Cole Tryba takes over in relief for the Gaucho pitching staff

The UC Santa Barbara men’s baseball team dropped a back-and-forth affair with the UC Irvine Anteaters on Saturday, April 18, 6-3 in the loss. The Gauchos, ranked No. 1 in the Big West Conference standings, have now split the series and will head back to the Anteater Ballpark to decide the series on Sunday. 

In the first game on Friday, April 17, the Gauchos beat UCI 7-3 in a dominant offensive showing. Both teams came out swinging early, with 5 runs scored total in the first inning. Conversely, junior starting pitcher Jackson Flora started off cold and ended hot, giving up two runs to make it 3-2, Gauchos, in the bottom of the first inning before shutting down the UCI hitters for the rest of his time on the mound. The Gauchos rode contributions from junior outfielder Colin Beazizo, senior catcher Nate Vargas and tight relief pitching — among others — to secure the well-rounded victory. 

In the second game the Gauchos had less such luck, delivering a scoreless first inning and petering out late in the game. Vargas stood out for UCSB, posting a double and two runs off a single from sophomore outfielder Rowan Kelly followed by a passed ball in the first and a single from junior infielder Jonathan Mendez in the fourth. 

However, the Anteater offense delivered a gut-punch that the Gauchos couldn’t recover from in the form of a four-run third inning. Sophomore pitcher Nathan Aceves gave up a single, hit-by-pitch and walk in the first three at-bats of the inning before a triple from UCI junior outfielder Tommy Farmer sent three Anteaters home to put UCI up 3-1, no outs. Farmer would eventually score. Though the Gauchos rallied in the fourth inning with a Vargas run off a Mendez single and a score from senior infielder Corey Nunez off a double to cut the deficit to one, they went the last five innings scoreless. 

This loss will see UCSB cement their place at No. 1, neck-in-neck with UC San Diego (12-6 Big West) and California Polytechnic University, San Luis Obispo (12-6 Big West), though they have more overall wins than any team in the conference at 26. They will begin their next series at the California State University, Fullerton on Friday, April 24.