SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (April 11, 2023) — The UC Santa Barbara Baseball team (21-9, 6-3 Big West) completed a two-game sweep of the San Jose State Spartans (15-13, 8-4 Mountain West) on Tuesday, with Christian Kirtley's walk-off home run deciding the first game, 6-5, in favor of the Gauchos and Jared Sundstrom's grand slam putting Santa Barbara ahead for good in the second game, which they ultimately won by a score of 12-2. JD Callahan and Alex Schrier each turned in their longest and finest pitching performances of the season, with both righties striking out seven Spartans.

HOW IT HAPPENED
The first game of the series began on Monday night, but was suspended in the bottom of the sixth inning due to heavy fog. When the weather put a stop to the action, the Gauchos led, 3-1, thanks in large part to Callahan and Kirtley. In his second start of the season, Callahan shut down the Spartan bats, going 4 2/3 innings before allowing a hit, and striking out seven to keep the visitors off the board.

The Gaucho bats got their starter some run support in the very first inning, despite (or perhaps thanks to) a moment of chaos on the basepaths. Runners on first and second turned into second and third thanks to an errant pick-off throw, but then that lead runner was caught between third and home on an Aaron Parker grounder. While that resulted in an out, LeTrey McCollum narrowly escaped a rundown of his own, ending up at third. Zander Darby's sacrifice fly drove McCollum home for the first run of the game. Santa Barbara added two more in the fourth, in much more straightforward fashion. Kirtley led off the inning with his first home run of the game to make it 2-0, which kicked off a hit parade. Broc Mortensen singled, took second on a wild pitch, then scored on an RBI double from Sundstrom.

The fog only thickened as Monday evening went on, and it almost certainly played a role in San Jose State getting on the scoreboard. After a lead-off walk, a two-out fly ball disappeared into the haze, inhibiting Sundstrom's ability to get a read on the ball. It found the grass for an RBI triple, and after the top of the sixth ended, the game was suspended.

When play resumed on Tuesday, the eighth inning started a flurry of scoring, first with an RBI double from the Spartans to cut the lead to one. In the bottom of the eighth, Corey Nunez's two-RBI single extended the Gaucho lead back to three, but San Jose State would get all three of those runs back in the top of the ninth, including a two-run home run. With two outs in the bottom of the ninth, Kirtley hit his second solo shot of the game to nearly the same spot as his first, giving Santa Barbara their second walk-off win of the season.

Frank Camarillo opened the second game on the mound for Santa Barbara, working a scoreless first inning before making way for Nick Welch, who worked a scoreless second. Parker and Sundstrom combined to open the scoring in the bottom of the second, with the catcher legging out an infield single, then stealing second, which allowed Sundstrom to drive him home with a base hit to left. Alex Schrier took the mound to start the third inning, getting a nifty defensive play from Nick Oakley behind him but also allowing a run on a sacrifice fly, as the game was tied heading into what turned out to be a very eventful fourth inning.

In the top of the fourth, San Jose State led off with a walk, then the next batter reached on catcher's interference, as his bat hit Parker's glove hand hard enough to leave the Gaucho catcher wincing. Parker gutted his way through the next at-bat, a strikeout from Schrier, but had to leave the game. With John Newman, Jr. serving as the designated hitter, Kirtley had to replace Parker behind the plate. Jessada Brown took Kirtley's place in left. A two-out, bases-loaded walk gave the Spartans their first lead of the series before the inning was over. In the bottom of the fourth, the new catcher Kirtley worked a walk, then moved around to third on a Mortensen single. In his first plate appearance of the season, Brown walked to load the bases, then Sundstrom crushed his ninth home run of the year well over the fence in left field for his first career grand slam. A ground-rule double from Darby made it 6-2 Gauchos before the frame ended.

With a comfortable lead, Schrier was back on the mound and shut down the Spartans, allowing just one more baserunner as he worked through the seventh inning, earning himself the win, striking out seven batters in doing so.

In the bottom of the seventh, the Gauchos doubled their run total, putting the game beyond all doubt. Two walks and a single loaded the bases for Mortensen, who doubled to right center field, driving in two runs. A bad relay throw on the play let Kirtley score from third to make it 9-2, with Mortensen advancing to third behind him. Santa Barbara re-loaded the bases, then got two more runs with some help from the Spartan defense. Oakley's ground ball could have become a double play, but San Jose State's shortstop air-mailed the throw to first, watching it sail out of play, allowing a second run to cross the plate, and putting Oakley on second. The Santa Barbara native promptly took off for third, and a throwing error from the Spartan catcher allowed him to come home to score the Gauchos' 12th run.

Michael Rice, Jed Decooman, and Elliot Gallegos combined to finish the game on the mound, with Rice taking the eighth and Decooman the first two outs of the ninth. After three consecutive walks loaded the bases, Gallegos came on and got the final out.

ON THE STAT SHEET
• Jared Sundstrom's hitting stats from the series make for remarkable reading. He went 5-for-6 at the plate, with a double and a home run, posting six RBI and a 1.500 slugging percentage
• Corey Nunez was also swinging a hot bat, going 5-for-7 at the plate against the Spartans, recording a double and two RBI of his own
• JD Callahan had his finest outing of the season Monday night, pitching 4 2/3 innings, not allowing a run and giving up just one hit, while striking out seven hitters
• Alex Schrier earned the win in the second game on Tuesday, pitching his longest and strongest outing of the season: five innings, two runs on two hits, with seven strikeouts of his own
• With their three long balls in the series, Santa Barbara becomes the first team in The Big West to hit 50 home runs this season. No other team has more than 40.

UP NEXT
The Gauchos are back at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium this weekend, as they will host a three-game series against the UC Irvine Anteaters, April 14-16. First pitch times are set for 5:05 p.m. Friday, 4:05 p.m. Saturday, and 1:05 p.m. Sunday. For fans who cannot make it to the ballpark, all three games will be live on ESPN+ with live stats and an audio-only broadcast available through ucsbgauchos.com