SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — The No. 13 UC Santa Barbara Baseball team has three games left to show the NCAA why they deserve to host a Regional at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium, as the Gauchos will welcome UC Riverside for the final series of the 2024 regular season. Santa Barbara has already clinched a share of The Big West Championship and needs just one win to claim the outright crown, though they will be eying a sweep to bolster their postseason hosting chances.
 
WHEN AND WHERE TO WATCH
This series will be played from Thursday, May 23 through Saturday, May 25, with first pitch times set for 4:35 p.m. Thursday and Friday and 1:05 p.m. Saturday. Prior to Saturday's game, the Gauchos will hold a Senior Day celebration. All three games will be broadcast live on ESPN+ with live stats and an audio broadcast available through ucsbgauchos.com.
 
LAST TIME OUT
Santa Barbara clinched a share of The Big West Title by sweeping CSUN last weekend, mustering some late-game heroics in the final two games. Nick Oakley's ninth-inning home run gave the Gauchos a 4-2 comeback win Saturday, then a three-run eighth inning powered them to a 6-4 victory on Sunday, with Zander Darby providing the go-ahead hit.
 
SERIES HISTORY
The Gauchos dominate the recent history of this series, having won nine of the last 10 meetings, with the most recent contest ending 18-4 in favor of Santa Barbara. The Gauchos swept the Highlanders in both 2021 and 2022, with their only loss in 2023 coming by a single run in 11 innings. That history is no excuse to underestimate this weekend's opponent, however, as the Highlanders have won a series as recently as 2019 and took two out of three from the Gauchos' 2016 College World Series-bound squad.
 
GAUCHOS HOPING TO HOST
Coming into the week at No. 10 in the Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) and No. 13 in D1Baseball's national rankings, UC Santa Barbara is well and truly in the mix to host one of 16 NCAA Regionals. D1Baseball's most recent predictions have the Gauchos hosting Arizona, Northeastern and Air Force as the No. 13 national seed, while Baseball America has Santa Barbara as the 16th and final host site. To strengthen their bid, the Gauchos are adding outfield seating to more than double Caesar Uyesaka Stadium's capacity, among other preparations. If selected, it would be UC Santa Barbara's first time as a host institution since 2015 and the first time ever hosting postseason games at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium, having played at the Lake Elsinore Diamond in 2015.
 
WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT THE GAUCHOS (39-12, 23-4 Big West)
An Abundance of Aces
In their weekend rotation of Ryan Gallagher, Mike Gutierrez and Tyler Bremner, the Gauchos have essentially a trio of aces, with a fourth waiting in the bullpen in the form of Matt Ager. Gallagher and Bremner, the Friday and Sunday starters, have been putting up video game numbers this season, ranking No. 1 and 2 in WHIP (walks and hits allowed per inning pitched) among all qualified Division I pitchers at 0.81 and 0.82 respectively. Their ERAs are also both in the top 20 nationally, with Gallagher ranking eighth and Bremner 19th. Both righties lead the Gauchos with 86 strikeouts on the season, and Bremner's 4.78 strikeout-to-walk ratio is the best in The Big West. Between those two in the rotation is the lefty Gutierrez, who is simply one of the winningest pitchers in Gaucho history. The veteran, whose 1.14 WHIP is fourth in The Big West, has won all eight of his decisions this season and has a 21-3 record over his three years in Blue and Gold. He also became one of just nine men to hurl 200 K's for Santa Barbara with a nine-strikeout outing against Cal State Fullerton. Ager joined him in the 200-K club that same game, earning one of his 10 saves on the season. Ager has flourished since trading places with Bremner and becoming the Gauchos' closer in April, having not allowed an earned run over his last 17 innings of relief.
 
Good Things Come from Those Who Wait
Juniors Jessada Brown and Justin Trimble have both had breakout years and taken up key roles in the Gauchos' lineup after spending much of their first two years on Santa Barbara's bench. After playing in just 35 games across his first two seasons, the now-first-choice left fielder Brown has started 43 games this year and come off the bench in seven more. He ranks 10th in The Big West for average (.353) and 13th in on-base-plus slugging percent (.974). All eight of his career home runs have come this season, contributing to his 37 RBI. Likewise, Trimble has featured in every game this season after playing just 29 across his first two years, and after stints at first base and shortstop is now Santa Barbara's starting third baseman. His 10 homers and 42 RBI are both second on the team, with the former tied as the fifth-most in The Big West. While he does have the most strikeouts on the team, his 23 walks and 16 hit-by-pitches have also earned him the most free passes to first.
 
A Salute for the Seniors
While Nick Oakley will be the lone participant in Senior Day ceremonies on Saturday, the Gauchos are celebrating three players currently in their final year of eligibility this weekend, giving away commemorative trading cards of Jonah Sebring on Thursday, Mike Gutierrez on Friday and Oakley on Sunday. Having impressed with his baserunning aggression and lockdown defense for two seasons in Santa Barbara, Sebring and the Gauchos are working to get the speedy centerfielder another year of eligibility. Gutierrez is undoubtedly in his final year in Blue and Gold, having participated in Senior Day last year. He will graduate as one of the winningest pitchers in Santa Barbara history, carrying a .875 winning percentage (1st all-time) and 21 total victories (T-6th) into the weekend. Oakley has also posted some marvelous stats in his final year with his hometown university. The Santa Barbara kid has career highs in batting average (.304), triples (4), home runs (4) and RBI (44) in 2024.
 
SCOUTING THE HIGHLANDERS (16-33, 6-21 Big West)
UC Riverside snapped a five-game losing streak in their last action, earning a walk-off win on their Senior Day last Sunday against UC Davis. It was just their sixth Big West win of the season, though three of those six have come in their last three series. The Highlanders have 16 wins on the season, only four of which have come away from home, most recently taking two of three from Long Beach State at Blair Field in late April.
 
At the plate, the Highlanders are led by newcomers Cole Koniarsky and Bubba Rocha. Koniarsky's .359 average leads the team (by a single point), as do his 30 RBI. Rocha owns the team's top OPS at .898, though he did not feature in UCR's series against UC Davis. When it comes to the long ball, only four Highlanders have more than one of the team's 19 total home runs on the year; Zachary Chamizo and Jayden Lopez are tied for the team lead with three each.
 
On the mound, UCR's rotation has been more of a revolving door, with only one player starting more than 50% of their appearances. That Highlander is Matthew Flores, who is yet to earn a win in seven decisions this season over 11 starts. UC Irvine tagged him for 11 runs over 4 1/3 innings on April 27, and the Hawai'i bats tallied five runs against him on as many hits over just 1 1/3 innings two weeks ago. Flores drew the Sunday start last weekend, with Noah Andrunas beginning Saturday's game and Eric Marujo opening Friday.
 
UP NEXT
Santa Barbara will find out whether they will host an NCAA Regional on Sunday night, with the host site announcements beginning at 5:30 p.m. Pacific Time on ESPN and NCAA.com. The Gauchos will then learn their postseason opponents during the NCAA Selection Show on Monday, May 27 at 9 a.m. Pacific.