A solid start from Matt Ager and a consistent offensive barrage powered UC Santa Barbara Baseball to a 13-3 win over UConn in the first game of the season at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium.
After rain delayed the completion of the field for the originally scheduled home opener, the Gauchos had played 11 straight games on the road to begin the season.
“Today was a really exciting day for everyone,” UCSB head coach Andrew Checketts said. “The surface turned out fantastic and we are grateful for all the hard work that was put into it by our administration to get us a first-class playing surface.
“It was great to have our guys play so well in their home opener in front of a great crowd.”
Despite having to work through multiple baserunners in each of the first three innings, Ager settled in and found himself through six scoreless to begin the game.
The righthander then allowed a pair of runs in the seventh inning before handing the ball over to Hayden Hattenbach, Cole Tryba and Franck Camarillo, who combined to close out the win in relief.
Ager ended the night with two earned runs on five hits and four walks while striking out five batters.
Meanwhile, the Gaucho offense did more than enough with consistent production throughout the game.
UCSB got the scoring started with a run in both the first and second innings courtesy of an RBI groundout by Nick Oakley and an RBI double off the bat of Jonathan Mendez.
The Gauchos then blew the game open in the bottom of the fourth inning, piling on five runs to expand the lead out to 7-0.
The five runs came on a pair of big swings, as Mendez blasted a two-run homer early in the inning before Aaron Parker swatted a three-run bomb over the centerfield fence.
UCSB’s offense continued to roll from there, scoring three runs in both the sixth and seventh innings.
In the sixth, Parker drove in a run on an RBI sacrifice fly and Justin Trimble singled home a pair of runs to balloon the lead out to 10-0.
Despite the Huskies getting on the board in the top half of the seventh, the Gaucho offense was unfazed.
Parker and Trimble both collected RBI by walking with the bases loaded while LeTrey McCollum got in on the fun with an RBI single with the bases loaded to make the score 13-2.
UConn tacked on one more run in the top of the ninth, but it was far too little, far too late as the Gauchos earned their seventh win of the season.
Parker ended the day with a game-high five RBI while both Trimble (3-for-4) and Mendez (2-for-5) drove in three runs apiece.
Brendan Durfee collected three hits on the day and Oakley and Jessada Brown tallied two knocks each.
UCSB will go for the series win on Saturday at 3:05 p.m. at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium.