UCSB Baseball is staging it’s own version of ‘March Madness’

UC SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - It has been a magnificent March for UCSB in college baseball.

After losing on March 3rd to Xavier, the Gauchos have reeled off 10 straight victories and are now 15-3 on the season including 3-0 in the Big West Conference.

The Gauchos are ranked in the top 20 in the country in three polls with the highest at #10 by Collegiate Baseball.

"The kids are doing a good job," said head coach Andrew Checketts.

UCSB has been dominating their opponents in most offensive and pitching categories.

Led by Arizona State transfer Ivan Brethowr's 6 home runs, UCSB has slugged 27 round-trippers and have allowed just 7 so far in 18 games.

The Gauchos have also stolen 35 bases while their opponents have managed just 12 against UCSB.

"Still playing a power and pressure offense," said Checketts. "We have led the conference in home runs and stolen bases three years in a row and hopefully this will be the fourth."

On the mound the Gauchos have a staff earned run average of 2.64 while their opponents has a bloated 5.94 ERA while facing UCSB.

"We are top ten in the country in a lot of pitching categories," began Checketts. "It starts with those starters they have done a really good job, our walk totals are down."

Lefty Mike Gutierrez is 3-1 with a 1.53 ERA while Matt Ager is also 3-1 with a 3.19 ERA and a team-leading 38 strikeouts.

The reigning Big West champion Gauchos host Cal State Northridge for a 3-game weekend series with the first pitch on Friday scheduled for 5:05pm.