The pitching trio of Tyler Bremner, AJ Krodel and Cole Tryba racked up 14 strikeouts and allowed just one hit to power UCSB Baseball to a 6-1 season-opening victory over Campbell on Friday at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium.
The Gauchos (1-0) provided a steady dose of offense behind the strong showing on the mound to open the three-game series with a victory. The two teams will be back in action on Saturday at 3:05 p.m.
Following two perfect innings from Bremner to begin his 2025 campaign, UCSB opened up the scoring in the bottom of the second.
After Isaac Kim reached on an error and Rex DeAngelis was hit by a pitch, UCSB was in business with nobody out. However, a pop-out and a strikeout brought Xavier Esquer to the plate in a pressure situation.
Esquer came through for the Gauchos, roping a single into left field to score Kim and take a 1-0 lead.
Bremner got through another no-hit inning in the third before UCSB tripled its lead on one swing in the bottom half.
LeTrey McCollum was hit by a pitch and two batters later, Jack Holman, a UCLA transfer, unloaded on a ball over the right-center field fence for the first Gaucho homer of the season and a 3-0 advantage.
AJ Krodel then took over for Bremner and picked up right where he left off, firing four scoreless innings to begin his relief outing while striking out seven. He ended with eight strikeouts and one hit allowed in 4 ⅓ innings.
Meanwhile, the UCSB offense extended its lead to 4-0 in the bottom of the fifth when Jonathan Mendez tripled home Holman, who had walked to lead off the frame.
Campbell finally pushed across its first run of the season in the top of the eighth inning when UCSB’s Cole Tryba plunked Andrew Schuldt with the bases loaded to bring the score to 4-1.
However, the Gauchos got that run back quickly in the bottom half when Esquer was hit by a pitch and Nate Vargas drove him home on an RBI double down the right-field line.
They weren’t done there, as the Gauchos added one more insurance run in the eighth after a third strike got away from the Campbell catcher, allowing Vargas to score and give UCSB a 6-1 lead.
Tryba then made quick work of the Camels in the top of the ninth, retiring the side to finish off the season-opening victory.