UCSB rallies to win Big West opener in 13 innings

UC SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - The phrase "it's a marathon, not a sprint," usually applies to an entire season, but for the No. 16 UC Santa Barbara Baseball team (11-2, 1-0 Big West), it applied to their Big West opener against CSUN (2-8, 0-1 Big West) on Friday night. The Gauchos were down to their final out in the bottom of the ninth before tying the game to force extra innings, where they would go on to win, 4-3, on a walk-off balk in the 13th. Xavier Esquer led the charge at the plate with three hits, while Nate Vargas would be the one to score the winning run. On the mound, Tyler Bremner recorded the 200th strikeout of his career, then turned things over to a bullpen trio of Nic Peterson, Van Froling and Donovann Jackson, who combined to throw 7 2/3 innings of scoreless ball, allowing just two hits while striking out eight Matadors.

HOW IT HAPPENED
It speaks to Bremner's quality as a pitcher that 5 1/3 innings of three-run ball amount to just an okay outing, but the Matadors were able to ding him for a run in the first inning and he only set the side down in order twice. A lead-off single and stolen base turned into a run on a one-out single in the first, though Bremner did strike out a pair.

Even better, his offense got him that run back in the bottom of the first with a two-out rally. Jack Holman started it off with a four-pitch walk, and Isaac Kim's single to right put runners on the corners. Vargas singled into right as well to score Holman and re-tie the game. After Bremner worked around a two-out infield single in the top of the second, the Gaucho offense came back up and took the lead in the bottom of the inning. Cole Kosciusko led it off with a single, and Ian Fernandez dropped down a sacrifice bunt to move him over. Esquer drove him in with a single to left to make it 2-1, Santa Barbara.

Bremner settled in in the third and fourth, setting down the Matadors in order in both frames, racking up career strikeout 199 in the third and number 200 with the first out of the fourth. But after the Gauchos left runners on second and third in the bottom of the fourth, Bremner got into trouble and lost the lead in the top of the fifth. Three wild pitches helped CSUN plate the tying run and after a fourth wild pitch put the go-ahead run in scoring position, a single plated him. Bremner did make a nice defensive play to get out of the inning after loading the bases with one out, fielding a bunt and flipping home in time to get the out there. He ended the inning with his sixth and final strikeout of the day.

After Bremner got the first out of the CSUN half of the sixth, Peterson was summoned to relieve him and got the next two. He stranded a Matador at second in the seventh, then pitched a one-two-three eighth to keep the Gauchos within striking distance. They nearly re-took the lead in the bottom of the eighth, loading the bases with one out, but an unfortunate double play ended the threat.

Peterson got the first out of the ninth but then put two runners on, and Froling was tasked with putting out the fire. He did just that, getting a flyout to center and a strikeout to send the Gauchos to the bottom of the ninth needing just one. Esquer sparked some hope with a double into the left field corner with one out, but he was still standing on second after the second out was made. But Holman strode to the plate and delivered a clutch single through the right side of the infield, scoring Esquer for the tying run.

Froling pitched a one-two-three top of the 10th, striking out two Matadors looking, but the Gauchos went in order in their half of the inning. It was the same story in the 11th: two K's for Froling to set CSUN down in order, but nothing doing for the Gauchos. Jackson took over for Froling in the 12th but kept up the trend of perfect innings, getting all three Matadors to ground out on bunt attempts. Still, there was nothing going at the plate for Santa Barbara.

Both teams broke out of their slumps in the 13th. A lead-off walk and two-out single, plus an error, put Matadors on second and third, but Jackson got a groundout to keep the visitors off the board. The Gauchos led off their half of the 13th with a walk of their own, and a sacrifice bunt moved the runner, Vargas, over to second. Reiss Calvin came through with an infield single to shortstop to put Gauchos on the corners, and Jimmy Zakhar came up as the last bat off the bench for Santa Barbara. He didn't need to swing. Trying to pick Calvin off at first, the CSUN pitcher was called for a balk, allowing Vargas to stroll home from third with the winning run.

BY THE NUMBERS
Tyler Bremner became just the 10th Gaucho to record 200 strikeouts in the Blue and Gold of Santa Barbara on Friday night, issuing six K's to bring his total up to 202. The program record for strikeouts is 274, set by Dan Yokubaitis from 1980-1983. After not having a 200-K pitcher since Rodney Boone reached the milestone in 2021, the Gauchos have now had three in the last calendar year, with Mike Gutierrez and Matt Ager hitting the mark on the same night, April 27, 2024.
Santa Barbara used all 16 of their available hitters on Friday night, with four Gauchos playing two different positions over the course of the game. Five of the bench bats were brought in as pinch hitters, with two coming on as pinch runners. Xavier Esquer and Jonathan Mendez each recorded six at-bats over the 13 innings. Freshmen Liam Barrett and Jack Meissner earned their Gaucho debuts off the bench.

UP NEXT
Santa Barbara and CSUN will return to the diamond for the second game of this three-game series on Saturday, March 8 at 3:05 p.m. from Caesar Uyesaka Stadium. 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 UCSB Athletics)