UC SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - The UC Santa Barbara Baseball team (31-16) took an early lead and made it stick against No. 25 USC (32-16) on Tuesday night, completing a season sweep of the visiting Trojans with a 3-2 victory. With the win, UC Santa Barbara Head Coach Andrew Checketts set a new program record with his 486th victory leading the Gauchos, surpassing his predecessor, Bob Brontsema. Reed Moring was the winning pitcher for Santa Barbara, throwing five innings of one-run ball on the night. At the plate, Rowan Kelly, Corey Nunez and LeTrey McCollum each tallied RBIs to provide the runs, then Cole Tryba locked down his fourth save of the season to wrap up the result.
FROM HEAD COACH ANDREW CHECKETTS"I've been fortunate to follow in the footsteps of some really good coaches and people and have had a lot of great players and assistants contribute to those wins," Checketts said. "I'm grateful for the opportunity to be a Gaucho."
"Reed — five innings, he's been building up since coming back from an injury — that was the real highlight for me, was him getting a win and pitching and wanting the ball. It was 3-0 and he wanted to stay in that game and get the W. There's a lot of sabermetrics out there, but I think the W's the most important stat in baseball. I was excited for him to do that, I thought his stuff was good, he had a couple walks there early but settled in, was aggressive, and then Tryba getting the save there. He's had a rough year, and that was big for him to be able to finish that game for us."
HOW IT HAPPENEDThe battery of Moring and catcher Nate Vargas combined to put up a zero in the top of the first, getting the Gauchos off to a strong start. After a one-out, eight-pitch walk, Moring responded with an eight-pitch strikeout, then Vargas made a good block and a strong throw to second to cut down that baserunner trying to take an extra 90 feet on a ball in the dirt. Moring came back with two more strikeouts in the top of the second, again allowing just a walk, then his offense gave him some runs to work with.
Jack Holman led off the bottom of the second with a bloop single into center, then Jonathan Mendez punched a base hit through the left side of the Trojan infield to make it a rally. Cole Kosciukso's sacrifice bunt gave Santa Barbara two runners in scoring position, and Holman was able to come home on Kelly's RBI groundout to put the home side on the board. Nunez then roped a two-out double just inside the foul line in the right field corner to score Mendez, and McCollum made it 3-0 with an RBI single back up the middle.
Moring allowed his only hit of the night with two outs in the top of the third, then retired the side in order in the top of the fourth, making the first out by snagging a line drive that came screaming right over his shoelaces. Two flyouts to left center wrapped up the inning. He was perfect again in the top of the fifth, again fielding his position well to make the second out of that frame.
Donovann Jackson took the bump for the top of the sixth and had to work around some traffic, but he got a hand from his defense. With two on and one out, Jackson induced a grounder which took third baseman Xavier Esquer right to the bag, allowing him to make an out there and throw across the diamond in time to complete the double play and end the inning. Less razzle-dazzle action was required in the top of the seventh, though the Gauchos did get a scare on a fly ball that went all the way to the wall in left field but no further, with Kosciusko able to comfortably make the catch. Jackson then ended the inning and his outing with a strikeout.
It was in the eighth that things got shaky for Santa Barbara. The Trojans got two singles while making just one out, but the Gauchos nearly killed the rally on a slowly hit ball toward Nunez at short; he was able to glove it over to Mendez at second, but the turn to first was not in time for an inning-ending double play. The extra life turned into an RBI single, a walk and an RBI infield single for USC, cutting Santa Barbara's lead to just one, at 3-2. Tryba had come on and surrendered that hard-luck infield single — a slowly hit ball that Mendez just could not get to despite charging hard — and bounced back to finish the inning with a pivotal strikeout, leaving the bases loaded.
The Gauchos left the bases loaded themselves in the bottom of the eighth, meaning Tryba would have to make the one-run lead stick in the ninth. He gave up a lead-off single on a perfect bunt down the first base line, but responded by striking out the next two men to come to the plate. A flyout to Kelly in center wrapped up the win.
BY THE NUMBERSTuesday night's victory was the first over a ranked opponent for the Gauchos this season; Santa Barbara now has at least one ranked win in each of the last seven seasons.With his second-inning RBI single, McCollum extended his on-base streak to 43 games, two away from the program record set by Christian Kirtley in 2022.Tuesday was the Gauchos' final mid-week game of the 2025 season. Santa Barbara finishes with a record of 9-2 in their 11 one-off games this year, sweeping season series against Pepperdine, USC and San Diego, winning two of three total games against California Baptist and splitting the season series with Saint Mary's. Santa Barbara also defeated Loyola Marymount in a mid-week game earlier this year.
UP NEXTThe Gauchos will complete their season series against LMU this weekend with three games: one at Page Stadium in Los Angeles on Friday, May 9, then two at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium in Santa Barbara on Saturday, May 10 and Sunday, May 11. First pitch times are set for 6 p.m. on Friday, 3:05 p.m. on Saturday and 1:05 p.m. on Sunday. All three games will be live on ESPN+ with live stats and an audio broadcast available through ucsbgauchos.com.
(Article courtesy of UCSB Athletics)
Milestone win for Checketts as UCSB edges #25 USC News Channel 3-12.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Milestone win for Checketts as UCSB edges 25 USC )
Also on site :