A remarkable, overachieving season came to an end for UCSB Sunday afternoon, losing to regional host Stanford 8-4 in a NCAA elimination game.
The Gauchos finish the season at 44-14, while Stanford — the regional’s No. 1 seed and the No. 2 seed in the 64-team NCAA tournament — beat Texas State in the nightcap, also 8-4, to win the regional crown and advance.
UCSB finishes the regional 1-2, and the season 44-14. Reaching the regional with 40-plus wins for the third season in a row was unexpected.
The Gauchos took a lead into mid-game and kept fighting as it slipped away. They led 4-3 going into the sixth inning, after two-run home runs by Nick Vogt in the third inning and Kyle Johnson in the fifth.
Starter Ryan Gallagher — the Big West Freshman Pitcher of the Year — kept the Cardinal scoreless through three innings, giving up two in the fourth.
That began a run of five straight innings of Cardinal scores, through the eighth.
Coach Andrew Checketts addressed the post-game press conference relaxed and emotional.
“Another great year for our guys,” he said. “I was torn to get to this part of it, you have all the emotions of saying goodbye for your older guys and being proud of them for all that they’ve done,” and also addressing the game from a coaching standpoint.
“The first time we’ve been to the regional three years in a row, and I believe it’s the first time we’ve been to 40 wins three years in a row,” Checketts said.
“And we’ve got a lot of those older guys, Broc Mortensen, Jason Willow, and Kyle Johnson, Gianni Bloom. They really left our program better than they found it.”
After Stanford widened the lead to 8-4 after eight innings, the Gauchos kept at it.
“They had a chance to feel sad and sorry for themselves and didn’t,” Checketts said. He noted an at-bat by right-fielder Broc Mortensen to lead off the ninth — 13 pitches from reliever Quinn Mathews until he surrendered a walk on a looping curve that missed.
“That last at-bat by Broc was something I’ll remember for a long time,” Checketts said. “His ability to fight off all those pitches and get on base and give us a chance — You don’t win 43 games on the West Coast without having some of that in your guts.”