The UC Santa Barbara baseball team blasted five home runs and got good pitching performances from Mike Gutierrez and Hudson Barrett in an 8-0 win over Long Beach in a Big West game at Blair Field on Saturday.
Ivan Brethowr hit two homers as the Gauchos improved to 16-7 in conference (32-14 overall) and pulled one game behind Cal State Fullerton (17-6), which lost at UC San Diego, 11-2.
With the five home runs the Gauchos tied the single-season program record for homer with 78.
The Gauchos, who had only three hits in a 1-0 loss in Friday’s series opener, opened the scoring in the top of the second inning on back-to-back homers by Brethowr and John Newman, Jr.
Later in the inning, UCSB took advantage of two Long Beach errors to extend their lead. LeTrey McCollum reached on an error by the pitcher before Zander Darby singled on a bunt. A sac bunt by Corey Nunez moved the runners up 90 feet and into scoring position. A called safety squeeze was laid down by Nick Oakley scoring two runs as the Dirtbags committed an error on the play and allowed both runners on base to score.
Gutierrez started on the bump for the Gauchos and pitched four innings of scoreless baseball while allowing one hit and striking out four in his return from injury.
UCSB added to its lead in the fifth after Brethowr hit his second home run of the game. This time it was a two-run blast, driving in Aaron Parker who drew a walk to lead off the inning.
Jared Sundstrom joined in on the long-ball hitting with a solo shot in the top of the seventh to extend the Gaucho lead to 7-0. In the top of the ninth, Christian Kirtley hit a solo home run to push the lead to 8-0.
Hudson Barrett pitched the final five innings, allowing just two hits, while punching out eight.
This is the second time UCSB has hit five home runs in a game this season.
The Gauchos will conclude their series with Long Beach State on Sunday at 1 p.m. The game will be available on ESPN+.