UC SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - The UC Santa Barbara Baseball team (36-17, 16-14 Big West) played out a dramatic regular-season finale against Cal State Bakersfield (18-38, 9-21 Big West) on Saturday, a back-and-forth game with 25 total runs scored. But, when the see-saw came to a stop, it was the Gauchos who were down, losing 13-12. Regardless, Santa Barbara will continue on to play in The Big West Championship, taking on either UC San Diego or Hawai'i as the No. 5 seed in Wednesday's play-in game.
HOW IT HAPPENEDPrior to the game, UC Santa Barbara honored 10 graduating members of their program: interns and student managers Devon Kost, Noah Lyons, Justin Han and Isaac Shinbrot as well as six graduating student-athletes Elliot Gallegos, Isaac Kim, Hayden Hattenbach, Jack Holman, Reiss Calvin and LeTrey McCollum. When the game got underway, the pendulum swung the Gauchos' way first, with starting pitcher Calvin Proskey retiring the side in order in the top of the first and Kim hitting a line-drive opposite-field home run in the bottom half.
But the pendulum swung right back the other way in the top of the second, when the Roadrunners took their first lead of the day with a two-out, two-RBI single. The lead lasted a whole two thirds of an inning. In the bottom of the second, Xavier Esquer was hit by a pitch to spark a two-out rally, with Cole Kosciusko's single up the middle putting Gauchos on the corners. Corey Nunez tied the game with an RBI single, and after McCollum was hit by a pitch to load the bases, Holman cashed in on some Senior Day luck. The lefty popped an 0-2 pitch up toward left center, but the wind pushed it into the one spot no Roadrunner could reach, giving the Gauchos' slugger a three-RBI double and Santa Barbara a 5-2 lead.
A solo homer to lead off the top of the third brought Bakersfield back within two, but then the score sat at 5-3 until the top of the fifth, when the pendulum made another big swing. The first five Roadrunners of the inning reached base, with an RBI single plating a run and an RBI error tying the game. They went on to re-take the lead, 7-5, on a sacrifice fly and a double steal with runners on the corners, where the throw down to second sailed into center field.
It took until the bottom of the sixth for the pendulum to swing again, with another Senior Day moment bringing it back to Santa Barbara's side. After Rowan Kelly led off with a double, Esquer was hit by another pitch, and the two Gauchos each moved up 90 feet on a failed pick-off throw. Nunez walked, then McCollum was hit by a pitch to force home a run. With the bases still loaded, Holman hit a drive to straightaway center field, clearing the wall for a grand slam, giving Santa Barbara a 10-7 lead.
The Gauchos held that lead until the top of the eighth, when everything seemed to go wrong. Bakersfield pinch hit for two of their first three hitters that inning, and both substitutes smacked singles, the latter scoring a run. After a sacrifice bunt moved 'Runners to second and third, a strikeout put Santa Barbara one out away from getting out of the inning with their lead intact, but that out did not come for some time. A two-RBI single tied the game, and since the batter was able to advance to second on the play, another single scored him to put the visitors up, 11-10. A double into left center made it 12-10 before the Gauchos could get out of it, stranding two runners in scoring position. Bakersfield added another run on a sacrifice fly in the top of the ninth, meaning Santa Barbara headed into their final at-bats needing three runs to prolong the game. They would get two of them.
Kim singled to start the inning, then Nate Vargas was hit by a pitch. A walk to Jonathan Mendez loaded the bases, and Kelly's fielder's choice groundout got a run on the board for the Gauchos. Esquer was hit by a pitch yet again to re-load the bases, and again a fielder's choice grounder got a run home, this time Kosciusko picking up the RBI. That left the Gauchos with runners on the corners and two outs, but they were not able to get that tying run the last 90 feet to home.
BY THE NUMBERSSaturday's loss snaps a 20-game winning streak against Cal State Bakersfield, which had dated back to 2017. The Gauchos' longest active win streak against a Big West opponent is now eight, against UC Riverside.Despite the loss, Holman had one of, if not his best game as a Gaucho on Saturday, racking up a career-high seven RBIs in the game. The last Santa Barbara player to plate seven or more runs in a game was Jonah Sebring, who brought home nine against UC Riverside on May 24, 2024.Esquer was another outlier on the stat sheet on Saturday, being hit by four pitches in the game. He is the first Gaucho to be plunked that many times in a single game since at least 2011, which is as far back as UC Santa Barbara individual hit-by-pitch records for single games go.Esquer is now one painful trip to first away from tying the Gauchos' single-season hit-by-pitch record of 24, set by Andrew Calica in 2015.McCollum was hit by three pitches himself on Saturday, which was the previous single-game high, with Justin Trimble, Broc Mortensen (twice), Eric Yang and Calica all having worn a trio of pitches in a single game.As a team, the Gauchos were hit by eight pitches on Saturday, the most in a single game since 2016, when they were plunked eight times in a March 5 meeting with Oregon. With 101 hit-by-pitches in 2025, the Gauchos are one away from tying the team record for HBP in a season of 102, set in 2021.
UP NEXTSanta Barbara is off to The Big West Championship, where they await the winner of Sunday's game between UC San Diego and Hawai'i in Manoa. The Gauchos will be the No. 5 seed, the away team in the play-in game on Wednesday, May 21. Under Head Coach Andrew Checketts, the Gauchos are 14-7 when batting first in neutral-site games. First pitch in Wednesday's play-in game is set for 12 noon from Goodwin Field in Fullerton. Tickets are on sale now at ucsbgauchos.com.
(Article courtesy of UCSB Athletics).
UCSB loses a slugfest to Bakersfield, now get set for Big West Championship News Channel 3-12.
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