Gauchos can’t hang on to lead and lose at Cal Baptist

RIVERSIDE, Calif. -UC Santa Barbara Baseball's Brendan Durfee continued his hot streak at the plate Tuesday night, hitting his third home run in four games, but it was one of just seven long balls on the night, five of which belonged to the hosting California Baptist Lancers. The home team's middle-innings power surge spelled doom for the Gauchos, who fell by a score of 9-6.

HOW IT HAPPENED
Santa Barbara struck first in the home run derby to be Tuesday night, with Nick Oakley launching a solo home run over the tall wall in right field to lead off the second inning. In the third, it was the extra height on that fence that denied Ivan Brethowr what would have been a two-run shot, with the big outfielder having to settle for a double. Durfee was on first base to start the play, but only got around to third.

Matt Ager, playing the role of opener rather than a true starter in Tuesday's game to stay available for the weekend, mowed through the Lancers in the first two innings, going six up, six down, but hit a rough patch in the third. Two singles and a double turned into the tying run and ended Ager's day, with Jackson Flora coming in from the bullpen and ending the CBU rally.

After both sides went down in order in the fourth, Santa Barbara re-took the lead to start the fifth inning, with LeTrey McCollum working a walk and Aaron Parker getting aboard after being hit by a pitch to set the table for Durfee. The lefty muscled up and homered to the opposite field, drilling a ball off the left field scoreboard to make it 4-1 Gauchos.

However, the Lancers well and truly made it a home run derby in the bottom of the fifth, hitting three long balls as part of a six-run frame. Two more solo shots in the sixth made it 9-4 in favor of the hosts. Cole Tryba was able to finally cool the Lancer bats, preventing them from scoring any more runs for the rest of the evening and giving the Gaucho offense the chance to chip away.

Chip away they did in the seventh, leading off the frame with consecutive singles, then capitalizing on sloppy defense to scratch across a run. Durfee's flyout to center started the play, but it was a bad throw trying to catch the trail runner taking second that cost the Lancers, with Reiss Calvin scoring on the play and Parker, that trail runner, advancing to third. He would come home to score on an Ivan Brethowr RBI groundout, cutting CBU's lead to just three.

Jessada Brown led off the eighth inning with a single, but the Gauchos could not muster any more of a rally in that frame, and they went down in order in the ninth.

BY THE NUMBERS
Brendan Durfee's home run was his ninth of the season, tying him with Ivan Brethowr for the team lead.
Nick Oakley's home run was his third of the year, the second against a left-handed pitcher. The left-handed Oakley is hitting .316 against lefties this season.
Cole Tryba was perfect over 2 1/3 innings of relief on Tuesday, striking out five of the seven batters he faced to keep Santa Barbara in the game. He has allowed a total of four hits and two runs over his last seven outings.

UP NEXT
The Gauchos return to the friendly confines of Caesar Uyesaka Stadium this weekend to host a pivotal three-game series against defending Big West Champions UC San Diego, May 3-5. Santa Barbara swept the Tritons, who come into the weekend just one game behind the Gauchos in the win column, in La Jolla in 2023 and the last time they visited Caesar Uyesaka Stadium back in 2022.

(Article courtesy of UCSB Athletics)