Gauchos win at Irvine and move into a first place tie in Big West
IRVINE, Calif. (KEYT) - In a reversal of the usual roles, the UC Santa Barbara Baseball team (24-11, 11-5 Big West) rode its offense to success, with six early runs helping smooth over some early bumps in the road for ace starting pitcher Jackson Flora, eventually rolling to a 7-3 series-opening win over UC Irvine (16-20, 7-9 Big West). Eight of the combined 10 runs came in the first three innings, with Flora surrendering a pair in the first. He settled in afterwards, ending the evening with nine strikeouts, including the 200th of his career. Corey Nunez smacked a home run for late insurance, and Chase Hoover handled most of the relief duties on the mound before Raymond Olivas slammed the door.
The Gauchos are in a 3-way tie for first place in the Big West with UC San Diego and Cal Poly.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Gauchos came out swinging. Well, bunting, as Colin Beazizo's walk, Liam Barrett's bunt single and William Vasseur's sacrifice put two runners in scoring position for reigning Big West Player of the Week Nate Vargas, who stayed hot and drove a two-run double into left center. He got to come home too, scoring on Rowan Kelly's infield single that was effectively a swinging bunt.
The Anteaters went walk, double to get one of those runs back in their half of the first, then scored a second on a passed ball as Flora had to work his way through the inning. He was better in the second, working around a pair of walks to keep Santa Barbara's 3-2 lead intact. He also hit a major milestone, racking up the 200th strikeout of his career in the frame. The Irvine traffic stuck around for the third though again, Flora navigated it.
It helped that the righty's cushion was far more comfortable by that third inning. Vargas led off the top of the third with a four-pith walk, then scored on another Kelly RBI single. Santa Barbara punished Anteater mistakes to plate two more, with a dropped fly ball that would have been the third out instead allowing Kelly and Jonathan Mendez to come home safely and extend the Gauchos' advantage to 6-2.
Flora put up another zero in the fourth, then finally worked a perfect frame in the fifth. He wrapped up his night with another perfect frame in the sixth, his swan song for the evening. Nunez drove a home run to left on the very first pitch of the seventh, then Hoover took the mound after the stretch and picked up right where his right-handed counterpart left off, punching out a pair of Anteaters as part of a perfect inning. Hoover allowed two singles in the eighth but got out of the inning unscathed thanks to two more strikeouts and a nice catch from Beazizo in foul ground down the left field line.
Some sloppy play allowed Irvine to score once in the bottom of the ninth, but Olivas entered and got the final two outs of the game.
UP NEXT
The Gauchos will look to secure the series win on Saturday, as they return to Anteater Ballpark at 1 p.m. for game two. Nathan Aceves is set to take the mound for Santa Barbara. Fans can catch all the action live on ESPN+ or by following along with live stats and a free audio-only broadcast at ucsbgauchos.com.
(Article courtesy of UCSB Athletics)
