Chase Hoover was stellar out of the bullpen and Rowan Kelly broke a tie with a RBI single in the seventh inning, sparking the UC Santa Barbara baseball team to an 8-4 win at Cal State Northridge in the opener of a three-game Big West series on Friday.
Hoover, a San Marcos alum, replaced ace Jackson Flora after Northridge took a 5-4 lead in the fifth and he delivered in four shutout innings. After a pair of one-out walks in the ninth, Josh Jannicelli entered the game and got the final two outs.
The Gauchos took the lead in the seventh. Liam Barrett led off with a single, moved into scoring position on Corey Nunez’s sacrifice bunt, then scored on Kelly’s RBI base hit.
Hoover was perfect in the bottom of the seventh, and the offense gave him insurance in the eighth. Noah Karliner’s double started the rally, scoring when Barrett reached on a fielding error. Nate Vargas brought home Barrett, then Kelly hit his third RBI single of the night to plate the eighth run.
For the first time all season, Flora allowed more than two runs and did not get out of the fifth inning. The Matadors loaded the bases before making an out against the nation’s ERA leader in the first, though Flora got out of it with just one run against him. However, CSUN got two more runs in the second with a trio of singles.
The Gaucho offense picked up their pitcher in the top of the third. Xavier Esquer led off with a single, and a pair of one-out hits from Barrett and Corey Nunez loaded the bases. Vargas drew a walk to bring home Santa Barbara’s first run, then Kelly drove a single off the wall in right field to cut the Gauchos’ deficit to one. William Vasseur flipped the script with his two-run single into left field, giving UCSB a 4-3 lead.
Working with a lead, Flora looked like his usual self in the third and fourth, retiring the side in order in both frames. In the fourth, he struck out the side. A solo home run tied the game again in the top of the fifth and a single ended his evening, with Hoover asked to play the role of fireman again. He allowed one hit but got out of the fifth with the game still tied, and he kept it that way.
Barrett finished 3 for 6 from the leadoff spot, with three runs scored, while Kelly went 3-5 with three RBIs.
UCSB improves to 32-15 overall and 17-8 in the Big West.
