A lackluster performance doomed the UCSB baseball team in its home opener, with the Gauchos falling 2-0 to visiting Xavier in the front end of a best-of-three series Friday night at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium.
Santa Barbara falls to 5-3 overall and has a three-game winning streak snapped. Xavier (5-5) won its fifth in a row after dropping four games to Oregon to start the year.
“We didn’t play well. We didn’t execute,” said UCSB coach Andrew Checketts. “(Xavier) played a really good game and they executed better than we did.”
UCSB had its chances.
Trailing 2-0 headed to the bottom of the seventh, catcher John Newman Jr. led off for the Gauchos and belted a ball to deep right field that was just short of a solo homer.
Still, Newman’s hit was far enough from Xavier’s Aedan Anderson, who couldn’t corral the ball. Newman tried to stretch for a triple but was thrown out on the relay by second baseman Jared Cushing. The play instantly killed what would have been a huge momentum shift.
“It was a dumb play,” said Checketts. “You can’t make the first out (of the inning) at third, especially when you have the tying run coming up to the plate. That speaks to our lack of experience. That was an easy layup at second there.”
The Gauchos again made some noise in the eighth.
A double by Ivan Brethowr kicked off the inning, then redshirt senior Jared Sundstorm worked a walk to put runners on first and second.
A well-placed bunt moved the runners over and Christian Kirtley drew a walk to load the bases.
Redshirt sophomore Leo Mosby worked a full count before hitting a line drive to the shortstop, who was able to turn a double play to end the inning.
The Gauchos worked a pair of walks in the ninth with two outs, but a groundout would ultimately seal the team’s fate.
UCSB had chances to take an early lead. In the first inning, the team had runners on first and second with one out before Zander Darby was picked off at second.
In the third, Darby doubled, moved to third on a wild pitch with one out, but he was left stranded.
The Gauchos left 11 runners on base, including six in scoring position. They outhit the Musketeers 7-3.
“We’ve been a little bit up and down and we need to be able to sustain some consistency. That happens when you have some inexperience and some youth. It’s an excuse, but that’s also what you get, you get some inconsistency,” Checketts said.
Junior Mikey Gutierrez suffered his first loss of the season. The outstanding southpaw went five innings, as he reached high 97 pitches.
He gave up a solo homer to Xavier’s Matthew Deprey to start off the fifth inning. He completed the frame and finished the contest allowing three hits, four walks and one earned run, while striking out seven.
“He wasn’t super sharp, but he’s good,” Checketts said.
“This is like a “C” game and his “C” game is still going five innings giving up just one run, that’s pretty good.”
Brady Huddleston, a redshirt sophomore, threw the next three frames, giving up no hits while walking two. The one run was not credited to him as Xavier’s Anderson got on base after an error by Nick Oakley.
Anderson would eventually come around to score.
“Huddleston wasn’t perfect, but he threw the ball well and he gave us a chance, we just need to see some more consistency as a group,” Checketts said.
Nick Welch threw the ninth for UCSB and was outstanding, striking out two of the three batters he faced.
“We’re talented. We’ve got guys that can run, we’ve got power potential and we’ve got guys on the mound that can throw the ball. We’re trying to put it all together,” Checketts said.
“I want to see a response. I think we weren’t competitive enough today. I want to see them respond and show up with better concentration and the ability to stick with their plans tomorrow.”
UCSB will host Xavier for game two Saturday, with first pitch at 4:05 p.m.