The UC Santa Barbara Baseball team (31-15) took an early lead and rode some knee-high drama to maintain it through the first seven innings against Pepperdine (18-29) before unleashing an eighth-inning tsunami, highlighted by William Vasseur’s first career grand slam, to walk off the Waves by virtue of the NCAA’s ten-run rule, 13-3. 

Liam Barrett had three RBIs himself in that early offensive surge, and Rowan Kelly boosted his batting average back up to a team-high .337 with his second consecutive four-hit game.

“We got a really good start from (Josh) Jannicelli … who’s been a little nicked up,” UCSB head coach Andrew Checketts said. “It was more of a controlled start, so didn’t throw long, but I thought he set the tone. Struck out the side in the first, was able to get us 2 2/3 before he ended up with a blister and had to come out of the game. Offensively, I thought we gave up some chances to score early but then the four in the second was good and then there were some really good swings at the end there.
 
That gave us the breathing room there with that grand slam. We had our Sunday starter warming up in the ‘pen, which is not usually what you want to do on a Tuesday, but where we’re at in terms of the value of this game for us and our potential at-large bid, we had all hands on deck that were healthy.

“So, it was nice that it was able to get us some breathing room, that got (Cole) Tryba out of the game so he’ll be fresh for Friday, and then obviously really happy that we didn’t need to go back out there in the ninth and play defense and throw (Kellan) Montgomery.”

In accordance with the Gauchos’ long-standing emphasis, Josh Jannicelli struck the first blow on the mound for the home team, striking out the side in the top of the first, all swinging, all with devastating changeups.

Much to their skipper’s chagrin, Santa Barbara’s offense missed opportunities to strike in their half of the first, but Jannicelli navigated a walk and a hit to put up another zero in the top of the second and give his teammates another opportunity at the dish.
 
They did not miss their chance the second time. Kelly led off the inning with a double, Nick Husovsky and Xavier Esquer both walked to load the bases, and Barrett un-loaded them with another double, into essentially the same part of the right field corner as Kelly’s. 

Corey Nunez singled to bring home Barrett, and the Gauchos headed to the third with a 4-0 lead.
 
A walk and a double reduced that lead to three runs in the third, then a single and a double cut it to two runs in the fourth. AJ Krodel was summoned from the bullpen to prevent any further damage and did just that, attacking the strike zone throughout his three innings of work.

He ended the fourth with a strikeout, picked up another as part of a perfect fifth and recorded his third K to end the sixth, though he was pipped for an unearned run after a dropped fly ball.

Krodel’s day finally ended with two outs in the seventh, with Cole Tryba on in relief. The Waves ran themselves out of that inning by attempting a double steal, only for Husovsky to tag the trailing runner out before the lead runner could touch home.
 
On the night, the Gauchos never led by less than two. Vasseur’s leadoff walk had set up Cade Goldstein’s RBI single in the bottom of the fifth to extend Santa Barbara’s lead to 5-2 before Pepperdine got that run back in the sixth. 

Rowan Kelly’s leadoff home run in the seventh re-established Santa Barbara’s three-run lead, and Tryba stranded Waves on the corners in the top of the eighth to keep it that way.
 
Finally, in its half of the eighth inning, the Gaucho offense reminded the fans how much of a juggernaut it had been over the weekend. Three consecutive one-out walks loaded the bases for Vasseur, who crushed a no-doubt grand slam to left field to bring up double digits for Santa Barbara.

Kelly smacked the very next pitch through the right side of the infield for his fourth hit of the night, then with two outs, Goldstein was hit by a pitch and Xavier Esquer worked a full-count walk to re-load the bases for Karliner. The slugger did not hit a grand slam, but he did end the game.

A throwing error for the Wave third baseman allowed all three baserunners to score and put the home team ahead, 13-3. That scoreline invoked the NCAA’s ten-run rule and ended the game without the need for a ninth inning.

The Gauchos return to Big West play this weekend in their final regular-season road trip, facing CSUN in Northridge, May 8-10. First pitch times are set for 5 p.m. Friday, 2 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. on Sunday.

Entering the weekend, Santa Barbara is a game out of first place in the conference standings, behind a Cal Poly team which they do own the tiebreaker against.
 
Santa Barbara’s next home game is May 11, when they will host California Baptist, at 4:35 p.m. from Caesar Uyesaka Stadium.