UC SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - The UC Santa Barbara Baseball team (33-16) brought their big bats to a hot and sunny Saturday afternoon game against Loyola Marymount (24-26), hitting four monster home runs to out-slug the Lions in an 8-5 victory. Isaac Kim, Nate Vargas and Jonathan Mendez each left the yard one after the other for the Gauchos' first three-homer inning since 2009, and Jack Holman hit a moonshot late on as well. On the mound, the trio of Frank Camarillo, AJ Krodel and Cole Tryba took care of the 27 outs, with Krodel earning the win and Tryba collecting his fifth save of the season.
FROM HEAD COACH ANDREW CHECKETTS"It changes the lineup when you have a couple of power threats in the lineup who can hit it over the fence and are scary," Checketts said. "We're starting to get healthier and some of those injured guys are starting to get back. Isaac Kim, who has been back in the lineup but it's hard when you've been hurt, you're out, you miss all those practice reps, it takes a little bit of time to get your timing back, and it seems like he's starting to get on it a little bit. Holman's coming back from that oblique injury, we had to sit him, and he's finally been homering the last couple weeks, which was back. Having those guys in the middle of the lineup, being able to get their swings off and take the quality of at bats that we know they can take changes our lineup."
HOW IT HAPPENEDIt was actually the visiting Lions who hit the first home run of the day, a two-run shot that put them on top, 2-0, in the first inning. But the Gauchos bounced back in their half of the first. LeTrey McCollum led off with a single, then Kim cracked a two-run homer to left, basically a mirror image of LMU's homer in the top of the first. But the home run party did not stop there. Three pitches later, Vargas snuck a line-drive homer just inside the foul pole down the right field line, and three pitches after that, Mendez launched a towering fly ball into the trees beyond the left field fence, making it 4-2 Gauchos. It was the first time that Santa Barbara has hit three home runs in an inning since May of 2009, when they did it against UC Irvine.
The Gauchos kept pouring on the runs in the bottom of the second, with Corey Nunez and Liam Barrett both hitting singles before McCollum found the left-center gap for an RBI double, scoring Nunez. Barrett scored on Holman's groundout, then McCollum did the same on Kim's groundout, making it three runs in three pitches and a 7-2 lead for Santa Barbara.
On the mound, the Gaucho starter Camarillo bounced back from the home run in the first inning with a one, two, three second inning and was perfect again in the third, picking up a pair of strikeouts. He surrendered a run after a lead-off double in the top of the fourth but finished that inning with two more punchouts. The Lions got two more runs back in the top of the fifth with another two-run homer, which ended Camarillo's day. Krodel relieved him and finished the inning with a pair of strikeouts either side of a single, which ended up being the only hit Krodel allowed on the day.
The Gauchos got back on the scoreboard in the bottom of the seventh, Holman clobbering a no-doubt home run to right field which nearly hit his face on the videoboard behind the fence.
Tryba took the ball for the top of the eighth and worked a perfect frame, striking out the first two Lions he faced. He was back out for the ninth to attempt the six-out save and nailed it, punctuating a perfect outing with his third strikeout of the day.
FROM THE STUDENT ATHLETESMcCollum on the keys to his success at the plate: "I've been trying to build a good approach all season and it's been working out," McCollum said. "I've just been trying to go up there and commit to a couple pitches and it has to be in the zone for me to swing and get a good swing off. I've been sticking to that plan and it's been working pretty well, so I'm happy about it."
BY THE NUMBERSSaturday was the Gauchos' first four-home run game of the season; they had previously hit as many as three in a game, doing so on April 8 against Pepperdine, Feb. 25 at Pepperdine, Feb. 23 against California Baptist and Feb. 15 against Campbell. Prior to Saturday night, Santa Barbara's last four-homer game was on May 24, 2024 against UC Riverside.The Gauchos' three-homer first inning was their first inning with three home runs since May 23, 2009, when Mark Haddow, Brian Gump and Ryan Cavan all left the yard in the third inning against UC Irvine. Kim and Vargas became the first Gauchos to go back-to-back since Jordan Sprinkle and Cole Cummings did it against Cal Poly on April 30, 2021, only for Vargas and Mendez to take that title immediately after.Vargas and Mendez's first-inning home runs were their 10th each this season, tied for the team lead. This is the fourth season in a row that the Gauchos have had at least two players hit double-digit homers in the same season.Also in the first inning, McCollum's lead-off single tied him with Christian Kirtley for the longest on-base streak in program history at 45 consecutive games reaching safely. It also extended his hitting streak to 21 games, the longest on the team this season.
UP NEXTSanta Barbara will complete this three-game series against LMU, and with it the season series, on Sunday, May 11 at 1 p.m. Following the conclusion of Sunday's game, kids in attendance will have the opportunity to run the bases at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium. Tickets are on sale now at ucsbgauchos.com/tickets, and all kids sixth grade and under get in free with the Yardi Youth Pass.
(Article courtesy of UCSB Athletics).
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