Gallagher is dominant again as UCSB pummels the Titans to stay perfect at home

UC SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - The UC Santa Barbara Baseball team put together one of their most complete performances of the season Friday evening, dismantling the Cal State Fullerton Titans, 13-2, in the first game of a three-game series at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium. Ryan Gallagher held the Titans to just one run on four hits over 7 1/3 innings while Jessada Brown and Jonah Sebring powered the offense with eight RBI between them. After Gallagher was done, Nic Peterson finished the game in what was his collegiate pitching debut.

FROM HEAD COACH ANDREW CHECKETTS
On the team's performance: "Nice job by Gallagher, our Friday guy gave us a Friday guy start," Checketts said. "Offensively, I thought we did a really good job, a lot of two-strike hitting, a lot of two-out RBIs, scored the four in the first all with two outs, so I thought the guys did a good job of consistently stringing at-bats together back-to-back."

On Peterson making his collegiate pitching debut: "We've been looking for some strikes out of the bullpen besides the three or four guys that are our regulars," Checketts said. "He's left-handed, he throws it in [the strike zone], he's been getting better and has continued to work, and work, and work. You know, he gave us what we needed. He threw it in there, wasn't perfect, but he threw it in there, was able to chew up that inning and maybe save some of those more regular guys that we throw. Nice job offensively extending too, it changes what we do in the bullpen, gets Nic that opportunity."

HOW IT HAPPENED
Following up a complete game shutout in your last outing can be tough for a pitcher, but the reigning D1Baseball National Pitcher of the Week Gallagher was just as sharp in Friday's outing, carrying a bid for a second consecutive shutout into the seventh inning. The righty was perfect through the first three innings before allowing a single and a walk in the fourth, then he went right back to setting the Titans down in order for the fifth and sixth. A one-out double and two singles finally ended Gallagher's scoreless streak in the seventh, but he did strike out the side in that frame. After a three-pitch K to start the eighth, his day was done, being greeted by raucous applause as he strolled to the dugout.

Gallagher had been playing with house money all night long, as the Gaucho offense started hot and stayed hot, scoring in six of their eight innings at-bat, including a four-run first and a four-run sixth. The strong winds played a role in the first of those two big innings, helping a high fly ball off the bat of Brendan Durfee turn into a single. After a pair of Gaucho outs, Sebring laced a two-run single into center field, scoring Durfee and Aaron Parker, who had led off the game with an infield single. Nick Oakley doubled to put himself and Sebring both in scoring position, then Brown drove a nearly identical single to Sebring's into center, scoring two more runs.

The Gauchos added another run on a Durfee solo home run in the bottom of the second, but they could have had more, given different weather. Jonathan Mendez led off the inning with a 104 mph flyout to left field, right into the teeth of the wind which reached gale-force speeds at times on Friday. Parker followed him with an even harder-hit flyout that had the look and sound of a homer, but for the wind. Durfee cleared the fence by avoiding the wind and going to right center field.

The third and fourth were the only frames in which Santa Barbara did not score on Friday, but they got back to business in the fifth. After Sebring led off with a single, he took second on a wild pitch and third on a passed ball, scoring on another single for Brown to make it 6-0. Brown then stole second and raced home to score on an infield single by Justin Trimble, putting the Gauchos up by seven.

In the sixth, Santa Barbara made two outs, then went walk, hit batter, infield single to load the bases for Brown, who collected RBIs four and five on the evening with a worm-burning double to the alley in right center. Another walk re-loaded the bases, then Jonathan Mendez drilled a two-RBI single back up the middle.

A walk and a single got ducks on the pond for Santa Barbara in the seventh, and a passed ball got them into scoring position for Sebring. The Gauchos' centerfielder reached on an error, with lead runner Durfee scoring from third on the play. Fullerton had scored in the top half of the inning, so when Gallagher re-took the mound for the eighth, his lead was 12-1. The freshman Peterson replaced Gallagher after the first out and went on to record the next two easily.

Santa Barbara's 13th and final run of the night came on an eighth-inning, bases-loaded groundout by LeTrey McCollum, who had come on as a pinch hitter and defensive replacement in the seventh. Peterson returned to pitch the ninth and had to work around some traffic, allowing a run, but also recorded his first collegiate strikeout and finished off the 13-2 victory.

BY THE NUMBERS
Prior to surrendering his lone run of the evening, Ryan Gallagher had pitched 18 consecutive scoreless innings, making 54 outs between runs allowed, going back to April 12 against Hawai'i.
Gallagher finished his 7 1/3 innings of work with just one run against him on only four hits. He walked only one batter and did not hit any, while striking out nine.
A total of 15 Gauchos featured in Friday's game, only two of whom were pitchers. All nine of the starting hitters reached base safely at least once in the game.
The Santa Barbara offense put up one of its most balanced run distributions of the season Friday night, scoring in six of eight innings at bat. It is just the third time the Gauchos have scored in six different innings this year, after the 20-8 win at Campbell on Feb. 16 and the 12-inning shootout with UCLA in Los Angeles on March 26.

UP NEXT
The Gauchos will go for the series win and look to match their longest home unbeaten start on national television on Saturday night, playing game two against the Titans at 7 p.m. The game will be broadcast on ESPNU, but fans can also catch it on ESPN+ or follow along with live stats and an audio only broadcast on ucsbgauchos.com. Saturday is Taylor Swift Night at the ballpark; Santa Barbara players will be changing their walkup music to Taylor Swift songs, and fans can collect a special Gauchos friendship bracelet.