UCSB reliever Clayton Hall pitched out a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the ninth inning as the Gauchos beat UC Irvine, 6-5, in the first game of a showdown between the top two baseball teams in the Big West at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium on Friday.

Jordan Sprinkle kept his hot bat alive, becoming the first Gaucho to have a five-hit game since Luke Swenson in 2015. Sprinkle went  5-for-5 with two runs, a double, an RBI, and a stolen base.

Four different Gauchos accounted for the team’s 12 hits. Cole Cummings went 3 for 5 with a home run, a double, three runs, and an RBI. Zach Rodriguez and Jason Willow each went 2-for-3 with an RBI.

Michael McGreevy earned the start for the Gauchos, tossing 4.1 innings of work in a rare no-decision for the sophomore. He gave up just three earned and struck out three. Entering in the fifth inning was the hot arm of Carter Benbrook (5-1) who was brilliant once again, hanging all zeros on the scoreboard with four strikeouts to pick up the win.

First-placed UCI got the bats going early, putting up a three spot in the top of the first. But the Gauchos were quick to respond in the bottom half as Cummings scored UCSB’s first run on a heads-up baserunning over at third base. Rodriguez cut the lead to 3-2 on an RBI single that scored Sprinkle from second. 

Two more came across for the Anteaters in the third to extend their lead to 5-2.

UCSB battled back as Christian Kirtley hit a sac-fly to right to score Sprinkle, and Jason Willow brought Rodriguez home on a single to make it a one-run game at 5-4. 

Sprinkle struck again in the fourth, this time with the tying run, as the freshman shortstop doubled down the left line to score Cummings and make it 5-5.

The game-winning run came just two innings later as Cummings crushed a ball to the deepest part of the park for a solo-shot, his fifth of the season.

UCI went quiet through the middle innings but the heart of the order came around in the top of the ninth and loaded the bases on Benbrook with no outs. Enter Hall, a sophomore with less than 10 innings under his belt in his young Gaucho career.

Hall fanned the first batter he faced. The next Eater to the plate hit a dribbler to third and Cummings fired home to get the lead runner. Finally, on a 2-2 count, Hall brought home the perfect pitch and struck out the UCI batter to end the game.