Though they are yet to reach the summit, UCSB Baseball has made their first steps towards climbing the mountain facing them with a testy, nerve-wracking 4-2 victory over the San Diego Toreros Sunday at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium.
“Another good baseball game. Close game. Well pitched, well played,” UCSB head coach Andrew Checketts summarized.
“Obviously Mike [Gutierrez] came out and landed that first blow on the defensive side of things [by] getting us in the strike zone and getting us that first big zero. We did enough offensively with a couple big swings.”
With the win, the Gauchos eliminated the Toreros and advanced to the championship of the Santa Barbara Regional for a rematch with the Oregon Ducks.
However, UCSB will need to defeat Oregon twice to win the regional and advance to the Super Regional.
The Gauchos play the Ducks Sunday at 6 p.m., and if they win, will play Oregon again on Monday at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium in a winner-takes-all matchup to determine the champion of the Santa Barbara Regional.
“Today, I thought the mentality was off the charts,” Checketts said of his Gauchos. “Fearless out there.”
Mike Gutierrez started on the mound for UCSB, allowing two runs on six hits and a walk through six innings, striking out four en route to picking up the win.
Jackson Flora and Cole Tryba pitched a combined three scoreless innings for the Gauchos in relief.
Logan Reddemann started on the mound for San Diego, allowing four runs on five hits and one walk in 4 ⅔ innings, striking out seven but picking up Sunday’s loss.
Ivran Romero pitched 3 ⅔ scoreless innings for the Toreros in relief of Reddemann.
All of Sunday’s runs came on two-run home runs, two for UCSB and one for San Diego.
Jonah Sebring opened the game’s scoring with a two-run shot over the left-field wall in the second inning, driving in Aaron Parker who stood on first base after an infield single.
“It was nice to land a blow,” Checketts said. “It felt like we were waiting about 15 innings to land one.”
Ivan Brethowr, who was previously 0-for-11 in regional play, drove in LeTrey McCollum from second base on another two-run home run in the third inning.
San Diego’s Jakob Christian, one of Division I’s best baseball players, scored himself and Ariel Armas with a two-run home run in the sixth inning to bring the game to 4-2.
The Toreros nearly brought the game within one on an attempted suicide squeeze in the seventh inning. Justin DeCriscio took off from third base, but Angelo Peraza failed to lay down the bunt and Aaron Parker applied the tag on DeCriscio, which had to be confirmed via replay review.
The Gauchos themselves unsuccessfully attempted a suicide squeeze in the eighth inning, though it was much better executed.
Nick Oakley led the inning off with a triple into left-center field. With Oakley taking off from third base, Jonah Sebring bunted to Romero, who then flipped a throw to San Diego catcher Armas, who applied the tag on Oakley.
The play once again went to replay review, and it appeared that Armas illegally blocked the plate with his left leg, in addition to Oakley seemingly sliding into the plate before the tag was applied.
The umpiring crew, however, confirmed the call on the field to retire Oakley.
The Gauchos, much like Saturday night, once again struggled with runners in scoring position.
Of the seven baserunners UCSB stranded, six were stranded in scoring position. Additionally, the Gauchos have now struck out 38 times through three regional games.
UCSB plays Oregon Sunday at 6 p.m., and should the Gauchos win, the two teams will face off for a third time this weekend on Monday at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium to determine the champion of the Santa Barbara Regional and advance to the super regional.