Junior outfielder Colin Beazizo hit his first home run as a member of the UC Santa Barbara Baseball team (11-2, 2-0 Big West) to cap a three-run eighth inning that led the Gauchos to a 7-4 victory over Long Beach State (4-10, 0-2 Big West) on Saturday night.
The win was head coach Andrew Checketts‘ 500th as Gauchos’ skipper, putting him alongside volleyball coaches Kathy Gregory and Ken Preston as the only head coaches to win 500 games at UC Santa Barbara.
It was déjà vu all over again for the Checketts’ Gauchos to start Saturday evening’s game, with the Dirtbags putting up two runs in the top of the first for the second game running. But, like Friday night, Santa Barbara came back.
Starter Nathan Aceves navigated traffic on the basepaths before Donovann Jackson relieved him with great effect. Aceves’ biggest bounce-back moment came in the top of the third with two Dirtbags in scoring position, firing his fifth strikeout of the night to end the threat.
Jackson entered with two on and one out in the top of the fourth and did surrender a run on a sacrifice fly, but he was able to pinch all the way into the eighth, with just one other Long Beach run coming across.
The lefty struck out the side in the fifth, and picked off a runner trying to steal second to keep a rally from getting out of control in the sixth.
Also, like Friday night, once their pitchers settled in, the Gaucho offense went to work chipping into the Long Beach lead. Noah Karliner kicked off that effort with a no-doubt home run deep to left field to lead off the second inning, and Nick Husovsky’s double to right center in the third tied the game.
The very next pitch, Jonathan Mendez tightroped a ball down the right field line and into the corner for a ground-rule double, scoring a pair of runs.
Santa Barbara’s 4-2 lead shrank to 4-3 in the fourth and decreased again to a 4-4 tie in the sixth, but Jackson set the Dirtbags down in order in the seventh and was a couple pitches away from a clean eighth, only for a two-out walk to end his crucial long relief outing.
Raymond Olivas, one of Checketts’ best options for late game pitching, was summoned and quickly put an end to the inning, with some help from his first baseman. Husovsky made a great hustle play, not only to dive and snag a ball hit hard in his direction, but also to recover and beat the runner to the bag.
The offense got going again with a two-out rally in the bottom of the eighth, capitalizing on Dirtbag mistakes. Mendez got a free 90 feet from a wild pitch after his leadoff single, and William Vasseur was hit by a two-out pitch to keep the inning alive.
A second wild delivery allowed Mendez to score and put Vasseur on second. Then Beazizo, taking his second at-bat after entering as a substitute, got every stitch of his first home run in Blue and Gold, a 444-foot drive to right center to make it 7-4.
Those three runs were plenty of cushion for Olivas to work with, a two-out single the only thing he allowed in the ninth. Rowan Kelly ended the game by showing off his wheels in center field, tracking all the way into the left-center gap to record the final out of the game.
Checketts and his Gauchos now have eyes on win number 501, which would complete the sweep of Long Beach State on Sunday, March 8 at 1:05 p.m.
Santa Barbara native and former Dirtbag Kellan Montgomery will take the mound for the Gauchos, opposed by Jason Gerfers. Tickets are on sale now at ucsbgauchos.com/tickets.