UC Santa Barbara’s baseball celebration at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium last week was so pronounced that it turned into a doubleheader.
The bucket of Gatorade that was dumped on coach Andrew Checketts was soon followed by another filled with water.
“The Gatorade one felt like a nice, little warm bath, but the second one was ice water,” he said. “They caught me off guard both times … They got me. I was not anticipating that.”
That was also true of the Big West Conference championship that his Gauchos had just clinched with their series sweep of UC Riverside.
“When we did the preseason coaches’ poll, I picked us to finish fourth … and I felt that even that might be wishful thinking,” Checketts admitted to Noozhawk.
Veteran teams at Long Beach State and UC Irvine placed Nos. 1 and 2 in the preseason survey.
But UCSB not only won the Big West for the second time in three full seasons, it dominated the entire circuit in historic fashion. The Gauchos, the only team in the nation that didn’t lose even one series all season, finished five games ahead of second-place Cal Poly.
College World Series-Worthy?
“That’s a World Series team right there,” Cal State Bakersfield coach Jeremy Beard gushed on Saturday after UCSB pummeled the Roadrunners’ pitching for 32 runs and 45 hits in a three-game sweep. “Hopefully they go all the way to Omaha and win that thing.”
The Gauchos’ league record of 27-3 computes to a winning percentage of .900, ranking third in the Big West record books. It was exceeded only by Fresno State’s College World Series club of 1988 (20-1, .952) and UC Irvine’s 2009 team (21-2, .913).
UCSB, 43-12 overall, is ranked in the top 25 of every national poll and as high as No. 4 by Collegiate Baseball. Its 43 victories are the fifth-most in Gauchos’ history and have them within three of the school record (46-21 set in 1984) when they head to this week’s NCAA Tournament.
They will travel to the Stanford Regional and face Texa State (45-12) in their playoff opener on Friday at 6 p.m. The host Cardinal (41-14), the No. 2 national seed, will play Binghamton (22-28) in the Regional opener at 1 p.m.
But Checketts would have predicted none of this last March. First-team all-leaguers Michael McGreevy and Rodney Boone, his top two starting pitchers from last year’s NCAA Regional team, are now in the minor leagues.
He also got a cold dousing of reality when another first-team all-league pitcher, lefthanded reliever Carter Benbrook, was ruled out for the season with an elbow injury. It was difficult to be bullish about a remaining bullpen that was strikingly inexperienced.
The top of the batting order was also mostly gone. All-league infielders Marcos Castanon (.404) and Cole Cummings (.341) had joined McGreevy and Boone in pro ball. Sophomore Zach Rodriguez (.348), a first-team all-league outfielder and Checketts’ leading RBI man (55) in 2021, decided to quit baseball and concentrate on his studies.
The dark clouds gathering over Caesar Uyesaka Stadium began chilling Checketts the deeper the Gauchos got into their fall season.
“We played Pepperdine and Cal Poly and got smoked in both games,” he said.
New Starting Cast
The pitching staff, the backbone of UCSB’s program during Checketts’ first 10 seasons as coach, had become twisted into a question mark.
“We didn’t know if we were going to have a Friday ace,” he said. “Our Saturday and Sunday guys are in their first year of playing Division I baseball.
“So, yeah, from a win-loss perspective, they really found ways to get through it and perform well.”
Much of that has come from the consistency of UCSB’s pitching rotation of sophomore Cory Lewis (9-0 record, 3.35 earned-run average), sophomore J.C. transfer Mike Gutierrez (8-1, 3.02), and freshman Ryan Gallagher (8-0, 3.00). Gaucho pitching has struck out 523 batters this season, second in school history only to last year’s 619 punch-outs.
Lewis had been the caboose of last year’s McGreevy Train, starting the Gauchos’ Sunday games.
“Cory has stepped in to be a real Friday guy,” Checketts said. “He’s had only a couple of bad outings all year and has given us a legitimate shot to win those games.
“Gutierrez has been an all-conference pitcher and I don’t think he’s even thrown to his capabilities yet.
“Gallagher has been solid and has a chance to be spectacular down the road. He throws strikes with multiple pitches. Given a little more room to grow, he has a chance to become the next McGreevy or (Shane) Bieber.”
Bieber was the pitching ace the last time the Gauchos exceeded Checketts’ expectations. UCSB had lost most of its top players from its top-seeded Regional team of 2015 but was still able to advance to its first College World Series in 2016.
“In 2016, we didn’t know that Bieber was going to win a Cy Young Award (for Cleveland in 2020),” Checketts said. “We knew he was good but it was hard to predict that.
“Can Cory Lewis be a Cy Young winner and beat the third-ranked team (Louisville) on the road like Bieber did? Kyle Nelson ended up being a big leaguer, too, and we were able to pass the ball from big leaguer to big leaguer that year.”
Walks on the Wild Side
This year’s bullpen doesn’t give Checketts the same calming relief that Nelson gave him from 2015 to 2017. It’s responsible for a big chunk of the staff’s 255 walks, which ranks ninth-highest in school history.
But that same group has also set a Gaucho record for saves. Ryan Harvey’s 11th of the season in Friday’s 9-6 win at Bakersfield gave UCSB 20 on the season, breaking the record of 19 set in 2019.
“That part of it has been remarkable, leading the conference in ERA (3.84) but also second-most in walks per nine innings,” Checketts said. “Those usually don’t go hand-in-hand. I think they’ve found ways to get through it.
“We’re young in the bullpen. We’ve got four guys who are throwing their first year of Division I baseball and they’ve acted like it at times. But we’ve had guys come in and get big stops, even when it’s gotten a little ugly for us.”
His explosive offense has also helped mask the ugliness. His 2016 College World Series club batted .259 with 32 home runs. This year’s team is 30 points better at .289 with 72 homers — just one off the school record of 73 set during the 64-game season of 1986.
“We feel like we can score and we feel like we can score quickly,” Checketts said. “We’re a walk and a bloop and a home run away from scoring three because of the way the offense is lined up. It makes you feel like you’re never out of it and gives you a sense of confidence going into (the NCAA Tournament).
“They have been battle-tested, having gone to Oregon to play three one-run games and winning two of them … And going to Cal Poly in a hostile environment and playing some close games and coming out on top in each one.”
Rapture of the Deep
Depth has been critical to UCSB’s consistency. When starters such as catcher John Newman and second baseman Zander Darby went down with injuries, Gianni Bloom and Nick Oakley came up with big hits during a crucial sweep at Cal Poly. Checketts’ only problem now is in making up the lineup card for Regionals.
“Offensively, (Jason) Willow, Zander, (Broc) Mortensen, Newman, (Blake) Klassen — those guys all need to play,” Checketts said. “We’re trying to figure out what the best combination of those guys is because somebody also has to sit out.”
Klassen, an outfielder who normally serves as the designated hitter, is batting a team-best .356 with nine home runs. Newman, who’s now splitting the catching chores with Bloom and Mason Eng, is next at .355.
Three others are batting over .300: third baseman Bryce Willits (.323), centerfielder Nick Vogt (.318) and left fielder Christian Kirtley (.310 with 11 homers). Mortensen, a right fielder, leads all Gauchos with 51 RBIs while having belted a league-best 15 homers for the second-straight season.
“We don’t have 20 homers in there with an Austin Bush (2015-2017), but everyone up and down the lineup can hit the ball out of the ballpark and do some damage,” Checketts said. “Coach (Donegal) Fergus is doing an amazing job with those guys, of getting them to play with some mentality and hit with some mentality.”
A Forecast of Sprinkle
Getting shortstop Jordan Sprinkle in the right frame of mind after a slow start has been one of the keys to winning 25 of the last 29 games. Sprinkle, a candidate for the Golden Spikes Award, which is bestowed on the country’s best amateur baseball player, and who played last summer for the Collegiate National Team, was at one time projected to go as high as the first round of the July 17 Major League Baseball draft.
His batting average has climbed to .291 overall and .327 in Big West play, and he leads the league with 25 stolen bases.
“He went from someone who was not famous and just trying to get into the lineup, to the point where everyone’s looking at him to lead the team and lead the league and be the best player in the country,” Checketts said. “I think there was more pressure on every at bat.
“It’s his first time going through that. It’s been a little bit of a hit-and-miss, and a learning experience for him, but I feel like he’s been better in conference play. We could really use him being himself and playing to his capabilities.”
The emerging leadership of previous role players such as Willow and first baseman Kyle Johnson has also made UCSB the best of the Big West. Bill Oakley, whose son is in his second season with the Gauchos, said they both “have taken Nick under their wing.”
Checketts admittedly needed sunglasses to hide his misty eyes when they took part in last week’s Senior Day ceremony.
“They embraced Nick and created an environment that said, ‘Hey, you’re part of this … We believe in you … Here is how you do things,’” he said. “That’s something we spend a lot of time on, and we’re proud to hear a dad say that it made a difference for his kid.
“Sometimes with seniors, it’s, ‘Hey freshman, carry my bags.’”
But the only thing that every Gaucho wanted to do last week was handle the water buckets.
— Noozhawk sports columnist Mark Patton is a longtime local sports writer. Contact him at sports@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk Sports on Twitter: @NoozhawkSports. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook. The opinions expressed are his own.
