UCSB does not bust as they run home win streak to 22 games

UC SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - The UC Santa Barbara Baseball team got strong outings from all six pitchers they deployed on Tuesday and the offense did enough to bring home a 4-3 win over Saint Mary's in the Gauchos' final non-conference contest of the regular season. Frank Camarillo earned the win, Cole Tryba, Jackson Flora and Calvin Proskey all tossed scoreless outings, Jed Decooman made his season debut and Matt Ager picked up his eighth save in as many opportunities in the whole-staff approach on the mound. Zander Darby came up big at the plate, going 2-for-4 with a double, a two-run homer and two runs scored.

UCSB is now 22-0 at home this year and 36-12 overall.

FROM HEAD COACH ANDREW CHECKETTS
"We know what's out in front of us in terms of the conference standings and all that stuff, but every win is big at this point," Checketts said. "I thought it didn't start that great, walked the lead-off guy of the game, gave up a hit after that, and then Cole settled in and got a zero, I thought that set the tone for us on the mound. Passed the baton to a lot of guys, but that's what we were hoping those guys would do. We were in the strike zone a lot, we only issued one free pass after that lead-off walk. Flora came in and I thought was excellent in the middle innings there, Proskey was back out there and had a clean zero, and then Matt."

"We didn't want to throw Cole more than one, we didn't want to throw Flora more than 35 pitches, we didn't want to throw Matt more than 30 pitches. We need those guys for the weekend, so we needed (Decooman, Camarillo and Proskey) to fill in innings, and we've kind of been waiting all year for those guys to do that because we know they're capable."

HOW IT HAPPENED
A lead-off walk was indeed a less-than-ideal way for Tryba to begin his first career start on the mound Tuesday, but after giving up a single to put two runners on, the rookie left-hander did indeed settle in and keep Saint Mary's off the board. He got the dangerous Christian Almanza to line out to third base, then struck out the next two Gaels to finish off a scoreless inning.

Decooman relieved Tryba for his first appearance of the season and was pipped for a run after a lead-off double came home on a one-out single. The Canadian fired a K for the second out of the frame then got some help from backstop Aaron Parker, who caught a Gael stealing for the final out.

Nick Oakley helped bring the Gauchos back on level terms in the bottom of the second, leading off the inning with a triple to the right centerfield gap. He would come home on LeTrey McCollum's RBI groundout.

Unfortunately, the Gaels seemed all too happy to trade runs with the Gauchos, as they put another tally on the board off of Camarillo in the top of the third. A two-out double and single did the damage to put the visitors up, 2-1, but Camarillo limited the damage, ending the inning with a K.

In the bottom of the inning, the Gaucho offense punched back again, with Jonathan Mendez leading off with a double down the right field line. He took third on a flyout, then trotted home as Darby hit a wall-scraping home run just over the fence in the deepest part of the park.

"I didn't think he got it when it came off the bat," Checketts said after the game. "I thought it was going to be a long out, but it carried out."

Camarillo faced the minimum in the fourth, then Flora took over and worked a one-two-three fifth to make that 3-2 lead hold up. Flora also faced the minimum in the sixth, with Parker catching a second base stealer to wipe away a one-out walk.

Parker also brought home the Gauchos' fourth run in the bottom of the sixth after Darby's double and Jessada Brown's bloop single put runners on the corners with no outs. Parker grounded into a double play, denying him an RBI, but Darby was able to score on the play.

Proskey took the mound in the seventh and worked another one-two-three inning before handing the ball over to Ager for the eighth. Santa Barbara's closer worked a three-pitch inning in his first frame of work but faced some issues in the ninth. The first two Gaels to bat both singled, but Justin Trimble made a nice play ranging from third base into foul ground to glove a soft liner and slow the visitors' momentum with the first out. A one-out single cut the Gauchos' lead to one, but Ager got a flyout then a strikeout to escape the jam.

FROM THE STUDENT-ATHLETES
Zander Darby on his return to form: "I feel like myself finally," Darby said. "(It was) a little bit of a slow start coming back from injury, but I feel like I'm back to my normal self, feeling confident, aggressive, ready to go every day now."

BY THE NUMBERS
From the fourth through the eighth inning, the combination of Frank Camarillo, Jackson Flora, Calvin Proskey and Matt Ager faced the minimum, 12 batters, with a fourth-inning double play and sixth-inning caught stealing helping in their cause.
After a long cold stretch, Zander Darby has now had multiple hits in each of his last four games, the first such span all season. His home run was his first since April 13 and just the second since a hamstring injury saw him miss two weeks of March.
The three runs the Gauchos held Saint Mary's too was the Gaels' third-lowest run total of the season and the fewest they had scored in a game since an April 6 loss against Grand Canyon.

UP NEXT
Santa Barbara has just six games left to play over the course of two more Big West series this season. The Gauchos will travel to CSUN for the first of those three-game sets this weekend, then return home to host UC Riverside in the final series of the year, May 23-25. Santa Barbara currently holds a game-and-a-half lead atop The Big West standings, meaning they need to win five of six games to claim the conference crown.

(Article courtesy of UCSB Athletics)