UCSB dominates USC to move to 10-2 on the year

LOS ANGELES, Calif. - The No. 16 UC Santa Barbara Baseball team (10-2) struck early at the plate and made the lead stick with their pitching, coming away with an 8-1 victory over USC (9-3) on Tuesday night. Nathan Aceves was a worthy winner on the mound, throwing five scoreless innings with six punchouts in his first collegiate start, while Jonathan Mendez led a well-balanced offensive effort at the plate with a double, a home run and three RBIs. Donovann Jackson delivered three more excellent innings of long relief, and Issac Kim hit his first home run as a Gaucho in the game.

FROM HEAD COACH ANDREW CHECKETTS
"Nice start from the offense to put up a crooked number in the first, and good work from Aceves to give us five scoreless innings on the mound," Checketts said. "Donovann Jackson was great out of the bullpen again, and obviously Mendez got that big swing off late."

HOW IT HAPPENED
Santa Barbara wasted no time taking the lead on Tuesday, capitalizing on Trojan mistakes to put up a crooked number in the first inning. Xavier Esquer was hit by a pitch to lead off, and before No. 2 hitter Mendez could swing the bat, Esquer took second on a wild pitch and third on a balk. Mendez then punched a single through the left side of the USC infield to score Esquer from third. Jack Holman, the next man up, hustled down the line to break up a double play, and Kim rewarded his effort by cracking his first Division I home run out to the right of center field, making it 3-0 Gauchos.

Aceves had to work hard on the mound to keep it that way in the bottom of the first, but the freshman did it, escaping a bases-loaded, no-outs jam with a strikeout looking and then a double play. His Houdini act seemed to settle his nerves, and he settled in for four more significantly less dramatic innings of work. In the second, he erased a lead-off hit batter by picking him off at first to face the minimum. He worked around the lead-off man getting on base again in the third, setting the next three Trojans down in order, then repeated the trick in the fourth. In the bottom of the fifth, he got the lead-off man out, but did have to contend with a two-out double. That turned out to be little issue, as he punctuated the inning and his outing with his sixth strikeout of the game.

With Aceves keeping the USC bats quiet, the Santa Barbara offense repaid him by tacking on more runs in the top of the fifth, again pouncing on Trojan miscues to do so. Like in the first, Esquer was hit by a pitch to lead things off, and after a wild pitch let him take second base again, he would come around to score as a result of Mendez's at-bat, though in a less orthodox manner this time. When Mendez swung and missed at a 3-2 pitch, the ball bounced well away from the Trojan catcher, and with Mendez hustling down the line, he sailed the throw over his first baseman's head and into right field. Both Mendez and Esquer kept on running, with the former reaching second base safely and the latter scoring. Later in the frame, Nate Vargas drove Mendez home with a contender for the shortest double of the season, a pop-up that went no more than 10 yards behind third base but found the only patch of grass that neither USC's left fielder nor third baseman could reach in time.

Jackson took over for Aceves on the mound to start the sixth inning and he was lights-out, setting the Trojans down in order in the sixth and striking out the side in the seventh. He set USC down in order again in the eighth to wrap up a near-perfect outing.

Santa Barbara's offense finished their portion of the evening with three more runs in the top of the ninth. It was a classic bit of "get them on, get them over, get them in" for the first run; LeTrey McCollum led off the inning with a single into center, and Rex DeAngelis laid down a sacrifice bunt to move McCollum into scoring position at second base. McCollum took third on a passed ball, then Esquer drove him home with a single. Esquer then stole second and took third on a wild pitch before Mendez hit a no-doubt home run to left center. Holman would have made it back-to-back homers if not for Page Stadium's 37-foot-tall "Blue Monster" left field wall, having to settle for a loud double.

Chase Hoover took the mound for the bottom of the ninth and did allow a run on two hits, but he also struck out two Trojans, catching the final batter of the night looking.

BY THE NUMBERS
Mendez finished Tuesday night a triple shy of the cycle, going 3-for-5 with a double, home run and team-high three RBIs on the night. On the season, the sophomore now has 16 hits, a team-high 13 of which have gone for extra bases: seven doubles, two triples and four home runs.
Aceves was not the only Gaucho making his first start on Tuesday night, as Jeremiah Crain made his full return from a jaw injury, playing in right field. Jack Holman started the night in the other corner of the Gaucho outfield, his first outing anywhere other than first base for Santa Barbara, and made a nice play in the bottom of the fourth, jumping up to snare a line drive.
Donovann Jackson's three-inning relief appearance was his team-high fourth outing of the season, and he is now tied for the team lead in innings pitched at 16, averaging four per outing. He has allowed just two runs over those four relief appearances for an ERA of 1.12 and has a team-high 21 strikeouts.

UP NEXT
The Gauchos return home to open Big West play in Santa Barbara this weekend, hosting CSUN, March 7-9. First pitch times are set for 4:05 p.m. Friday, 3:05 p.m. Saturday and 1:05 p.m. Sunday. Season and single-game tickets are on sale now at ucsbgauchos.com, and kids in sixth grade or below get in free to all Gaucho home games this season with the Yardi Youth Pass. Visit ucsbgauchos.com to learn more. For fans following from afar, the game will be live on ESPN+ with live stats available through ucsbgauchos.com.

(Article courtesy of UCSB Athletics).