Sweet 16! UCSB is now 16-0 at home as Gutierrez and Parker lead Gauchos past Titans

UC SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - Saturday night was a near-perfect one for the UC Santa Barbara Baseball team as two Gauchos joined the 200-strikeout club to help their team become the new owners of the longest active home winning streak in college baseball. The Gauchos defeated Cal State Fullerton, 5-1, for their 16th consecutive win at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium behind Mike Gutierrez's seven-plus-inning, nine strikeout start and home runs from Ivan Brethowr and Aaron Parker.

Gutierrez's nine K's not only match his single-game career high but also bring his career total up to 205 in Blue and Gold, the eighth most in program history. The veteran lefty also earned his 21st victory in 24 decisions as a Gaucho, one of just 10 Santa Barbara pitchers to ever reach 21 wins and currently the winningest Gaucho pitcher of all time by percentage. Matt Ager relieved him and recorded a pair of strikeouts to bring his career total up to an even 200.

FROM HEAD COACH ANDREW CHECKETTS
On the team's performance: "It didn't start out well for us," Checketts said. "We hit the first guy on the second pitch and then over-play a bunt, but I thought, really good job by Gutierrez to just give up one. That could have got ugly on us and we could have been chasing a crooked number, then he settled in after that and did a really nice job. I thought offensively it was going to be, when I saw 7:05, I thought it was going to be like this, heavier air, tougher to hit, and you know Ivan (Brethowr) hit that ball a long ways, AP (Parker) did what middle-of-the-order dudes are supposed to do. Really nice job by the two guys in front of him setting that up with the walk-walk and not chasing to get him to the plate."

On Gutierrez and Ager reaching 200 strikeouts: "I don't know, is that a lot," Checketts said, laughing. "Cool milestones for those guys, and hopefully they get a lot more strikeouts the rest of the year."

HOW IT HAPPENED
The Titans did strike first thanks to some first-inning small ball, with a hit batter and two bunts putting a pair of runners in scoring position. A single drove in the first runner, but when Fullerton tried to bunt home a second, Gutierrez fielded his position well, charging off the mound and shoveling the ball home in time for the out. Another groundout got the lefty out of the inning with just the one run against his name. The game remained a pitchers' duel, with Gutierrez retiring the Titans in order in the second and third, then recording career strikeout number 200 to work around traffic in the fourth.

The Gaucho offense got on the board in the bottom of the fourth with one very loud hit. Brethowr blasted a no-doubt homer that could have carried all the way to the Santa Ynez Mountains to tie the game at one, and an inning later Santa Barbara took the lead with another long ball. Jonathan Mendez and Brendan Durfee worked back-to-back two-out walks to keep the fifth inning alive for Parker, who rewarded their patience with an easy trot home. The Gauchos' powerhouse drilled a line-drive homer to the opposite field, bouncing off the top of the wall in right center and out of the ballpark to make it 4-1 Santa Barbara.

While Gutierrez kept mowing down Titans on the mound, Jessada Brown and Jonah Sebring combined to provide an insurance run in the sixth. Brown led off the inning with a double into the right field corner, then took third on a one-out wild pitch, drawing the infield in. Sebring paid no mind, hitting a line drive into right center and legging out an RBI double.

Fullerton finally got Gutierrez off the mound with a pair of singles in the eighth inning, drawing Ager out of the bullpen. The righty's second pitch ended the frame thanks to some good fielding from Durfee behind the plate, the catcher pouncing on a ball that deadened right in front of him and throwing to first in time. Ager got the first two outs of the ninth with back-to-back strikeouts to hit his double century, though he did allow a walk and an infield single in the frame. A groundout to first ended the game.

BY THE NUMBERS
Prior to Saturday night, only two Gauchos, Shane Bieber and Rodney Boone, had hit the 200 career strikeout mark in the 21st century, and none of the seven men to ever reach the mark had done so in the same year, let alone the same game.
Mike Gutierrez earned his 21st victory as a Gaucho with a line of 7 2/3 innings pitched, five hits, one earned run, nine strikeouts, one walk and two hit batters. He is one of just 10 men to win 21 games in Santa Barbara's Blue and Gold, tied for the fifth-most career victories in program history. The record belongs to Dan Yokubaitis, whom Gutierrez could tie by earning wins in each of Santa Barbara's final four regular season series.
With his home run on Saturday, Ivan Brethowr brought his on-base plus slugging percent to 1.025, one of just eight men in The Big West with an OPS over 1.000. Aaron Parker, who also homered Saturday, is another member of that club, with an OPS of 1.072
It was a capacity crowd at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium for the second night in a row on Saturday, with folks watching through the outfield fence to bring the official attendance count up over the venue's 850-fan cap. Friday night was also a sellout, the first since 2019.

UP NEXT
The Gauchos will look to sweep Cal State Fullerton for the first time since 1986 in Sunday's series finale, with first pitch at 1:05 p.m. Sunday is Youth Day at the ballpark; kids will be able to run the bases at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium following the end of the game.

(Article courtesy of UCSB Athletics)