It was a series full of firsts for UCSB baseball this weekend at Fresno.

UCSB won the series by taking games one and two, a first in 2005. Junior starters Steve Morlock and Michael Martin both picked up their first wins of 2005 and amazingly, despite all the bad weather reports, the Gauchos had no games delayed because of rain or darkness.

UCSB won Friday and Saturday thanks to superior starting pitching, taking game one 7-5 and game two 5-3. On Sunday, the Bulldogs were able to salvage the series, winning 5-4.

“Any time you take the first two out of three on the road, it’s a great weekend,” Head Coach Bob Brontsema said. “Unfortunately, once you win the first two, it’s not as exciting to take two out of three.”

On Friday night, the Gauchos took advantage of Fresno sophomore starter Eddie Romero, scoring six runs through the first three innings.

UCSB held onto the 6-0 lead through five innings, thanks to the pitching of Morlock. The right-hander took a no-hitter into the sixth inning and finished the day with the win, giving up two runs on two hits.

In the sixth, freshman third baseman Beau Mills broke up the no-no with a leadoff home run. Fresno put across one more run in the inning and two more in the seventh to cut the Gaucho lead to 6-4.

Senior reliever Alex McRobbie came in with the bases loaded and one out in the eighth and shutdown the Fresno bats to record the last two outs of the inning. In the ninth, McRobbie earned his second save of the season.

Saturday starter Martin posted the Gauchos’ first complete game of the season, giving up just three runs on six hits and striking out four.

With the game tied 2-2 in the sixth, UCSB senior third baseman Dave Figoni drove in the go-ahead run and senior second baseman Chris Malec followed with a two-run single to put the Gauchos ahead for good.

Figoni finished the weekend with six runs and six hits, while senior right fielder Matt Wilkerson drove in five runs for UCSB.

On Sunday, Fresno fielded a new lineup, finding a spark plug in junior left fielder Chase Moore, whose two-run homer in the fourth inning got the Bulldog offense going. A balk from senior reliever Loren Fraser brought home the winning run for Fresno in the sixth.

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