIVERSIDE, Calif. (KEYT) – For the second day in a row, the UC Santa Barbara Baseball team (26-12) took a big early lead and hung on late, this time out-lasting California Baptist (31-10) in a rollercoaster, 11-6 victory. The Gauchos scored the first eight and last three runs of the game, while surviving a six-run eighth inning from the Lancers. Santa Barbara smacked six extra-base hits, including home runs from both Liam Barrett and Colin Beazizo, with Barrett, Corey Nunez and Xavier Esquer all finishing with multiple RBIs on the night. Two-out clutch was the theme of the night, as eight of the Gauchos’ 11 runs (and all six of the Lancers’) came with no margin for error in that column.
On the mound, Calvin Proskey’s four scoreless innings of work helped the Gauchos build their big lead, Josh Jannicelli made it stick, then Chase Hoover led the firefighting efforts when things got wild late. Jannicelli got the win and Hoover his third save of the season.
HOW IT HAPPENEDSanta Barbara showed up at James W. Totman Stadium, a venue where they had never previously won, and got right to the business of hitting, scoring in each of the first six innings. Nunez was hit by a pitch to set up Nate Vargas’ RBI single in the first, then Barrett’s two-out walk kept the second inning alive for Esquer to drive a double into the left-center gap. A misfield out there let Esquer get to third and Barrett home to double the lead.
Nunez then started the third inning on third base with a straight-up triple to center field, coming home on William Vasseur’s RBI groundout. It was back to two-out magic in the fourth, as Barrett’s double preceded back-to-back hit batters to load the bases and bring Nunez back to the dish. He promptly smacked a two-run single up the middle and it was 5-0 Gauchos. Rowan Kelly’s double set up Nick Husovsky to single him home in the fifth (you guessed it, with two outs), then Liam Barrett clobbered a home run well over the tall wall in right field to lead off the sixth. For the second time in as many days, the Gauchos were up a touchdown.
While the offense was turning the Lancers’ pitches into batting practice, Proskey was busy reminding everyone why he was Santa Barbara’s Saturday starter last season. He picked up where he had left off at UCLA, allowing just three hits and no walks or runs over four innings, while striking out four. He won a nine-pitch at-bat for one of those punchouts as part of a perfect second, then finished a perfect third with back-to-back K’s, including a seven-pitch at-bat. To end his evening, he escaped a two-on-no-outs jam in the fourth.
Jannicelli took over and showed why he is the next man up in the Gauchos’ line of pitching succession. The freshman retired the first six batters he faced, issuing four of his five strikeouts on the night in that span. Despite a pair of errors, Jannicelli got out of the seventh unscathed before finally surrendering the two runs on his ledger in the eighth.
The Gauchos put up their eighth run in the top of that eighth inning on Beazizo’s home run to straightaway center field, but the Lancers finally found an answer in the bottom half of the frame. A sequence of a home run, walk, double, double, single and home run got the home team back within two before Hoover entered and put out the fire with a backwards K.
If the double play is a pitcher’s best friend, what the Gauchos’ offense did in the top of the ninth must be a very close second. A hit batter and a walk set up Noah Karliner for a pinch-hit, RBI single to get one of those six runs back, then Barrett’s sacrifice fly brought home Santa Barbara’s 10th run of the game to put the Gauchos four runs clear. Esquer’s two-out single brought home Karliner and got Santa Barbara out of “slam range,” with their 11-6 lead meaning not even a grand slam would tie the game. Not that they would have to worry about such a thing. Hoover was not perfect but he got the job done, striking out the side around a two-out single and error.
UP NEXTThe Gauchos come home this weekend, hosting Cal State Fullerton in a Big West series April 24-26, then hosting No. 1 UCLA on Tuesday, April 28 at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium. Tickets for all home games are on sale now at ucsbgauchos.com/tickets.
(Article courtesy of UCSB Athletics).
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