Gauchos swept at home by UC Irvine as losing streak reaches 5 games
UC SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - Jonathan Mendez hit his fifth home run of the season for the No. 21 UC Santa Barbara Baseball team (15-7, 4-5 Big West) on Sunday, giving the Gauchos a 3-0 lead over UC Irvine (17-5, 8-1 Big West) at the time, but for the third game in a row, things got away from Santa Barbara late, and the Anteaters took the final game of the series by a 9-4 scoreline. It was the first series sweep suffered by the Gauchos since 2023. Calvin Proskey was unfortunate to be saddled with the loss again; he held the Irvine offense hitless through five innings before a series of unfortunate events saw seven runs, only two of which were earned, cross in the Anteater half of the sixth.
FROM HEAD COACH ANDREW CHECKETTS
"We've got work to do," Checketts said. "We played a really well-coached, well-schooled Irvine team that's firing on all cylinders, and they punished us for all our mistakes."
HOW IT HAPPENED
Santa Barbara had the upper hand on their guests early, with Proskey retiring the first six batters in the Anteater order in a row through the first and second frames, punching out a pair. Even when Irvine put runners aboard with two walks in the third, Proskey handled it, getting a strikeout and a fielder's choice groundout to end the frame.
In the bottom half of the third, the Gaucho offense put runs on the board, taking their first multi-run lead of the series. Xavier Esquer got on base with a one-out single then scored on LeTrey McCollum's triple to left center. Jack Holman was robbed of a hit when his screamer back up the middle got knocked down by Irvine's pitcher, but McCollum was still able to sprint home from third. Even better, Mendez cranked a two-out home run down the line, ending a five-game homerless streak for Santa Barbara and putting the Gauchos up, 3-0.
Proskey delivered a shutdown inning in the top of the fourth, sending the Anteaters packing in order, then did the same in the top of the fifth.
In the top of the sixth, Irvine's lead-off batter ended Proskey's no-hitter bid with a single, and the next man up doubled to put the Gauchos in a tough spot, facing two runners on with no outs. At that point, Proskey's dream start fully devolved into a nightmare for Santa Barbara. A soft liner on the infield should have been the first out, but it was dropped for an error, loading the bases with still no outs. Santa Barbara then had to trade a run for out number one on a grounder to second, leaving runners on second and third. On a different day, the Gauchos might have gotten out number two in the next at-bat, a hard-hit grounder that first baseman Cole Kosciusko was able to keep on the infield with a diving stop, but he could not make the play to first in time to prevent the infield single and another run scoring. That play ended Proskey's day on the mound, with Cole Tryba summoned to replace him.
Tryba walked the first batter he faced but responded by getting a strikeout for out number two and inducing a grounder that should have been out number three. However, the Gauchos tried to make the play at second rather than throwing to first and the timing just wasn't right. Everyone was safe, including the tying run at home. After that, a pair of two-RBI singles with a walk sandwiched in between made the score 7-3 Irvine.
A solo homer in the top of the seventh made it 8-3, and another solo homer in the ninth made it 9-3. The Gauchos did scratch across a run in their half of the ninth, though it ended up as nothing more than consolation. Jimmy Zakhar recorded his first hit as a Gaucho in his first at-bat as a Gaucho leading off the inning as a pinch hitter, and Reiss Calvin followed him with a single of his own. Zakhar would come around to score when McCollum reached on an error.
BY THE NUMBERS
Jimmy Zakhar became the second Gaucho this season to record a hit in his first at-bat for the team on Sunday; Xavier Esquer did so on Feb. 14 with an RBI single against Campbell.
Jonathan Mendez's third-inning home run was his fifth long ball of the season and his team-leading 15th extra-base hit of the year. More than half of his hits have gone for extra bases this season, and the sophomore is slugging .568 through 22 games.
UP NEXT
The Gauchos will look to put this series behind them quickly as they head out on the road for their next five games. First up is a trip north to Moraga to face Saint Mary's on Tuesday, March 25 at 3 p.m. Santa Barbara then resumes Big West play with a road series at Long Beach State, March 27-29. The Gauchos' next home game is on April 4 at 4:35 p.m., when they host UC Davis.
(Article courtesy of UCSB Athletics).
