Gauchos drop series opener at Sacramento State 6-2

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - The UC Santa Barbara Baseball team got a home run from Justin Trimble but could not finish the rally in Friday's game at Sacramento State, falling to the Hornets, 6-2, in the series opener. The hosts drove in four of their six runs with two outs on the board, while Trimble's homer was the only scoring play for Santa Barbara.

HOW IT HAPPENED
The two-out troubles got to the Gauchos in the very first inning, with the Hornets plating a pair of runs before letting the bottom of the first end. An infield single came around to score on the first of two two-out doubles, a stinging drive that hugged the left field line. A long fly ball to right field provided the second Hornet double, and with it, the second Hornet run.

Jonah Sebring, who had watched that second double fly over his head, nearly got a run back for the Gauchos to start the second inning, blasting a loud fly ball to left field, only to see it caught at the warning track. Trimble singled later in the frame but could not spark a two-out rally.

The Hornets sure could though, doing so again in the bottom of the second. A lead-off walk and a wild pitch put a runner on second for the hosts, and a dying line-drive to left field drove that runner home, despite the best efforts of LeTrey McCollum. The Gauchos' left fielder insisted he had come up with the catch on his diving attempt, but the umpires called it a hit and, with no cameras at the field, there was no review.

That third run would prove to be the decider, though Trimble did his best to seize momentum for Santa Barbara in the top of the fifth. After Corey Nunez reached on an error to start the inning, Trimble launched a moonshot well over the fence in right-center field to cut the deficit to one. Zander Darby nearly conjured a two-out hit later in the frame, but his fly ball toward the right-center gap was hauled in by the diving Hornet centerfielder.

If Santa Barbara had gotten any momentum, it swung firmly back in Sacramento State's direction in the bottom of the fifth, as a throwing error and a double put runners on second and third with no outs. Both of those Hornets would come home on sacrifice flies to restore the home team's three-run lead.

Santa Barbara's last two rally opportunities, in the sixth and seventh innings, were both shut down. Brendan Durfee led off the sixth with a hard-hit ball to right field, but the Gauchos' catcher hit it so hard that he had hardly rounded first by the time the fielder had corralled it, and Durfee was stuck with a single. That turned out to matter, as a double play ended the inning. In the seventh, Sebring could have legged out a double on his fly ball into left field, but settled for a single. He would end up stranded on second.

The Hornets added an insurance run on yet another two-out hit in the eighth, then set down the Gauchos in order in the top of the ninth.

ON THE SCORECARD
Tyler Bremner provided Santa Barbara's sharpest pitching performance of the day, working 2 2/3 perfect innings of relief, striking out three Hornets.
Justin Trimble was the lone Gaucho with multiple hits in Friday's game, going 2-for-3 to bump his season batting average up to .300.
Zander Darby and Brendan Durfee both went 1-for-4 at the plate, extending their streaks of hitting in every game this season. Durfee's hit streak is now up to 12 consecutive games going back to last season; Darby now has a 13-game on-base streak including games in 2023.
Matt Ager took the loss on the mound. He finished the day with a line of 4 1/3 innings pitched, allowing five runs (three earned) on five hits and two walks, striking out five.

UP NEXT
The Gauchos and Hornets will play the second game of this three-game series on Saturday, Feb. 24, at 6 p.m. Mike Gutierrez is scheduled to take the ball for Santa Barbara as they look to even the series at Sacramento's John Smith Field. An audio broadcast and live stats will both be available through ucsbgauchos.com.

(Article courtesy of UCSB Athletics)