There aren’t any dramatic arts majors on the UCSB baseball team, but you wouldn’t know it after a tense weekend series with Pacific at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium.

In their first Big West Conference series of the season, the Gauchos could only manage to take the Saturday game, losing two of three to Pacific. The Tigers got the wins Friday 7-4 and Sunday 6-1, while Santa Barbara staged a late rally to snag game two 7-6.

The UCSB batters were stifled by Tiger freshman starting pitcher Brett Manning on Sunday. Manning held the Gauchos to just one run on five hits, walking two and striking out four in six innings. Despite hitting four doubles, Santa Barbara only brought around one run, leaving nine runners on base in the process.

“We didn’t have a good approach at the plate. We kept swinging at bad pitches,” Head Coach Bob Brontsema said. “The [Pacific pitcher] was baffling to our hitters today. If you can’t score, you’re not going to win many games.”

Scoring wasn’t a problem for the Tigers, who put across 19 runs on the weekend. Sunday, freshman second baseman Adam Ching put the game out of reach in the ninth inning, popping a three-run homer over the left field wall to complete Pacific’s four-run ninth.

Gaucho senior reliever Alex McRobbie got touched for three of the four runs, allowing Pacific to take the rubber match 6-1. Sophomore starter Andy Graham allowed two runs on four hits, while striking out a season-high nine batters. Graham’s efforts went for naught; he picked up the loss – just his second of the year.

“We seem up in the dugout. We were in every game this weekend,” Graham said. “We need more timely hitting. We’ve been kind of streaky hitters all year. Eventually the hits are going to start coming.”

Saturday marked a dramatic comeback for the Gauchos. Down 6-4 in the ninth, the bases were loaded with one out for freshman designated hitter Matt Aidem. A fly ball from Aidem recorded the second out, but an error on a throw from Pacific junior center fielder Ramon Glasgow brought freshman second baseman Alden Carrithers home.

With the tying run on second and the winning run on first, junior first baseman Bill Rowe drove a single into left field. Senior shortstop Chris Malec scored and the ensuing throw from the outfield went all the way to the backstop allowing senior right fielder Matt Wilkerson to score the winning run on the Tigers’ second error of the inning.

Friday, Manning helped Pacific to the win with his bat. The first baseman drove in four of the Tigers’ seven runs, hitting two home runs off of junior starter Michael Martin. Malec and Wilkerson each homered, but the Gauchos could not get key hits late, leaving seven runners on in the final four innings.