UCSB baseball made a strong case for a NCAA Tournament bid as it completed a four-game sweep Cal State Bakersfield Sunday afternoon, defeating the Roadrunners, 11-5, to end the regular season on an eight-game win streak.

The Gauchos are 39-18 and finish the Big West in second place with a 29-11 mark. On Monday, they’ll find out if they are picked for a berth in the regionals. The NCAA Selection Show is on at 9 a.m. on ESPN2.

For the second straight game, the Gauchos got on the board in the bottom of the first as Marcos Castanon collected his fourth RBI of the series, slicing a single through the infield to score Cole Cummings. Heads up base-running by Castanon a few at-bats later would guide him home to give UCSB an early 2-0 lead. 

CSUB notched its first run of the day in the top of the second. The Gauchos were quick to respond in the bottom half. The top of the order came around with two outs and produced as Jordan Sprinkle collected a hustle-double and was brought in on a stand-up triple by Cummings.

In the bottom of the fifth, Broc Mortensen stepped to the plate with one on and one out and cushioned his conference home run lead with a two-run bomb to the left-center for 5-1 advantate. He finishes the regular season as best in the Big West with 15 homers, which is tied for the sixth most in program history.

The Roadrunners threatened in the middle innings, scoring a run in the sixth and two in the seventh, but once again the Gauchos managed to mirror the visiting team with three of their own. In the bottom of the sixth it was Sprinkle and Cummings pairing up again with two outs. Sprinkle singled and was brought in by a double from Cummings. In the seventh it was Castanon crushing the second home run of the series and Kyle Johnson notching an RBI single to extend the lead to 8-4. 

The final nail in the coffin came in the bottom of the eighth as Johnson ripped a bases-clearing, three-run double to put the Gauchos up 11-4. 

Cole Cummings led the way for UCSB, going 3-for-4 with two RBI and two runs and falling just a home run short of the cycle. Castanon went 3-for-5 with three runs and two RBI. Johnson ended with a team-best four RBI on his 2-for-5 line.