SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — The UC Santa Barbara Baseball team took a 6-0 lead in the first inning and made it last for all nine of Sunday's game against Hawai'i, keeping the Rainbow Warriors at arm's length en route to a 6-2 victory and a series sweep. Justin Trimble provided the offense, driving in the final four runs of that landslide inning with a grand slam. Tyler Bremner gave the Gauchos seven strong innings on the mound before handing the ball over to Cole Tryba who finished off the win.
 
FROM HEAD COACH ANDREW CHECKETTS
On the team's performance: "The first blow was landed on the mound by us, with Bremner striking out the side in the first," Checketts said. "Obviously, a lot different feel than last week, when we were down 15-nothing, it felt like 20 minutes into it last Sunday. Nice start by Brem, we drop the six on them and kind of hang on. Offensively we kind of struggled after that, but we did a good job of hanging in there in the box, taking some walks and then we get the swing by Trim. Brem was good, then Tryba had an outstanding week; that was his third outing of the week, pitched in all three wins, the back end of the games … really clean week from him, so we didn't give them anything there at the end."
 
On Tyler Bremner and his role with the team this season: "He's done a little bit of everything," Checketts said. "He was in the rotation early in the season, he opened up the season in the rotation and then when Hudson Barrett went down, we felt like we needed somebody in the 'pen that could really secure a win and be that real stopper that we're used to having. Hudson's out and then Brem filled in there, and he didn't do anything wrong. He didn't have a great first start and I had to go to him and go, 'hey, we need you here, it's too valuable, we don't know where we're at with some of those freshmen with Flora and Tryba,' we just didn't know, so we threw him in there and he did a good job. He's 6-0 and five of those wins are out of the 'pen, but with Ager struggling a little bit we needed to make an adjustment there and give Matty a week to catch his breath, maybe just a bit of different scenery at the back end of the game, which he did his freshman year. He's a Freshman All-American reliever, so he's comfortable in that role, Matty closed the game yesterday and that gave us an opportunity to use Brem today and he looked like a Friday starter."
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Gauchos kicked in the door on the Rainbow Warriors Sunday afternoon, with Bremner striking out the side in Hawai'i's half of the first before watching his offense hang six runs on the board. They did it on just two hits, one of which was Trimble's big fly, as they capitalized on Hawai'i mistakes. Aaron Parker led off the game with a four-pitch walk, then both Brendan Durfee and Ivan Brethowr were hit by pitches to load the bases for Nick Oakley. The Gauchos' chief RBI guy delivered with a two-run single into center, giving Santa Barbara a 2-0 lead before they made an out. Zander Darby then worked a walk to re-load the bases, and after a strikeout, Trimble strode to the plate. The Gauchos' home run leader blasted his seventh round-tripper of the year well out to deep right center field to stretch the lead to 6-0.
 
With a six-run cushion, Bremner made sure that would be more than enough, though there were some shaky moments in the middle innings. A hard-hit ball got through Durfee for a one-out baserunner in the fourth, and that run would come around to score after a double and an RBI groundout, but a popup in foul ground ended the inning before Hawai'i could put up a crooked number.
 
The visitors did get another run back in the fifth, with three of the first four batters reaching, but again Bremner stuck the Rainbow Warriors with just the one run. He got back in his groove for the sixth and seventh, setting Hawai'i down in order in both frames. With the score still 6-2 in the eighth, Tryba picked up right where Bremner left off, striking out a pair in a one-two-three inning. The freshman lefty worked around a one-out single in the top of the ninth to finish the game, collecting his third strikeout in the process.
 
FROM THE STUDENT ATHLETES
Justin Trimble on his grand slam: "I saw a little bit of everything that at-bat," Trimble said. "The scouting report on that guy was fastball-changeup to lefties, and I was working the count, made it to two strikes and honestly, I just saw something elevated and took advantage of it."
 
Tyler Bremner on making his first start since February: "It feels good, I definitely had to earn that spot," Bremner said. "When Hudson (Barrett) went down, they had me in that stopper-closer role because they needed a guy to fill that spot, but I feel like I've been pretty good so far in the clutch moments, so they gave me that chance and I'm thankful for it, it feels good."
 
BY THE NUMBERS

• With Sunday's win, the Gauchos have now won their first 13 home games of the season, their longest home unbeaten run to start a season since 1982, when they went their first 16 home contests without defeat (14 wins, two ties).
• Justin Trimble is now one RBI behind Nick Oakley for the team lead, 32 to 33, with 10 of Trimble's RBI coming in the Gauchos' last four games.
• Tyler Bremner's seven-inning start on Sunday was the longest outing of his career, both by innings pitched and total pitch count, throwing 111 pitches over his seven frames.
• Bremner issued just one walk to Hawai'i hitters, a squad which came into the weekend ranked 10^th in all of Division I with 208 walks drawn. The Gauchos became the first team to walk just one Rainbow Warrior in a game this season.
• Cole Tryba's work over the final two innings of the game put the cap on a fantastic week for the freshman lefty. In total, Tryba allowed just two hits and nothing more over seven innings across three games, earning a save and striking out nine batters.

 
UP NEXT
UC Santa Barbara will conclude this homestand on Tuesday, April 16 by taking on UCLA. The Gauchos will be looking to avenge their narrow, 13-12, 12-inning loss to the Bruins in March in this game, the second half of a home-and-home series. Tuesday is also an Isla Vista Community Night, as the Gauchos will don their Isla Vista "SB Connect" jerseys and celebrate the Isla Vista Recreation and Park District, who will be joining them at the ballpark. First pitch is set for 4:35 p.m. and fans can catch all the action live on ESPN+ or follow along with live stats and an audio broadcast available through ucsbgauchos.com.