UC SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - The UC Santa Barbara Baseball team (35-16, 15-13 Big West) took a big step towards qualifying for The Big West Championship on Thursday, recording a 5-4 win over Cal State Bakersfield (17-37, 8-20 Big West). Jackson Flora issued 11 strikeouts to earn the win on the mound, and Cole Tryba picked up six more in the process of recording an 11-out save. The Gauchos now need just one more from their next two games to secure a spot in the conference tournament.
HOW IT HAPPENEDThe teams traded one, two, three innings in the first and Cal State Bakersfield struck with a two-out home run in the top of the second to take an early 1-0 lead, but the Gauchos responded in the third. Flora bounced back with a perfect top of the third, including a pair of strikeouts, and the Santa Barbara offense manufactured two runs in the bottom half of the inning. Cole Kosciusko got things started with a double on the first pitch of the frame, then LeTrey McCollum's bloop single into center put Gauchos on the corners. McCollum then stole second and Jack Holman drove home the first Santa Barbara run of the night on an RBI groundout. McCollum took Kosciusko's place on third when the latter of the two scored on Holman's grounder, and Isaac Kim plated McCollum with a sacrifice fly — a lineout to the fence in left.
Flora struck out the side for the second time on the evening in the top of the fourth, and the Gaucho offense kept on ticking in the bottom half. Rowan Kelly's hustle down the line earned him a one-out infield single and drew a rushed throw, which bounced away to allow Kelly to advance to second. Xavier Esquer and Corey Nunez were both hit by pitches to load the bases, and Kosciusko drove home Kelly with the Gauchos' second sacrifice fly in as many innings. Esquer then took advantage of a passed ball to scurry home from third and make it 4-1, Santa Barbara. Jonathan Mendez's two-out RBI single turned Nate Vargas' double into another run in the bottom of the fifth, stretching Santa Barbara's lead to four runs.
The visitors got a run back in the top of the sixth, as a walk and a hit batter put two 'Runners on and ended Flora's day on the bump. Tryba was summoned in relief and got the second out of the inning on a fielder's choice. The Gauchos tried to turn two on the play, a grounder to Holman, but it was hardly a tailor-made play and the return throw was just not in time. The lead runner had taken third on the play and later scored when Tryba was called for a balk. Bakersfield was able to bring the tying run to the plate after an infield single, but Tryba got out of the inning without any further damage.
The Gauchos' electric lefty reliever came back and struck out the side in the top of the seventh, then returned and navigated a tricky eighth. Back-to-back singles and a hit batter loaded the bases with nobody out, but Tryba responded with a strikeout and induced a flyout to center, though that did score another run to make the score 5-3. A grounder back to Tryba ended the inning with Santa Barbara's lead still at two.
The ninth was no easier for Tryba, despite him starting the frame with a strikeout. A single, passed ball and productive groundout put a 'Runner on third with two outs, and a two-out single made it a one-run game. That brought Bakersfield's home run leader, Evan Cloyd, who also leads the nation in hit by pitches, to the plate as the go-ahead run. In a 1-2 count, Cloyd took a pitch off his elbow guard, but after review it was ruled that he had stuck his arm into the pitch to try and be hit. By rule, that action results in a strike, which just so happened to be strike three to end the game.
BY THE NUMBERSCloyd's ninth-inning hit by pitch turned strikeout was the third time he was called back to the plate after trying to take a free pass to first; he was also brought back in the first for what turned out to be a foul ball and he was called for leaning into a pitch in the eighth. All three times, the Gauchos had successfully challenged the original hit by pitch call.The game-ending strikeout was Santa Barbara's 17th of the night, a season high for the Gauchos' staff and one shy of tying the team's single-game strikeout record of 18. The last time Santa Barbara pitchers racked up 18 punchouts was May 25, 2024 against UC Riverside.At the plate, the Gauchos hit two more sacrifice flies on Thursday night, bringing their season total up to 27, the most in The Big West. Vargas has eight and Kosciusko six, putting them second and third in the conference, respectively.
UP NEXTSanta Barbara has just two games left to play in the 2025 regular season and just one more win will guarantee them a spot in The Big West Championship. The Gauchos and Roadrunners will play the second game of this weekend's three-game series on Friday, May 16 at 4:35 p.m. before concluding the series on Senior Day, Saturday, May 17 at 1:05 p.m.
(Article courtesy of UCSB Athletics).
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