Gauchos Drop Regional Opener to Aztecs
The Gauchos were hosting the party but San Diego State’s Steven Pallares stole the show as the Aztecs edged UCSB 4-3 at the Lake Elsinore Regional.
With the game tied at 3 in the top of the 8th, Pallares executed a straight steal of home off of UCSB ace Dillon Tate who dropped to 8-5 on the year. Tate was working out of the windup and with two outs and two strikes, Pallares slid under Campbell Wear’s tag on a pitch that was extremely high.
Pallares hit a second inning homer and scored three runs for San Diego State who will play Virginia on Saturday, a 6-1 winner over USC in the early game.
The Gauchos battled back from an early 3-0 deficit behind Andrew Calica who went 4-for 4 in the game. His RBI single in the 5th tied the game up at 3.
After Pallares’ second inning solo shot put the Aztecs up 3, Tate settled down and retired 16 of his next 17 batters. He struck out 11 in eight innings of work.
UCSB plays USC in an elimination game tomorrow at 3:00pm. The Gauchos are 2-0 against the Trojans this year and afterwards UCSB head coach Andrew Checketts said his team has enough pitching to battle out of the loser’s bracket.
