BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — The UC Santa Barbara Baseball team continues its pursuit of a fifth Big West Championship this weekend, playing a three-game series on the road at Cal State Bakersfield. The Gauchos will then return home for a final mid-week game of the season against St. Mary's before heading out on the road again.
 
WHEN AND WHERE TO WATCH
This weekend's first pitch times from Bakersfield's Hardt Field are set for 6 p.m. Friday, 5 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday. The Gauchos' game against the Gaels on May 14 will begin at 4:35 p.m. at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium.
 
All four games will be broadcast live on ESPN+ with an audio broadcast and live stats available through ucsbgauchos.com.
 
LAST TIME OUT
Santa Barbara completed a fifth consecutive perfect homestand with a sweep of UC San Diego followed by a mid-week win over Pepperdine, though three of the four games got close in crunch time. Matt Ager totalled three saves on the homestand, most recently in the 7-5 victory over the Waves. Jessada Brown was a hero with both bat and glove against the Tritons, hitting a three-run homer on Friday and robbing a go-ahead grand slam in the eighth inning of Saturday's game. He hit .500 on the homestand; only Brendan Durfee did better, batting .583. LeTrey McCollum had his first multi-hit game since March 3 on Sunday and followed it up with an RBI double and a steal of home on Tuesday.
 
SERIES HISTORIES
The Gauchos come into this weekend riding a 15-game winning streak against Cal State Bakersfield, going 10-0 against the Roadrunners since they joined The Big West in 2020. The last time Santa Barbara lost to Bakersfield was in 2017, and the Gauchos have not lost at Hardt Field since 2012. The last meeting between these two teams in 2023 ended on an Ivan Brethowr walk-off single.
 
The Gauchos and Gaels have had to wait a bit to face each other; the two had a date in Moraga last year but that game was rained out. Tuesday's game was originally scheduled for February 27 but moved due to rain-caused delays to the field maintenance at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium. When they do get to playing, it will be their first meeting since 2022 and 23^rd overall. The Gauchos have won 15 of the previous 22 games, including each of the last three, with the teams splitting the 10 contests since Andrew Checketts became Santa Barbara's skipper.
 
THE CHAMPIONSHIP CHASE
Santa Barbara (17-4) holds a game-and-a-half lead over UC Irvine (15-6) atop The Big West standings with nine games left to play. Cal Poly (17-7) and CSUN (14-7) are both in the hunt, though the Matadors still have to play the Gauchos and Anteaters. The Mustangs play visit UC San Diego (13-11) and host Long Beach State (8-13) to round out their conference slate. UC Irvine plays a rivalry series at Long Beach State this weekend, visits Cal State Fullerton (5-16) in Week 14 and ends the season by hosting CSUN. The Gauchos will visit CSUN next weekend and host UC Riverside (5-16) to round out the season. To claim the title, Santa Barbara will need to finish alone in first place, as both UC Irvine and Cal Poly hold tiebreakers over them.
 
GAUCHOS HOPING TO HOST
Should they win out and lift The Big West trophy, Santa Barbara could be in the mix to host an NCAA Regional, with D1Baseball's latest projections placing the Gauchos as the No. 15 National Seed. There are logistical challenges, namely increasing the seating capacity at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium, but UC Santa Barbara intends to submit a bid. If successful, it would be the Gauchos' first time as a host since 2015 and the first time ever hosting postseason games at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium, having hosted at the Lake Elsinore Diamond in 2015.
 
WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT THE GAUCHOS (32-12, 17-4 Big West)
An Abundance of Aces
The Gauchos' starting rotation was touted as one of the best in college baseball before the season and, after some early year struggles, they have shaped up to be just that through the month of April and into May. They are ninth in the country in hits allowed per nine innings (7.76), 10th in WHIP, or walks and hits per inning pitched (1.30), and 18th in ERA (4.22). Tyler Bremner, who moved back into the rotation in April after spending most of the season as a fireman in the bullpen, ranks 15th in Division I with a 2.51 ERA and sixth with a 0.87 WHIP. Ryan Gallagher, who stepped into the Friday role, ranks 23rd nationally in ERA (2.64) and seventh in WHIP (0.88). He threw a complete game shutout against UC Davis in the Gauchos' last conference roadtrip. In Saturday starter Mike Gutierrez, the Gauchos have their winningest pitcher in program history, with the veteran lefty winning 88% (22 out of 25) of his decisions in Blue and Gold. Against Cal State Fullerton, he threw the 200th strikeout of his Gaucho career. Matt Ager joined Gutierrez in the 200-K club that same game, coming out of the bullpen, as has become his new role. Ager, who was an All-American as a starter last season but also a Freshman All-American reliever in 2022, struggled in the rotation early on but has returned to form as a closer, earning saves in all seven of his relief outings this season.
 
Backstops with the Big Bats
Gaucho catchers new and returning have played a key role in Santa Barbara's offense this season, with both Aaron Parker and Brendan Durfee making a case for Big West Player of the Year honors. The third-year Gaucho Parker ranks sixth in the conference for both batting average (.368) and on-base plus slugging percentage, or OPS (1.046), and has a team-high 38 RBI, despite missing 10 games. He does come in on something of a cold streak, having as many hitless games as multi-hit outings (2) in his last 10 starts. The former Division III man Durfee, on the other hand, is batting .429 with an OPS of 1.413 over the Gauchos' last 10 games. He is the only Gaucho to start all 44 games this year, hitting .351 overall and .381 in conference play. While Parker recovered from injury, Durfee caught at least some portion of the Gauchos' first 26 games.
 
SCOUTING THE ROADRUNNERS (13-33, 7-17 Big West)
With their trio of Ryan Verdugo, Gary Grosjean and Kellen O'Connor, Cal State Bakersfield has some of the few pitchers in The Big West who can rival the Gauchos' top arms. Friday starter Verdugo has been the conference's Pitcher of the Week twice this season and brings a 2.68 ERA into the weekend along with 82 strikeouts. However, Verdugo has just a 3-5 record over 12 starts. Similarly, O'Connor has an ERA of just 3.08, good for eighth in the conference, but only one win in four decisions over 11 starts, and Grosjean is 1-5 in 10 starts. One of Grosjean's five losses came despite the righty throwing a complete game against CSUN two weekends ago.
 
While CSUB's pitching has held their opponents to three runs or fewer 10 times this season, the Roadrunners have won just five of those games. Eighteen of their 33 losses have been by three runs or fewer, and they are 4-9 in one-run games this season. In each of their last five conference losses, the Roadrunners have held their opponent to five runs or less and still lost, all by three runs or fewer.
 
While Bakersfield has some arms who compare to the Gauchos' the same cannot be said about the Roadrunner offense. CSUB averages 4.1 runs per game, the third-lowest scoring offense in Division I, and their nine home runs are the fewest in college baseball. Jonah Shields is the only qualified batter hitting .300 or better, though both Max Bernal (.358) and Matthew Kurata (.320) have hit the mark in their limited at-bats. Bernal has made just 15 starts and 29 appearances but will be available for this weekend's series; Kurata has not played since the end of March. Veteran outfielder Kyler Stancato leads the Roadrunners with 21 RBI, and Nick Salas leads the team in walks (27). Elijah Pelayo is the only player to start all 46 games, but is batting just .266.
 
SCOUTING THE GAELS (30-16, 13-5 WCC)
St. Mary's is one of the better teams in a well-rounded West Coast Conference this season and will host Pacific before coming down the coast to visit the Gauchos.
 
The Gaels slug the ball better than most teams, coming into the weekend ranked 21^st in Division I with a .532 team slugging percentage and 25^th with 86 home runs on the season. Christian Almanza owns 22 of those long balls himself, the 10^th most in the country. He also leads the team and conference in OPS (1.333), ranking 7^th in the country for slugging percentage. His 35 walks lead the conference, as does his .371 batting average.
 
With Dalton Mashore and Coleman Schmidt, the latter of whom leads the WCC with 16 doubles, the Gaels have a three-headed monster of everyday players all batting .330 or better. Add in Ryan Smith, whose 41 RBI are second on the team, and the St. Mary's offense is not to be tangled with. If there is a weak point, it is that the Gales cannot always convert that slugging to runs, ranking just 106^th nationally in scoring, averaging 7.2 runs per game.
 
The pitching staff is solid but comes into the weekend with an ERA just over five. They do have some strong pieces in their bullpen, like Ryan Wiltse and his 2.42 ERA in 48 1/3 innings of work, but the right-hander is one of just five pitchers on the staff with an ERA under four. Two of those guys, Shawn McBroom and Owen Cuffe have not pitched 20 innings combined this season.
 
UP NEXT
UC Santa Barbara has just two Big West series left to play after this, traveling to CSUN May 17-19 before returning home to face UC Riverside May 23-25.