The UCSB baseball team dropped its third straight Big West game, falling to UC Irvine, 5-4, on Friday at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium.
The latest setback drops the Gauchos (21-10, 6-4 Big West) to fifth place in the standings.
The Gauchos were propelled by Christian Kirtley’s standout performance at the plate, He accounted for all three of the Gauchos’ extra-base hits, two of them home runs.
“It was a good battle, a good game, some great pitching, timely hitting from both teams, a little bit more timely hitting for them, and a couple of key mistakes on our end,” said coach Andrew Checketts.
The Gauchos jumped out to a lead following one a Kirtley homer in the bottom of the first inning.
Small ball was the winning factor in this ballgame for the Anteaters.
In the third inning, they got a lead-off double and a sacrifice bunt. Shortstop Dub Gleed scored from third on a wild pitch to knot the game up at one.
The Gauchos came back in the bottom of the fourth inning. With a lead-off double from Kirtley and a Jared Sundstrom walk, catcher Aaron Parker came up clutch with an RBI single up the middle.
Broc Mortensen would add one more to the lead with a sacrifice fly to right field, scoring Sundstrom from third. The threat would end following two strikeouts to end the inning.
“It feels like we’re close to getting back to what we can do but we’re still not there, too many punchouts on our end,” Checketts stated.
Two runs came across the top of the fifth inning for the Anteaters following a lead-off walk and an error to start the inning.
“The lead off walks hurt us in the inning where they scored two runs, not a lot of hits,” Checketts pointed out.
In the sixth, UC Irvine tacked on another with a solo home run. After a double and walk, Matt Ager’s day was done. Checketts brought in lefty Hudson Barrett.
“I felt like it was our best chance to keep it close,” Checketts said on Barrett’s early appearance. “I felt like we could score some runs and give our offense a chance to get back in there. I thought we were capable of doing more, so we gambled and lost.”
The Anteaters used another lead-off walk in the seventh to score another run for a 5-3 lead.
The Gauchos wouldn’t go down without a fight. They managed to claw back in the bottom of the eighth inning on Kirtley’s second solo homer of the day.
John Newman Jr. singled with one down in the ninth inning, but the rally was quickly shut down.
The teams resume their three-game series Saturday.
Notes: Checketts said starting pitcher Mike Gutierrez is on his way back from injury.
“He’s had a fantastic year so far. We’re looking forward to getting him back out there,” said Checketts.
Parker was nominated for the Buster Posey award for the best catcher in the nation.
