Corey Nunez hammered the first grand slam of his career in the second inning of Sunday’s series finale to help No. 24 UC Santa Barbara take an early 5-0 lead over Oregon, but the Ducks rallied back to win, 16-9, denying the Gauchos’ bid for a second consecutive sweep at PK Park.

Nunez finished with a game-high five RBI on the day; Jonathan Mendez, Reiss Calvin and Nick Putnam also drove in runs for Santa Barbara.

Everything was going the way of the Gauchos early on Sunday, as starter Ryan Gallagher worked his way out of a bases-loaded jam in the bottom of the first inning before the Santa Barbara offense capitalized on a bases-loaded spot in the top of the second.

Two walks sandwiched a LeTrey McCollum double to fill the bags with Gauchos, then Nunez drove them all home with his grand slam deep to left.

The Gauchos had a chance to score more in the frame, as singles from Jessada Brown and Brendan Durfee plus a hit-by-pitch from Justin Trimble re-loaded the bases with two outs, but they were left stranded.

Gallagher worked around a double in the bottom of the second, then got an additional run of support in the top of the third, as the freshman Mendez made the most of his first collegiate start.

After a single and an errant pick-off attempt got McCollum to second, the rookie shortstop smacked a double down the left field line for his first career extra-base hit and RBI.

Oregon cut into the lead with a three-run home run in the bottom half of the fourth, chasing Gallagher from the game in the process, then scored another run off reliever Reed Moring after leading off the bottom of the fifth with a hit batter and a single, the former of which would come around to score.

The Ducks opened up a massive lead in an ugly bottom of the sixth inning which saw the Gauchos use five pitchers and surrender nine runs on a bases-loaded hit batter, an RBI single, two bases-loaded walks, a wild pitch and a sacrifice fly, making it 13-5.

Two more Oregon runs came home on a wild pitch and a sacrifice fly in the seventh, and they pushed across another run in the bottom of the eighth.

The Gauchos did reduce the arrears in the top of the ninth, working five walks in the frame en route to putting four runs on the board.

Trimble led off the inning with a double; he would come around to score on a bases-loaded walk to Nunez, then Calvin walked to score Nick Oakley, and Putnam, who had pinch-hit for Durfee in the eighth, walked to score McCollum.

Nunez himself scored the Gauchos’ ninth and final run on a wild pitch.

Jonathan Mendez made an impact in his first collegiate start, going 2-for-5 at the plate, recording his first RBI and extra-base hit with a run-scoring double.

Peter Storjohann made his first appearance out of the bullpen for Santa Barbara; the junior college transfer struck out the first hitter he faced and allowed just one unearned run over the final 1 1/3 innings for the Gauchos.

Brendan Durfee (.400/.571/.600, two doubles) and Corey Nunez (six RBI) were both standout hitters for the Gauchos on the weekend.

Durfee went 1-for-3 with a walk while Nunez drove in five of those RBI on Sunday. Santa Barbara likely missed Zander Darby’s bat in the lineup, he had hit .500 across the first two games of the series.

After not playing a four-hour game in all of 2023, Sunday was already the Gauchos’ second 240-minute game of 2024, clocking in at four hours and four minutes.

The other was the season opener at Campbell, a four-hour, two-minute affair.

The Gauchos will return to California for their next mid-week contest, taking on Villanova on Tuesday, March 5. Tuesday’s game will be held at Loyola Marymount’s Page Stadium in Los Angeles, with first pitch set for 5:05 p.m.

Admission to the game is free, and a live audio broadcast and live stats will be available through ucsbgauchos.com.

UC Santa Barbara will play its first home game of the season on Friday, March 8 when they host UConn at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium.