Right hander AJ Krodel fires a pitch in for a strike

The UC Santa Barbara men’s baseball team stunned No. 1-ranked UC Los Angeles on April 14. The Gauchos shut out the Bruins 4–0 on their home field, snapping a 27-game win streak and delivering one of the biggest upsets of the season.

“You see a lot of upsets that happen, but our guys played well and that’s a good team. I think we’ve got a good team, and it’s not very often you get to play the No. 1-ranked team in the country at their place and win,” Head Coach Andrew Checketts said.UCSB’s pitching staff set the tone for this game with junior starting pitcher Calvin Proskey working through immediate trouble in a bases-loaded jam in the bottom of the first. The Gauchos escaped this early trouble with the help of junior outfielder Colin Beazizo, who made a play on a 111 mph line drive to left field, diving to catch the ball and end the inning unscathed. 

The Gauchos’ offense did not stay quiet for long; in the third inning, senior infielder Cole Kosciusko reached on an infield single, followed by a double from junior infielder Xavier Esquer to put runners in scoring position. Sophomore outfielder Rowan Kelly stepped up to the plate and drove two runs in with a single into left center field, making it 2-0 at the end of the third. 

Junior relieving pitchers AJ Krodel and Cole Tryba handled the rest, combining to limit UCLA’s intimidating lineup to just 5 hits. Krodel took care of the middle innings, while Tryba handled the late game pressure and shut down the Bruins. Tryba helped to escape another bases-loaded jam in the seventh, and both struck out projected top MLB Draft pick Roch Cholowsky in their outings. 

The Gauchos added two insurance runs in the eighth starting with an opposite field RBI double by senior infielder William Vasseur, making it 3-0. This was followed by an RBI single from Beazizo who helped the Gauchos out of trouble earlier in the game. Tryba finished the game pitching with little trouble, making the final score 4-0 in favor of the Gauchos.

This win is the Gauchos first over the nation’s No. 1 team since March 2020, when they beat UCLA 8-5 at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium. The Gauchos are set to start a three-game home series against California State University, Fullerton on Friday, April 24.