The UC Santa Barbara baseball team had a unique opportunity Tuesday night, looking to beat the top team in the country twice in one season. Instead, the No. 1-ranked UCLA Bruins got off to a hot start and never looked back.
A five-run first inning, coupled with a six-run fifth inning, propelled the Bruins to a 15-3 victory over the Gauchos in a game that only lasted seven innings at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium.
Following the loss, UCSB has now fallen to 27-15 overall, while UCLA has picked up its 40th win of the season, improving to 40-4 overall.
While the loss to UCLA was rough, UCSB head coach Andrew Checketts was more concerned about his team losing three in a row after dropping the final two of the Cal State Fullerton series this past weekend.
“I was just disappointed in the body language. I was disappointed in the competitiveness, so I challenged them that they need to be tougher mentally. They need to be able to absorb some blow, and they’ve got to be able to let go. It still feels like we’re reeling from that Saturday loss,” Checketts said.
The Gauchos’ three runs came courtesy of outfielder Noah Karliner, who hit a solo shot in the fifth inning and a two-run blast in the seventh inning to end the contest on somewhat of a high note.
With the two deep shots, Karliner is now up to seven on the season.
As the score would indicate, it was a struggle for Santa Barbara in the pitching department, as the home team tossed out seven pitchers on the night, all of which gave up at least one hit.
“The message to them was there’s a reason you haven’t pitched,” Checketts said. “We shut them (UCLA) out last time we played them, so you need to get better.”
Getting the start for the Gauchos was a sophomore southpaw, Van Froling, who came into the contest having allowed just seven earned runs on the season. Unfortunately for Froling, the sophomore allowed five runs in the first frame.
The scoring started early with UCLA’s lead-off batter Dean West getting on base with a single, followed by a two-run shot from the Bruins’ star junior shortstop Roch Cholowsky.
It was Cholowsky’s, who is projected to be a top pick in Major League Baseball’s July rookie draft, 18th home run of the season and 51st RBI.
UCLA kept the momentum going as Mulivai Levu and Roman Martin each hit singles, followed by a Payton Brennan walk that loaded up the bases.
The Bruins scored a run on a sac fly, but with two outs and the bases loaded yet again, Froling could not find a way to end the inning, as junior second baseman Phoenix Call laced a ball down the left field line, scoring two runs.
UCSB’s Chase Hoover came in to get the final out of the inning as Froling picked up the loss, falling to 1-2 on the season.
Santa Barbara attempted to mount a comeback from the start, as Corey Nunez and Nate Vargas each got on base with a single and just one out.
UCLA turned two on the next batter, however, to end the frame without a run. From there, the Gaucho bats didn’t do much outside of Karliner’s two scores.
After UCLA picked up a run in the second, the Bruins put the game out of reach in the fifth, scoring six runs, courtesy of a home run from Brennan, a fielder’s choice RBI by West, an RBI single from Cholowsky, an RBI single from Martin and a two-RBI double by Brennan yet again.
Santa Barbara came into Tuesday’s outing sitting at 38 in RPI. Checketts believes they are still in a good spot, but they can no longer afford to play poorly as they head into the final stretch of the season.
UCSB will get its first chance to shake off the loss this weekend when it heads to Cal State Bakersfield for a three-game stretch beginning Friday.
“We’re going to be hunted, those teams are gonna be gunning for us, there’s no question about that and we need to be able to handle that and play better,” Checketts said.
“We came in today, and UCLA said they wanted some revenge, and they spanked our bottoms, so we got to be able to handle that and be able to respond.”