The offense was on fire for the UC Santa Barbara baseball team in an 11-2 win over UC Davis on Saturday at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium.
The Gauchos scored in five of the eight innings and got a strong starting performance from Hudson Barrett, who worked his longest collegiate outing (6.1 innings), to earn the win.
The Gauchos improved to 12-5 (27-12 overall) and remain one game behind first place Cal State Fullerton (16-4).
UCSB was in control from the start as three Gauchos reached base in the first inning. Zander Darby got aboard via an error, Jared Sundstrom singled on the first pitch he saw and Broc Mortensen drove in Darby with a double to the left center gap.
Aaron Parker brought Sundstrom and Mortensen home with a line drive up the middle for a 3-0 lead.
The Gauchos padded their lead in the second, with Jonah Sebring stealing second before a RBI double from Darby.
The Aggies got a run back in the top of the third, but Santa Barbara answered with three more. Christian Kirtley sparked it with a double down the line, then consecutive singles from Corey Nunez and LeTrey McCollum brought Kirtley home 90 feet at a time. That chased Davis’ starter. Sebring worked a walk against the Aggie reliever to load the bases. A wild pitch allowed Nunez to scamper home from third, putting the home team up, 6-1.
Barrett was back in his groove after surrendering a run in the third. The Gauchos’ true freshman lefty had worked around trouble in the first but set the Aggies down in order in the second, and he faced the minimum in the fourth, walking a batter but picking him off at first. A couple strikeouts and a caught stealing helped him get around two walks in the fifth.
Davis finally got to him in the sixth. Three singles in the inning scored a run. But Barrett stranded a pair of Aggies to limit the damage. He got one out in the seventh before his day ended.
He gave up six hits and five walks, while striking out seven Aggies.
Benbrook relieved his fellow lefty and set down the next two Davis hitters.
After the seventh-inning stretch, the Gaucho offense essentially removed all doubt about the result. Two of the first three batters were hit by pitches, one on either side of a single from Nunez. That loaded the bases for Sebring, who single for a RBI. A one-out wild pitch brought in another run. Sundstrom walked to reload the bases, and Mortensen followed with a two-run double for a 10-2 lead.
Darby added the 11th run with an RBI single in the eighth.
Alex Schrier pitched a perfect ninth to wrap up the game and the series win.