SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (April 15, 2023) — The UC Santa Barbara Baseball team (22-10, 7-4 Big West) erased a 7-0 deficit and out-slugged UC Irvine (20-11, 6-8 Big West) Saturday evening, hitting five home runs en route to a 13-8, series-evening win. Jared Sundstrom and Broc Mortensen each launched a pair of long balls in the game, and Jonah Sebring left the yard for the first time in his Gaucho career.

HOW IT HAPPENED
Saturday's game could hardly have gotten off to a worse start, as the Anteaters put up five runs in the second inning, aided by a fielding error and a bunt single and capped off with a two-run home run. Another error helped the visitors tally two more runs in the top of the fourth, as a double steal and a mis-handled throw turned into one as the lead runner scampered home, then two in the same plate appearance, as a sacrifice fly drove in the trailing runner.

In the bottom of the fourth, the comeback began with Santa Barbara getting those two runs back. Sundstrom led off the inning with his tenth home run of the season, a laser down the left field line. Mortensen followed that with a single, then LeTrey McCollum legged out an infield hit. After two strikeouts, Corey Nunez drove Mortensen home with an RBI double.

Nick Welch pitched a quick, scoreless top of the fifth, allowing the Gaucho bats to get right back to work in the bottom of the inning. After Aaron Parker's one-out single, Sundstrom came to the plate again and deposited another ball over the fence, this time taking it out to right center for his conference-leading 11th homer of the season. Not to be out-done, Mortensen followed Sundstrom with a home run of his own, making it a 7-5 game. After another infield single from McCollum and a hit batter, Jonah Sebring left no doubt about his first home run in Santa Barbara, driving the ball to left field and putting the home team ahead, 8-7.

Even after a six-run inning, the drama was far from over, and in the top of the seventh, the Anteaters were poised to hang another crooked number of their own on the scoreboard. With the bases loaded and nobody out, Sam Whiting was tasked with getting the Gauchos out of the jam. He got a huge hand from Sebring. On a pop-up down the right field line, Sebring raced over from second, made the catch, then spun and fired home, delivering the throw to Parker in plenty of time to nail the runner tagging from third. A two-out double netted the Anteaters one run to tie the game, but it would have given them the lead, if not for Sebring.

The second baseman continued his heroics in the bottom of the seventh. After a batter interference call wiped out a Gaucho baserunner and turned a strikeout into a double play, Sebring doubled, putting a runner right back in scoring position for Nunez. The shortstop picked up his second RBI of the night, driving home his middle-infield partner with a single through the left side, putting Santa Barbara back in front, 9-8.

Holding on to a one-run lead, the Gauchos blew the game open in the eighth. Christian Kirtley led off the inning with a single, then Parker bunted him over. Irvine elected to intentionally walk Sundstrom rather than let him hit another homer, but Mortensen was waiting behind him. The redshirt senior mashed his second home run of the game to right, giving his side their largest lead of the night, 12-8. Sebring almost had a two-homer game of his own later in the inning, as his line drive to left hit maybe two feet from the top of the wall. It did still drive in another run, making it 13-8 Gauchos.

Carter Benbrook, who had come on to protect then a one-run lead in the top of the eighth, set the Anteaters down in order in the ninth to wrap up his third save of the season.

ON THE STAT SHEET
• Jared Sundstrom's and Broc Mortensen's fifth-inning home runs are the second set of back-to-back jacks for the Gauchos this season, the other being when Sundstrom and John Newman, Jr. went back-to-back to lead off the ninth inning against Santa Clara on April 3.
• Jared Sundstrom is the first Gaucho to hit home runs in consecutive at-bats this season and leads the team with three multi-homer games. Broc Mortensen is now the sixth Gaucho with a multi-homer game this season, joining Sundstrom, Christian Kirtley (who has two in the last week), John Newman, Jr., Ivan Brethowr, and Aaron Parker.
• LeTrey McCollum went 3-for-5 with a double at the plate Saturday, extending his hitting streak to 19 games.
• Beyond just his home run, Jonah Sebring had a big day at the plate, going 4-for-5 with four RBI and finishing a triple shy of the cycle.
• With his pair of home runs on Saturday, Jared Sundstrom has taken the outright Big West home run lead at 11. He also leads the conference in slugging percentage (.833) and OPS (1.257).
• Broc Mortensen's home runs were numbers 37 and 38 for his career, putting him just five away from Santa Barbara's career home runs record (42), held by Matt Wilkerson. Mortensen is currently third in program history.

UP NEXT
The rubber match for this three-game series will be tomorrow, Sunday, April 16, with first pitch set for 1:05 p.m. This weekend is Faculty & Staff Appreciation Weekend; UC Santa Barbara Faculty and Staff members receive free admission to any of the games in this series. For fans who cannot make it to the ballpark, the game will be live on ESPN+ with live stats available on ucsbgauchos.com.