Flora and UCSB make great first impression in season opener

HATTIESBURG, Mississippi (KEYT) -It was aces high at Pete Taylor Park on Friday, where the UC Santa Barbara Baseball team played their trump card, Jackson Flora, to hand No. 20 Southern Miss their first loss on opening day since 2014, 5-1. Flora lived up to his Preseason All-American billing with five strikeouts and just three hits against him over six shutout innings, and San Marcos High School alum Chase Hoover marked his return to the Gaucho bullpen with a near-perfect, six-out save. Newcomer Noah Karliner made himself Flora's new best friend, driving in the game-winning runs in his first game for Santa Barbara, and Rowan Kelly smacked his first career home run to seal the result.

HOW IT HAPPENED
Flora's first inning was a statement of intent. After allowing a leadoff double, he took care of the next two Golden Eagles, then punctuated the inning with a pinpoint-accurate, 100-mile-per-hour fastball on the outside edge of the zone for his first strikeout of the day. He allowed just one base runner again in the second (who had the misfortune of wearing one of Flora's pitches), then set the Golden Eagles down in order in the third and fourth, doing it all himself in the latter of those frames with a pair of strikeouts and a well-snagged chopper that he ran to the bag himself.

The offense made a statement in the opening frame too. Kelly led off the game with a double, Cade Goldstein was welcomed to college baseball with a plunking on the fourth pitch he faced, and Cole Kosciusko's hard-hit single loaded the bases. Nick Husovsky guided a sacrifice fly into left field for his first RBI in the Blue and Gold, and the first run that Southern Miss has surrendered in the first inning of the season since 2017. A pickoff and a strikeout kept the Gauchos from getting any more, though, and the promise of a pitcher's duel was still alive.

It took until the fourth inning for Santa Barbara to figure out Southern Miss starter Colby Allen — a Preseason All-American like Flora — again, doing so with a two-out rally. After Jonathan Mendez's single up the middle was in danger of being for naught, Xavier Esquer snuck a double inside the third-base line and Karliner deposited a two-strike pitch into right center to score the two infielders.

Flora had to work through some trouble in the fifth and sixth, escaping a bases-loaded, two-out spot with a popout to Esquer in the fifth, then getting out of a really tough spot in the sixth. After hitting the first two Golden Eagles of the inning, Flora got back on top with his fifth punchout of the day, induced a foul-out to Husovsky at first, then combined with Goldstein on a clutch play to get out of the inning. A chopper got past Flora on the mound but not Goldstein at second, the freshman using his glove to flip the ball to the covering Flora at first. It took all six feet and five inches of Flora's frame to stretch and complete the out before the Southern Miss runner could hit the bag, but he managed it just in time.

That was ultimately Flora's last act of a stellar opening day performance, as Raymond Olivas picked up right where he had left off in the seventh, punctuating the one-two-three frame with a strikeout of his own. A solo home run and a single to lead off the eighth put an end to Santa Barbara's shutout bid and Olivas' night, with Hoover asked to save the game. He induced a double play for a strong start, then ended the eighth with a punchout.

The veteran lefty got some help from the young lefty, Kelly, in the top of the ninth, as Santa Barbara's centerfielder connected on his first career home run, driving home Esquer after his leadoff single to make the score 5-1.

Not that Hoover needed any more breathing room. He finished his save with a comfortable ninth inning, a two-out single the only blot on his ledger for the evening.

UP NEXT
The Gauchos return to Pete Taylor Park in Hattiesburg with a chance to secure the series win on Saturday, Feb. 14 in a daytime matchup. First pitch is scheduled for 10 a.m. Pacific Time, with Santa Barbara's Nathan Aceves set to oppose Southern Miss' Grayden Harris. The game will be live on ESPN+ with an audio-only broadcast and live stats available at ucsbgauchos.com.

(Article courtesy of UCSB Athletics)