DAVIS, Calif. — The UC Santa Barbara Baseball team kept right on flexing their muscle at the plate and on the mound Sunday, taking the series finale at UC Davis, 4-1, behind a combination of power hitting and power pitching. Aaron Parker, Ivan Brethowr and Justin Trimble all launched booming home runs on offense, while Tyler Bremner and Cole Tryba combined to strike out 11 Aggies on the afternoon. Bremner picked up his team-leading seventh win of the season, with Tryba earning his second save.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Gauchos found themselves behind for the first and only time in the series early Sunday after a two-out double gave the Aggies a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first. But Bremner responded well on the mound, shutting down Davis over the following innings. After allowing a lead-off single in the second, the Gauchos' starter retired 11 straight Aggies, retiring the side in order in the third and fourth.
 
Santa Barbara bounced back at the plate too, re-taking the lead in the top of the third. Jonathan Mendez was unlucky to be called out on the basepaths for interference when Brendan Durfee's line-drive single nicked his ankle, but that did not affect the Gauchos' momentum, as Parker followed Durfee with a monstrous home run that traveled an estimated 463 feet out to left field, putting the visitors ahead, 2-1. That moonshot earned Parker an intentional walk the next time he came to the plate in the fifth.
 
The Aggies finally broke up Bremner's perfect streak in the bottom of the fifth with a two-out single and walk, but they did not scratch the scoreboard. Brethowr sure did in the top of the sixth, blasting his third home run of the weekend to left to lead off the inning. That homer gave him sole possession of the team lead with eight, a spot he had all to himself for precisely one inning. After Bremner worked out of a jam in the bottom of the sixth, Trimble led off the top of the seventh with his eighth home run of the year to re-tie Brethowr, another moonshot to left center.
 
Bremner's eventful sixth inning, which stayed scoreless thanks to Durfee snaring a line drive that otherwise would have been a two-run hit down the first-base line, was his final work of the afternoon, he handed the ball to Tryba who proceeded to send every Aggie hitter he saw right back to the bench. The rookie lefty worked three perfect innings, striking out at least one batter in every inning en route to a four-K day.
 
BY THE NUMBERS

• Including their shutout of UCLA on Tuesday, this week will go down as one of the best pitched weeks in Gaucho Baseball history, with seven of the nine pitchers Santa Barbara deployed holding their opponents scoreless. The only two men to surrender runs allowed just one, giving Santa Barbara team ERA of just 0.50 in their 36 innings while holding opposing offenses to just a .167 batting average.
• Aaron Parker's 463-foot home run in the third was unique for more than just it's distance; it was the only multi-run homer hit by either team on the weekend; the other nine were all solo shots.
• Ivan Brethowr's sixth-inning home run was his third in as many games at UC Davis, the big righty finishing with a 1.083 slugging percentage on the weekend. Six of his eight home runs have come in the Gauchos' last eight games.

 
UP NEXT
UC Santa Barbara completes this four-game road trip with a Tuesday night trip to play Loyola Marymount in Los Angeles on April 23. The Gauchos will look to complete a season sweep of the Lions after beating them, 8-6, at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium earlier this month. The red-hot Brethowr had two home runs in that game. First pitch is set for 6 p.m. from Page Stadium; fans can also catch the game live on ESPN+ or follow along with the audio broadcast and live stats available through ucsbgauchos.com.