Gauchos stay alive behind Aceves and the home run ball to advance to Austin Regional Final

AUSTIN, Texas. (KEYT) - Nathan Aceves pitched six strong innings and UCSB smacked three home runs in a 9-5 win over Tarleton State in an elimination game.

The Gauchos advance to the Austin Regional Final to face host Texas at 3 p.m. Pacific Time. If UCSB wins they will force a winner-take-all game against the Longhorns on Monday.

Aceves allowed just two runs and struck out four.

After scoring two unearned runs in the first inning UCSB hit back-to-back home runs in the second inning as Cole Kosciusko and Noah Karliner both hit tape measure blasts for a 4-0 lead. Kosciusko was a triple shy of hitting for the cycle as he went 4-for-5 with 3 runs scored.

The Texans pulled to within 5-3 with two runs in the bottom of the seventh but the Gauchos put the game away with four runs in the top of the eighth, the big blow was a 3-run home run by Rowan Kelly.