Box Score SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – Tommy Jew hit his team-leading eighth home run of the season and the No. 19 UC Santa Barbara baseball team cruised to a 10-4 victory over USC on Tuesday afternoon at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium.
With the win, the Gauchos are off to a 20-5 start, its best since 2016 when UCSB advanced to the College World Series. The Trojans, meanwhile, fell to 10-17 as Santa Barbara swept the season series from USC.
Making his second midweek start of the season, redshirt freshman Jorge Arellano Jr. notched the first win of his career with a solid outing. The Cudahy, Calif. native went 4.1 innings, allowing no earned runs on two hits with three strikeouts and three walks.
The Trojans were able to take advantage of a UCSB error, a walk, and a hit and a sac fly in the third to bring two runs across to take an early lead.
The Gauchos answered right back in the bottom half of the frame as Eric Yang drew a one-out, bases-loaded walk to cut the deficit in half. USC was able to get out of the jam, but UCSB was back for more in the fourth.
Armani Smith led off the inning with a triple off the wall in left center and came in to score on Trojans' fielding error. With the bases loaded later in the inning, Tevin Mitchell smacked a two-RBI double over the right fielder's head and Yang added a two-RBI double of his own to put UCSB ahead 6-2.
Jew crushed a hanging slider for a two-run blast in the sixth, bringing home Mitchell who doubled down the line to start the inning.
With an 8-2 lead, the Gauchos gave one back in the seventh and eighth, but scored two more in the eighth, highlighted by a Thomas Rowan RBI single to make it 10-4.
Mitchell and Jew both finished 2-for-4 with two runs and two RBIs while Yang went 1-for-3 with three RBIs and a run. Rowan, Smith, Andrew Martinez and McClain O'Connor also added a hit in the game.
USC starter John Beller (1-2) picked up the loss after allowing six runs on three hits with four walks in 3.1 innings.
UCSB is back in action this weekend for its final non-conference series against Stephen F. Austin, beginning on Friday, Apr. 5 at 3:00 p.m. at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium.
