Darby and Brethowr power Gauchos past Oregon to open up 3-game baseball series

EUGENE, Oregon. - Ivan Brethowr's seventh-inning grand slam broke open a close game and proved to be the deciding play in UC Santa Barbara Baseball's 6-2 win over No. 20 Oregon Friday afternoon. The Gauchos (3-2) got strong pitching performances from Mike Gutierrez and Alex Schrier, plus an early Zander Darby home run kept UCSB from ever trailing the Ducks (4-1). Gutierrez went 5.1 innings, allowing six hits but only one run to earn his first win of the season, and Schrier pitched the final three frames to pick up the save.

This 3-game series will conclude on Saturday with a doubleheader with game one starting at 11:05am.

(UCSB Athletics contributed to this article).