SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — The No. 14 seed UC Santa Barbara Baseball team is set to open their NCAA Regional against Fresno State on Friday, May 31, playing in the nightcap of day one at the first-ever Santa Barbara Regional.
 
WHEN AND WHERE TO WATCH
The Gauchos and Bulldogs are set to get underway at 6 p.m. from Caesar Uyesaka Stadium. The game will also be live on ESPN+ with live stats and an audio broadcast available through ucsbgauchos.com. For ticketing information, visit ucsbgauchos.com/tickets.
 
HOW THE GAUCHOS (42-12, 26-4 Big West) GOT HERE
UC Santa Barbara won its third Big West Championship in the last five years to secure the conference's automatic postseason bid. The Gauchos won their final 21 Big West games in a row to take the crown, sweeping eight of their 10 conference series on the season. Their charge to become a regional host for just the second time and the first ever on campus includes the 14-game winning streak they carry into the weekend; the longest active run in the country. Eight of those 14 came at home, where the Gauchos have not lost all season.
 
SERIES AND POSTSEASON HISTORIES
Santa Barbara's history with Fresno State goes back furthest among the three teams visiting Caesar Uyesaka Stadium this weekend, with the Gauchos owning a 39-33 all-time record against the Bulldogs. Since Head Coach Andrew Checketts arrived in Santa Barbara, the Gauchos are 10-6 against Friday's foes, with only one loss at home. However, Fresno State has won four of the last five meetings, including two out of three in Fresno last season and a 9-2 victory at the 2019 Stanford Regional. The Bulldogs are the only team participating this weekend that the Gauchos have faced in postseason play, with Fresno State winning all three. Two of those three games are from all the way back in 1952 though.
 
The Ducks are the visitor the Gauchos know best this weekend, having played a total of 14 games against Oregon over the past four seasons. Santa Barbara has won seven of those meetings, each in a row, with the Ducks finally snapping their skid in the final game of this season's three-game set in Eugene. In all, the Gauchos are 11-11 all-time against Oregon and 9-11 against the Ducks under Coach Checketts. Matt Ager, Aaron Parker and Zander Darby have all enjoyed success against Oregon in their Gaucho careers. Over two starts in Eugene, Ager struck out 19 Ducks in 14 2/3 innings without allowing an earned run, while Darby hit .500 in his two games in Eugene earlier this season. Both Darby and Parker have two-homer games against the Ducks on their resumes.
 
San Diego would be the Gauchos' least-familiar opponent. The Toreros and Santa Barbara have not met since 2016, though the Gauchos have a 26-20-2 all-time record against San Diego. In the Checketts era, Santa Barbara has won two of the three meetings between the two teams, most recently a 9-3 win at San Diego's Fowler Park in 2016.
 
The Gauchos made their only College World Series appearance in 2016, winning the Nashville Regional with an extra-innings triumph over Washington and back-to-back wins over Xavier. They upset No. 2 seed Louisville in the Super Regional on a legendary walk-off grand slam to advance to Omaha. There, they earned a win over No. 3 Miami before falling to No. 7 Arizona to end their run.
 
HOME SWEET HOME
In 25 games on the brand-new surface at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium, the Gauchos have not lost, going undefeated at home for the first time in program history. In those 25 wins, Santa Barbara is out-scoring opponents, 206-78. This season at home, the Gaucho offense is hitting .311/.410/.517 as a team with 39 home runs, while the pitching staff is holding opponents to a line of just .216/.284/.311 with just 14 homers. Six Gaucho batters are hitting .300 or better at home, with Parker's .409 leading the bunch. On the mound, all three weekend starters have ERAs under 3.00, with Tyler Bremner's 1.42 the best of the group.
 
GAUCHOS TO KNOW
At the Plate
Under Associate Head Coach Matt Fonteno, the Gaucho offense took a leap forward this season, thanks to returning stars, new talent and breakout performances. Parker headlines the order, leading the Gauchos in batting average (.371), on-base percentage (.459), slugging (.632) and RBI (50), with three five-RBI games on the year. Ivan Brethowr spent the season hitting the cover off the ball again, leading Santa Barbara with 14 home runs. Along with his homer numbers, he has also improved his strikeout-to-walk rate this season, drawing a total of nine more free passes (walks and hit-by-pitches) while striking out 19 fewer times compared to 2023. Justin Trimble is one of the few men to have more free passes than Brethowr this season, with a team-high 17 hit-by-pitches. He also has 12 home runs and 47 RBI as part of a breakout year at the plate. The only Gaucho to play all 54 games, Trimble has locked down the starting third base role. Darby has slid over to first base with Trimble at the hot corner and has had a hot-cold-hot season at the plate. After hitting four home runs in the first seven games, a leg injury slowed him down, but he is back on the upswing with multi-hit games in six of the Gauchos' last nine games. Brendan Durfee, a transfer from Division III Cal Lutheran has spent time at first base this season as well but missed the last three weeks with a wrist injury. He was deemed healthy enough to potentially pinch-hit last weekend, which is good news for the Gauchos. Durfee's average has never dropped below .300 and sits at .351 coming into the weekend. The third big lefty bat in Santa Barbara's lineup has been their homegrown talent and spiritual leader, Nick Oakley. Having grown into a leadership role off the field, the senior from Santa Barbara has delivered clutch moments on it, hitting .314 with four triples and 49 RBI after batting just .197 last season. Like Oakley and Trimble, Jessada Brown has had a breakout season this year, making the left field role his own. After getting just 17 at-bats over his first two years, the junior is batting .351 in 53 games this year, with 11 doubles and eight home runs to his name. He also robbed what would have been a go-ahead grand slam to preserve a win over UC San Diego in early May. Speaking of outfield defense, Jonah Sebring's glove earned him the starting centerfield role, and while his bat has not been what it was last season, he is hitting .369/.440/.738 at home. That includes a nine-RBI game with two doubles and a grand slam against UC Riverside last Friday.
 
On the Mound
The strength of the Gauchos' formidable pitching staff lies in six arms. Ryan Gallagher, Mike Gutierrez and Tyler Bremner make up the weekend rotation, with Jackson Flora and Cole Tryba serving as the set-up men in front of closer Matt Ager. With help from some other bullpen arms, they make up a staff that comes into the postseason ranked sixth nationally in ERA (3.96) and WHIP (1.25). Only three teams in the country allow fewer hits per nine innings than the Gauchos. Individually, Gallagher and Bremner are second and third nationally in WHIP, fifth and 11^th in hits allowed per nine innings and sixth and 15^th in ERA. Bremner's 96 strikeouts lead the staff, though Gallagher is close behind on 93. Both men have thrown a complete game this season, with Gallagher hurling a nine-inning shutout at UC Davis. Gutierrez has served as the Saturday starter between those two, and while his numbers are not as gaudy, he maintains an ERA of 3.19, just outside the top 50 in the country. He is also one of the winningest pitchers to ever wear a Gaucho uniform, with 22 career victories in 25 decisions. That .880 winning percentage is the best ever in UC Santa Barbara history. In a perfect world, those three starters will go seven innings, then turn it over to either Flora or Tryba out of the bullpen. Both freshmen have 20 or more appearances, with Tryba's 25 the most on the team. Each have ERAs just under four and a 3-2 record on the year. Flora could also make a spot start if needed; he has four on the year, going as long as four innings. Ager began the year as a starter but was not his All-American self in non-conference play and moved to the bullpen full-time in April. In 13 relief appearances, he has an ERA of 1.27 with 10 saves in 10 opportunities, 23 strikeouts to just six walks over 21 1/3 innings and a batting average against of just .188.
 
SCOUTING THE BULLDOGS (33-27, 16-14 Mountain West)
The Mountain West Champions had to fight for their conference crown, winning four straight elimination games against higher-seeded teams in the Mountain West Championship last weekend. Fresno State is led by All-Mountain West first teamers Tommy Hopfe and Grady Morgan. Hopfe, a two-way player for the Bulldogs, hit .357 with seven home runs and 45 RBI while playing first base and a bit of left field. On the mound, he was the Bulldogs' closer, earning eight saves while striking out 21 batters in just 15 2/3 innings. He did allow seven home runs in that span though. Morgan has plenty of pop in his bat, hitting .303 with 13 home runs, including two in a game against Air Force in their final series, part of a five-RBI day. Fresno State's middle infield of Ben Newton and Eddie Saldivar both took home All-Mountain West Second Team honors. Newton led the squad with 25 doubles on the year, while Saldivar finished as the team's second-best hitter behind Hopfe.
 
SCOUTING THE TOREROS (40-13, 20-4 WCC)
West Coast Conference Champion San Diego got hot late en route to their second conference crown in three seasons, winning their last 10 games in a row to claim both the regular season title and WCC Tournament Championship. Third-year Head Coach Brock Ungricht was named WCC Coach of the Year for the achievement, with star hitter Jakob Christian earning Player of the Year, pitcher Logan Reddemann named Freshman of the Year and catcher Ariel Armas earning Defensive Player of the Year honors. Christian is a semifinalist for the Dick Howser Trophy, known as the Heisman of College Baseball, as is teammate and two-way player Austin Smith. Smith is also a semifinalist for the John Olerud Award, handed out to the best two-way player in the nation, as he owns a 2.96 ERA and .314 batting average. Christian was the NCAA Division II Player of the Year in 2023 and posted a 23-homer season in his first year of D-I ball. Behind the plate, the junior Armas is a semifinalist for the Buster Posey Award. His 17.64 Defensive Runs Saved lead all Division I players. Other Toreros to know include hitters Jack Gurevitch, Jack Costello, Justin DeCriscio and Will Worthington, plus starting pitcher Josh Randall and closer Connor Thurman, all of whom took home all-conference honors.
 
SCOUTING THE DUCKS (37-18, 19-11 Pac-12)
Oregon will be the only non-conference champion in town this weekend after dropping back-to-back games at the Pac-12 Tournament, both by 4-2 scorelines. Freshman shortstop Maddox Molony is the Ducks' lone All-Pac-12 Conference first teamer, though five players earned all-league honorable mention and two were named to the all-defense team. Molony has an Oregon freshman record 10 home runs on the season, hitting a team-best .355 in just 34 starts. Bryce Boettcher and Jacob Walsh earned all-defense nods, though both can hit quite well too. Boettcher leads the team in stolen bases (13) and outfield assists (six), with 11 home runs. Walsh leads the team with 17 homers, and his OPS of 1.065 is behind only Molony. Two of the Ducks' weekend starters, RJ Gordon and Grayson Grinsell, earned All-Pac-12 honorable mention this season, as did two of their top bullpen arms: Logan Mercado and Bradley Mullan. Mercado's eight saves are a team high, Mullan has four. Catcher Chase Meggers and outfielder Mason Neville also earned all-conference honorable mentions.
 
UP NEXT
The Santa Barbara Regional is a double-elimination tournament, meaning that win or lose, the Gauchos will face one of San Diego and Oregon on Saturday, June 1. The start time for that game will be determined by the results of Friday's contest. Whichever team wins the Santa Barbara Regional will face the winner of the Bryan-College Station Regional, hosted by No. 3 seed Texas A&M, in the Super Regional, June 7-10.