The UC Santa Barbara (34-16) and California Baptist (40-13) baseball teams found themselves in a mirror image of their first meeting this year on Monday night, with one side racing out to an 8-0 lead before the other rallied back in the late innings.
This time, it was the Lancers who took the early advantage, with the Gauchos mounting an eighth-inning comeback. However, like in the first round, the team that led first held on for a five-run win.
CBU ended Santa Barbara’s winning streak after seven games and made a split of the season series with their 8-3 victory.
After Gaucho starter Nathan Aceves threw an economical eight-pitch first inning and a scoreless second, the visitors got on the board with an RBI single and a two-run home run in the top of the third.
Aceves’ day ended at the beginning of the fourth, but the Lancers got another RBI single off of his replacement to run their lead up to four.
Chase Hoover put out the fire and silenced the CBU offense for 2 2/3 innings but the Lancers found their way through again in the top of the seventh, with a solo shot and another two-run homer making it 7-0. Seven became eight in the top of the eighth with an RBI double.
In the bottom of the eighth, the Gaucho offense finally came to life. Xavier Esquer’s walk and Noah Karliner’s single through the right side put two ducks on the pond for Santa Barbara for the first time of the evening, and Liam Barrett cashed them in.
His two-RBI double put the Gauchos on the board, then a throwing error allowed Barrett to come all the way home from second himself. With the score now 8-3, Nate Vargas was hit by a pitch to extend the inning, but that would be all for Santa Barbara’s two-out rally. And there was no further rallying in the ninth. The game ended with that same 8-3 margin.
The Gauchos complete their regular season with a three-game Big West series against UC Riverside, Thursday, May 14 through Saturday, May 16.
Santa Barbara would guarantee itself The Big West Regular Season Championship and top seed for the conference tournament with a sweep, though the bare minimum is just matching whatever results Cal Poly achieves against Long Beach State.