UCSB Baseball defeated the Cal State Fullerton Titans 4-0 on Sunday at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium to complete the sweep, improve to a perfect 17-0 at home and remain atop the Big West standings.
Tyler Bremner threw eight scoreless innings to continue the Gauchos’ streak of phenomenal pitching — they’ve allowed more than two runs just once in their last nine Big West games.
“When you’re closing, you’re just trying to let it eat and blow by batters. I feel like I have a better game plan when I’m starting and trying to go deep into the game,” Bremner said when comparing his starts to his bullpen appearances this season.
“[I’ve been] pitching to contact and not necessarily trying to avoid bats.”
Once again, UCSB provided early offense that proved to be more than enough on the back of their stellar pitching, in large part due to Brendan Durfee’s contributions at the plate.
Durfee homered to center field in the Gauchos’ first at-bat of the game.
“We obviously are always trying to land that first punch,” Durfee said of UCSB’s early offense. “It was nice to do it today and pretty cool to start it off with a bomb.”
Durfee then drove in Jessada Brown with a bases loaded infield single in the second inning.
Aaron Parker’s sacrifice fly scored Jonah Sebring the very next at-bat and UCSB took a 3-0 lead into the third inning.
Durfee then doubled to right field in the fourth inning to drive in Sebring from second base, who reached on a double of his own, and extend the Gauchos’ lead to 4-0.
The run-scoring double capped off Sunday’s scoring, as both pitching staffs found their groove.
Six of Bremner’s eight innings were three-up-three-down, though he relied on a double play to do so in the first inning. Bremner finished his afternoon with seven strikeouts and the win, allowing just three baserunners.
UCSB head coach Andrew Checketts called upon Cole Tryba to pitch the ninth inning, who promptly threw a three-up-three-down inning of his own to finish the game.
Cal State Fullerton started Derek Turner on the mound, and he allowed four runs in his 3 ⅔ innings pitched and was charged with Sunday’s loss.
Peyton Jones and Seth Tomczak pitched the rest of the way for the Titans, throwing a combined 4 ⅓ scoreless innings.
The win advances the Gauchos’ record to 28-11 and 14-4 in the Big West, where they are tied for first place with UC Irvine and Cal State Northridge.
UCSB travels to Riverside to take on the Cal Baptist Lancers this Tuesday before returning home to host the UC San Diego Tritons this upcoming weekend in a three-game Big West series at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium.