Gauchos homer on first pitch they see and never look back in 8-4 win over San Diego

UC SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - The No. 15 UC Santa Barbara Baseball team (14-2, 3-0 Big West) took care of business against San Diego (2-14, 0-0 West Coast) on Tuesday, taking down the Toreros, 8-4, in a game the Gauchos led from start to finish. It was a good day for Gauchos referred to by their initials, as "X," Xavier Esquer and "JC," Jeremiah Crain both homered, while "E," Elliot Gallegos recorded a four-inning save.

FROM HEAD COACH ANDREW CHECKETTS
"Elliot's worked really hard to get back to that spot where he's able to go out and do that in a game," Checketts said. "It's exciting to have him, especially to settle in after the homer. I think a lot of guys might get shook there, but he did a good job of continuing to do his thing, so happy for him. We could use his help in the bullpen, so it's nice to get him out there and get him a little more experience, I thought his stuff was good today, so really excited about him. Nice to see Crain hit one over the fence there, I thought it was a good offensive day, I thought the guys did a good job offensively, very business-like and took good at-bats.

HOW IT HAPPENED
Nathan Aceves drew the start for the second Tuesday in a row, and for the second Tuesday in a row he escaped a bases-loaded jam in the top of the first. A double play had wiped away a leadoff single, but two more singles and a walk had filled the bags with Toreros before Aceves issued a three-pitch strikeout to end the inning.

In the bottom of the first, Esquer was not waiting around to get the offense started, crushing the first pitch he saw for a no-doubt lead-off home run. The bats stayed hot for the Gauchos who followed him, with a Jonathan Mendez single and Isaac Kim double turning into run number two for Santa Barbara, and a LeTrey McCollum single plating Kim to make it 3-0 Gauchos.

Aceves shut the Toreros down in the top of the second, retiring the side in order, but a lead-off single and a triple down the right field line in the top of the third ended the freshman's scoreless start to the season and his outing for the evening. Chase Hoover took over and got a big first out with Crain's help, the Gaucho third baseman fielding a ball hit right at him and tagging San Diego's lead runner out. Hoover then got a fly out and a pop out to end the frame. He worked around a one-out single in the top of the fourth, then got a big inning of support from his offense in the bottom half.

Nate Vargas led off the bottom of the fourth with a double into the left center field gap, then moved to third on LeTrey McCollum's single. Crain was then robbed of a hit by a tremendous diving play from San Diego's second baseman, though the groundout did plate Vargas to make the score 4-1. The visitors made a pitching change, but Reiss Calvin greeted the new reliever with a double to left center on the first pitch, scoring McCollum. Cole Kosciusko then drove in Calvin with a single up the middle to put Santa Barbara up 6-1. The Gauchos were a bit unlucky to not have more runs in the inning, as Jonathan Mendez lined out to left with runners on first and second, then Jack Holman watched his deep line drive to center get hauled in to end the inning.

Hoover went through the Toreros one, two, three in the top of the fifth, and the Gauchos scratched across their seventh run of the game in the bottom of the fifth after Kim walked and Vargas singled to put runners on the corners, Kim coming home despite McCollum grounding into a double play.

Santa Barbara's lead looked to be in jeopardy for a split second in the top of the sixth, which San Diego led off with a double. That brought Gallegos out of the bullpen, but a throwing error allowed the first Torero he faced to reach. He got the next guy out, but a one-out, three-run home run cut the Gaucho advantage to just 7-4. Gallegos responded by getting the next batter to pop out to Vargas behind home plate on the first pitch, then Gallegos ended the inning with his first punchout of the night.

Gallegos' outing would only get better, as he worked around a pair of walks in the top of the seventh and set the Toreros down in order in the top of the eighth, ending the inning with a pair of strikeouts. Crain led off the bottom of the eighth with his first home run as a Gaucho, another no-doubter out to left, then Gallegos kept right on carving through the Torero lineup in the ninth, striking out the first two batters he faced and getting a fly out to end the game.

BY THE NUMBERS
Despite being on the first pitch of the game, Xavier Esquer's home run on Tuesday was the second in as many at-bats for the Gauchos, as LeTrey McCollum's walk-off shot from Sunday was Santa Barbara's last trip to the plate prior.
Elliot Gallegos posted career bests for both innings pitched and strikeouts on his way to the save Tuesday, working four innings and allowing two runs, only one of which was earned, while striking out six batters, four of them in a row.

UP NEXT
The Gauchos are headed for the islands this weekend, traveling to play a three-game series at Hawai'i, March 14-16. First pitch times are set for 9:35 p.m. Pacific Time on Friday and Saturday and 4:05 p.m. Pacific Time on Sunday. All three games will have a live audio broadcast available at ucsbgauchos.com/BSBRadio and live stats available at ucsbgauchos.com/BSBLiveStats.

(Article courtesy of UCSB Athletics).