SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — The UC Santa Barbara Baseball team begins the stretch run with one of its biggest remaining tests, hosting reigning Big West Champions UC San Diego for a three-game set this weekend before welcoming Pepperdine to town for a mid-week matchup on Tuesday. The Gauchos were the only team to sweep the Tritons, who lost only nine conference games, in 2023.
 
WHEN AND WHERE TO WATCH
First pitch times against UC San Diego are set for 4:35 p.m. Friday, 3:05 p.m. Saturday and 1:05 p.m. Sunday at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium. Tuesday's game against Pepperdine will begin at 4:35 p.m.
 
The Gauchos will be celebrating Star Wars Day on May 4; fans can pick up a special edition t-shirt at the game. Fans can also collect a special drink koozie at Sunday's game as the Gauchos celebrate Cinco De Mayo.
 
For fans following from afar, all four games will be live on ESPN+ with an audio broadcast and live stats available through ucsbgauchos.com.
 
LAST TIME OUT
Santa Barbara got a bitter taste of their own medicine on Tuesday night, as California Baptist hit five home runs to hand The Big West home run leaders a 9-6 defeat in Riverside. Brendan Durfee and Nick Oakley hit homers of their own for the Gauchos, and Matt Ager made a strong start as Santa Barbara's opener on the mound. Cole Tryba also impressed, throwing 2 2/3 perfect innings of relief with five strikeouts.
 
SERIES HISTORIES
The newest members of The Big West may already have a conference title under their belts, but the Tritons have won just one of 12 games against the Gauchos since joining the Division I ranks. That one game was back in 2021 in La Jolla, and the Gauchos have won eight games since then. Santa Barbara has swept each of the last two series and added a pair of neutral-site, non-conference victories in 2022. Last season's set of three began with Jonah Sebring stealing home to win Friday night and ended with now Seattle Mariners prospect Jared Sundstrom hitting a moving trolley with one of five Gaucho homers in a Sunday blowout.
 
As for Santa Barbara and Pepperdine, their meeting on Tuesday will be the 149^th between them, making it the most-played non-conference series in Gaucho baseball history. Santa Barbara won the last time they hosted the Waves back in early 2023 but have dropped a pair of contests in Malibu since then. Back in February, a six-run ninth inning gave Pepperdine a walk-off win.
 
WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT THE GAUCHOS
Home Sweet Home
After starting their season with 11 straight games away from home, Santa Barbara has been unbeatable in their own ballpark, coming into the weekend without a home loss on the year. Over their 17 wins at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium, the Gauchos have out-scored their opponents, 132-49. They have out-homered their visitors 25-9 and are batting nearly 100 points better, .294 to .200. Santa Barbara's starting pitching has been dominant, especially recently, pitching to a 2.57 team ERA. Tyler Bremner, who will likely start Sunday's game, has just a 0.69 ERA in 26 innings of work at home, with opponents batting only .105 against him. Likely Friday starter Ryan Gallagher has been no slouch either, pitching to a 1.67 ERA in 32 1/3 innings while holding batters to a .168 average at home. At the plate, the Gauchos have five hitters batting .300 or better at home, with Aaron Parker's .397 home batting average leading the way. The catcher has cleared his home fences four times, but it is actually Jonah Sebring who owns the title of Caesar Uyesaka's top slugger so far this year. The centerfielder is batting .378 in 16 games at home, with more than half of his hits going for extra bases. Both his five home doubles and his .757 home slugging percentage lead the team. Ivan Brethowr has the most home runs at Caesar this year with five, most recently launching a towering blast to left field on Saturday night. Nick Oakley and Justin Trimble are both batting .328 at home, with Trimble having driven in 22 runs across his 17 home starts. Brendan Durfee rounds out the fab five with a .314 home batting average.
 
An Abundance of Aces
Coming into this weekend, the Gauchos look set to start three legitimate aces on the mound, with a fourth lurking in the bullpen. Ryan Gallagher has been sharp as ever in his return from Tommy John surgery and has earned the Friday spot in the rotation, boasting the nation's 16th best ERA (2.32), seventh-fewest hits allowed per nine innings (5.30)and fifth-lowest WHIP (0.87). He has allowed only three runs over his last three outings, including a complete game, two-hit shutout at UC Davis two weekends ago. Mike Gutierrez has started all 11 Saturdays for the Gauchos this season and brings a 7-0 record into the weekend. With 21 career victories to just three losses, Gutierrez currently holds the best career winning percentage by any Santa Barbara pitcher, and the veteran lefty became one of the newest members of the 200-strikeout club by matching his career high of nine K's last Saturday against Cal State Fullerton. Gutierrez was joined in that exclusive club by Matt Ager, who relieved him and got the save in Saturday's 5-1 victory. Ager has ace stuff, having earned All-America honors as Santa Barbara's Friday guy in 2023, but struggled to start this season. A return to the bullpen, where he was a Freshman All-American in 2022, has brought him back toward that 2023 level. In 11 1/3 relief innings, he has allowed just two earned runs, with none of those coming over his last eight relief innings, a span which covers four outings. With Ager in the bullpen, Tyler Bremner has been freed up to join the rotation. The flamethrowing sophomore made one start before becoming the Gauchos closer, covering for the injured Hudson Barrett, but he has been lights-out since returning to the rotation for the last three Sundays. Bremner has pitched 21 innings over those three outings, winning all three. With his high-velocity fastball and wicked changeup, plus a just-as-dangerous slider, the San Diegan has struck out 19 hitters to just five walks over that span, allowing only three earned runs.
 
SCOUTING THE TRITONS
UC San Diego is not to be taken lightly, having returned much of the talent that carried them to their first Big West Championship in 2023, but the Tritons are scuffling big time, having lost their last five games by a combined score of 67-32. UC San Diego has been mercurial for much of the conference season, a nature best captured by their three-game set against now-No. 9 UC Irvine. The Tritons won game one, 15-4, only to lose the next 16-3. In the finale, they blew a three-run lead in the top of the ninth only to score two runs themselves in the bottom half for a walk-off win. The absence of key players Matt Halbach and Ryan Forcucci, neither of whom have seen action since the first week of conference play in mid-March has certainly not helped.
 
In Halbach's stead on offense, Michael Crossland has helped carry the load, leading the team with 41 starts, a .307 batting average an .870 OPS, and 12 doubles.
Crossland is one of five Tritons with 20 or more RBI; Emiliano Gonzalez and Brock Kleszcz lead the way with 29 each. Nick Costello is the big home run threat; the only Triton with more than five, he has eight on the season.
 
On the mound, Anthony Eyanson has done his best to match the impact that Forcucci had in the rotation, but the key arm on the Tritons' staff belongs to reliever Izaak Martinez. Martinez has a 1.13 ERA, a 0.86 WHIP and eight saves over 47 2/3 innings of work spread across 19 games. Opponents are hitting just .167 against him, and he has 50 strikeouts to just 14 walks.
 
SCOUTING THE WAVES
In the 65 days since the Gauchos last saw Pepperdine, the Waves have won just 10 out of 32 games and come into the weekend on an eight-game skid. Pepperdine will play a three-game series at St. Mary's over the weekend before coming to visit the Gauchos.
 
The Waves' lineup has maintained a level of consistency all season, with just 13 different players recording a plate appearance through 41 games. But while the offense has been solid, the pitching staff has been hit around, owning a team ERA of 7.33. Only two Pepperdine players have an ERA under four so far this year, right-hander Tommy Scavone and freshman infielder Corwin Hemmingsen, who threw four scoreless innings against Western Michigan back in February. Scavone only has seven appearances on the season, all in weekend series and none since April 13. Freshman Matt Queen got the start last time the Waves and Gauchos met, giving up five runs in three innings, still his longest outing of the season.
 
At the plate, only four of the 13 hitters to record an at-bat for Pepperdine are hitting over .250, with Justin Rubin's .346 leading the team. Rubin has started only 22 games this season, with everyday starter Connor Bradshaw being the only player with both 30 starts and a batting average over .300 on the year. His four home runs are a team high, as are his 27 RBI. Brady Renk also has four homers and 25 RBI. He and Bradshaw both have seven stolen bases on the year.
 
UP NEXT
The stretch run continues for the Gauchos with a road trip to Bakersfield next weekend. After their three-game set against the Roadrunners, Santa Barbara will return home and host its final Isla Vista Community Night of the season on May 14 against St. Mary's.