While the rest of campus was in the midst of winter finals, the UCSB baseball team went 4-3 over the break in two weekend series and a solo game against Notre Dame. The Gauchos went on a three-game winning streak by defeating Notre Dame and taking two out of three in a series against Sacramento State. The streak ended with a loss to Cal Poly on the road but Santa Barbara bounced back in a home game against the Mustangs before dropping a game three back in San Luis Obispo.

The UCSB baseball team finished up their spring break weekend with a four-game series at the University of Hawaii this past weekend. The Gauchos were victorious in game one but fell in games two and three to bring their record to 13-12 and 1-2 in Big West conference play. The Warriors move to a record of 7-17 on the year and 2-1 in the Big West. The four game series began Thursday when the Gauchos captured the first game of the series and continued through Sunday evening.

The Gauchos were led by sophomore first baseman Tyler Kuresa in game one against the Warriors where his three hits and three RBI propelled Santa Barbara to victory. Sophomore starting pitcher Austin Pettibone was touched up for four runs through five and two-thirds innings but left the game with the lead. Sophomore pitcher Greg Mahle relieved Pettibone to escape the sixth but allowed a run in the seventh after two singles and a wild pitch put a runner in scoring position to score on a groundout.

In the top of the ninth inning the Gauchos sophomore right fielder Luke Swenson began a rally with a single to lead off the inning. Junior shortstop Brandon Trinkwon then sacrificed Swenson to second base to put the go ahead run in scoring position with the heart of the order coming up. The Warriors picked their poison by intentionally walking the clean-up hitter in freshman designated hitter Robert Nesovic, who since March 9 is hitting .366. The walk brought up Kuresa who would then double in both runners on the first pitch to take a two-run lead in the top of the ninth and seal the victory in game one 7-6.

Game two on Friday was dominated by the Warriors senior starting pitcher Corey MacDonald. The Gauchos jumped to an early two-run lead in the top of the second but MacDonald would only allow just two more hits the rest of the game and go on to pitch a complete game, striking out six for his third win of the year.

Gauchos starting pitcher freshman Justin Jacome had matched MacDonald through six innings of work but could not get out of the seventh inning as he and the Santa Barbara relievers relinquished four runs and the lead, falling 6-2 on the day.

On Saturday the Gauchos fell again in Hawaii 6-4. Santa Barbara again scored first on a RBI double by Nesovic but freshman starting pitcher Kenny Chapman allowed a run in each inning from the second to the fifth. Chapman was kept from the decision thanks to a three-run home run by sophomore third baseman Peter Maris in the top of the fourth.

With the game tied into the bottom of the eighth inning, Mahle, who had relieved Chapman in the fifth, walked the leadoff hitter and allowed a single before a double into right field by junior right fielder Connor George gave the Warriors the lead for the final time.

Up next for the Gauchos will be a one game showdown at home against Pepperdine on Tuesday, April 2 at 3 p.m.

This article is an online exclusive and did not appear in the print edition of the Daily Nexus.