SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — The No. 25 UC Santa Barbara Baseball team had a rough night on Friday, falling to Cal Poly, 8-3, in the first game of the 2024 Blue-Green Rivalry Series at Baggett Stadium. A couple missed opportunities on defense hurt the Gauchos, as did their plentiful swings and misses at the plate.  
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
Early control issues helped Cal Poly get to starter Matt Ager, as the righty threw two wild pitches in back-to-back innings to open the game. Both errant deliveries allowed a runner to advance into scoring position, and both of those runners would come home to score the Mustangs' solitary runs in the first and second. Reiss Calvin's strong arm was the only thing between Cal Poly and a 3-0 lead in the second inning; he made a great throw to the plate after a bloop single just snuck under Ivan Brethowr's glove in right field, cutting down the trail runner.
 
Brethowr then did his best to get some runs back in the top of the third, dexterously avoiding the tag at second base to stretch a one-out base knock into a double. Unfortunately, he was left stranded there, one of 10 men Santa Barbara left on base Friday night. The Gauchos would finally drive home their first run of the night in the top of the fifth inning, which Nick Oakely led off with a triple to the left field corner. Brethowr then drove a one-out single through the left side, cutting the Mustangs' lead to just 2-1 at the time.
 
In the bottom half of the frame Santa Barbara was a half-step away from a scoreless frame to keep things tight despite loading the bases with nobody out. After inducing a pop-out in foul territory, Ager induced a ground ball to short, but the Cal Poly batter beat the relay to first to break up the double play and allow a run to score. An RBI single down the left field line got the Mustangs a second run in the frame and made it 4-1.
 
The Gauchos attempted to rally, with Calvin driving in a run on a bloop single that fell in a baseball-sized gap between Cal Poly fielders in the sixth, but the Mustangs got that run back in the bottom half of the frame again. Brendan Durfee led off the seventh with a double and came around to score on a Zander Darby sacrifice fly to make it 5-3, but that was as close as Santa Barbara would get.
 
Things really snowballed in the bottom of the eighth, as a dropped fly ball allowed two more Cal Poly runs to score and helped keep the inning alive. The Mustangs would use that extra out to scratch over their eighth run of the night.
 
BY THE NUMBERS

• Nick Oakley and Ivan Brethowr continued their trends of hitting well against the Mustangs, each recording two hits on the night, including an extra-base knock.
• Oakley's fifth-inning triple is the first by a Gaucho this season and the third of his career. The senior now has a three-bagger in each of his last three seasons in Santa Barbara.
• Santa Barbara hitters struck out 14 times on Friday night. Gaucho pitchers recorded just one K.

UP NEXT
The Gauchos will look to even the series on Saturday, March 23 at 3 p.m. in San Luis Obispo. Mike Gutierrez is scheduled to take the mound for the Gauchos. The game will be live on ESPN+ with live stats and an audio broadcast available through ucsbgauchos.com.