Ryan Gallagher issued a career-high 10 strikeouts to lead a dominant pitching outing for the UC Santa Barbara Baseball team, and the offense delivered in the clutch Thursday evening, earning a 3-2 walk-off win over San Jose State in 10 innings.
Justin Trimble drove in the winning run the hard way, getting hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.
Tyler Bremner earned the win with another stellar relief outing, throwing four of the Gauchos’ 18 strikeouts, which matches the team’s single-game record.
In the first inning, the game seemed destined to be another back-and-forth slugfest, not dissimilar to Tuesday night’s extra-inning affair at UCLA.
San Jose State got on the board first, with a two-out walk coming around to score on a double to the wall in right center.
In the bottom of the first, Santa Barbara responded with a run of their own, courtesy of Aaron Parker. After Brendan Durfee walked, an errant pickoff throw allowed him to move over to second. Parker’s blooper into left escaped the fielder’s glove to tie the game.
After that, both pitchers settled into a rhythm, and Gallagher’s was heavy on K’s. The righty struck out the side in the third and fifth innings, and he worked clean frames in the second, fourth and sixth.
But, when he handed the ball over to Cole Tryba to start the seventh, the game remained tied.
Tryba struck out the side in the top half of the inning, and the Gauchos finally broke the tie in the bottom half.
Trimble led off with a walk, and after a couple outs, Ivan Brethowr drove him home with a frozen rope double into left center field.
However, the Spartans re-tied the game in the top of the eighth, knocking three straight two-out singles to chase Tryba. Tyler Bremner replaced him and ended the inning with one pitch.
The Gauchos threatened but did not score in the eighth and the ninth, setting up a third extra-innings contest in four games.
Bremner pitched a spotless tenth inning, racking up strikeouts number three and four, then the offense decided enough was enough. Parker led off the bottom half of the bonus frame with a single, then Zander Darby was hit by a pitch.
Reiss Calvin laid down a sacrifice bunt to move pinch runner LeTrey McCollum and Darby over 90 feet, then the Spartans intentionally walked Jonah Sebring to load the bases. Trimble took a pitch to the leg to win it.
UC Santa Barbara’s 18 strikeouts matches the program record for total K’s in a game. They have achieved the feat three times, once in each of the last three seasons.
Ryan Gallagher finished with a career-high 10 strikeouts over six innings pitched on Thursday, allowing just one hit and two walks.
After twirling this gem, Gallagher’s WHIP (walks and hits per inning pitched) drops to a sparkling .83, and opponents are batting just .122 against him on the season.
Aaron Parker finished 3-for-5 at the plate with an RBI. Ivan Brethowr had the only extra-base hit for the Gauchos, his seventh-inning RBI double.
Santa Barbara and San Jose State will conclude this two-game series bright and early on Friday, March 29, with first pitch scheduled for 11:05 a.m. at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium.
The game will be live on ESPN+ with live stats and an audio broadcast available through ucsbgauchos.com. Mike Gutierrez is set to take the mound for the Gauchos.