The No. 25 UC Santa Barbara Baseball team scored nine unanswered runs to overcome a 5-1 deficit and win Friday night’s Big West opener over Long Beach State, 10-5. 

Brendan Durfee played the hero with two big swings, a three-run home run to spark the rally and a two-RBI single to put the Gauchos in front. Tyler Bremner was crucial as well, playing the role of fireman on the mound and shutting down the Dirtbags to close the game.

Santa Barbara’s efforts earned Acting Head Coach Matt Fonteno his first win as Gauchos’ skipper while Andrew Checketts took leave following the passing of his father.

Prior to Friday night’s game, the team held a moment’s silence and dedicated both this weekend’s series and the remainder of its season to the late Gordon Checketts.

“Andrew has done an unbelievable job preparing all of us, whether it be the coaching staff, the players, to perform at a very high level,” Fonteno said. “What you saw today is a result of his hard work and all he’s poured into us as a coaching staff — myself, Coach Jones, Coach Erdman and Gianni Bloom.

“We’ve benefited from his mentorship and were able to show some good coaching, if you will, today in this victory.”

Santa Barbara ace Matt Ager was not at his sharpest Friday night, allowing five runs, four of which were earned, in his five innings of work.

The fact he was able to grind out those five innings would prove crucial later in the game, but it was a tough start, as the Dirtbags got on the board in the very first inning after Ager’s errant pickoff attempt allowed a lead-off single to turn into a runner on third with nobody out. That run would come home on a sacrifice fly.

Long Beach added a solitary run in the third on an RBI single and another one on a solo homer in the fifth, but they really did their damage in the fourth, putting up a crooked number with a two-RBI double.

They could have had more, but Ager stranded Dirtbags on second and third to end the frame.

After a strong start, scoring a run of their own in the first on an Ivan Brethowr bases-loaded walk, the Gaucho offense cooled off until the bottom of the fifth, the first time they got their lead-off batter on base Friday. 

LeTrey McCollum opened the frame with a single into right, then Reiss Calvin was hit by his team-leading seventh pitch of the season. With two on and nobody out, Durfee drilled a homer out to right, cutting the Long Beach lead to just 5-4.

“(Fonteno) was just calming me down a little bit,” Durfee said. “We talked about how those first couple of at-bats were a little uncharacteristic, went in there just free swinging, but stuck to an approach that third at-bat.

“Got myself a two-hole count again but just dug in, knew that we had some RBI opportunities, a chance to get this game a little bit closer, got a pitch to drive, and caught it on the barrel.”

Tyler Bremner relieved Ager for the top of the sixth and made sure the score stayed where it was, setting down the Dirtbags in order with two of his seven strikeouts on the night.

With Bremner in gear and the offense sparked, the Gauchos were like a boulder coming down hill, and they put up a second consecutive three-spot on offense in the bottom of the sixth.

Brethowr led it off with his second walk, then Nick Oakley laid down a sacrifice bunt to move him over, nearly beating the throw to first himself. Jonathan Mendez’s double into the left-field corner let him and Brethowr trade places and tied the game.

McCollum then reached on a fielder’s choice, with Long Beach trying and failing to get Mendez out, and Calvin walked to lead the bases. Durfee came back up and delivered another big swing, this time sending a two-run single screaming down the right-field line.

Bremner set down the side in order again in the seventh and only faced three batters in the eighth. After issuing a lead-off walk, the lone blemish on his record on the night, he picked that runner off at first, then struck out the next two Dirtbags.

The Gauchos piled on some insurance with another three-run frame in their half of the eighth on an Aaron Parker RBI single and a two-run single from Jessada Brown, then Bremner returned to shut the door in the ninth. He punctuated the win with strikeouts number six and seven on the evening.

“It’s huge, being able to overcome an early deficit, a late deficit, whatever it might be,” Fonteno said. “Whether it be on the defensive side, because of the defense or the offense or the pitching side, and to be able to overcome it in various types of ways, it’s huge for our group.

“They’ve shown how they’ve really built up a lot of mental toughness because of that. They realize that they can push through some challenging stuff and come out the other end victorious.”

Santa Barbara will look to secure the series win on Saturday, March 16 in game two of this three-game set against Long Beach.

First pitch is set for 3:05 p.m. from Caesar Uyesaka Stadium, with Mike Gutierrez scheduled to take the ball for the Gauchos, opposed by Santa Barbara native Kellan Montgomery for the Dirtbags.

The game will be live on ESPN+ with live stats and an audio broadcast available through ucsbgauchos.com.