SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — The No. 22 UC Santa Barbara Baseball team (3-0) cracked double digits for the first time this season, completing a three-game sweep of Campbell (0-3) with a 14-4 victory Sunday afternoon. Jonathan Mendez went 3-for-4 and finished a triple shy of the cycle, Isaac Kim went a perfect 3-for-3, and the Gauchos scored on three wild pitches. On the mound, Calvin Proskey struck out four in his first career start, while Santa Barbara native Chase Hoover earned the win in his debut for the hometown team.
 
FROM HEAD COACH ANDREW CHECKETTS
"So far, so good," Checketts said. "Nothing's ever perfect, but in terms of the whole weekend, the guys showed up, remained in character, doing what they're able to do and I think that was a good weekend. All around, we were in the zone a lot, we walked three guys on the weekend, which is really good in college baseball, one today on a Sunday, that's really good in college baseball … And then offensively, we played some team offense, we did a good job minimizing strikeouts, we hit the ball over the fence. Defensively we played a really good game there, Xavier Esquer was fantastic at third base all weekend, our infield played really well, we had a couple double plays there. (Nate) Vargas caught all weekend and did a great job behind the plate."
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
For the first time all weekend, the Gauchos trailed after the Campbell half of the first, as the visitors got a run off of three singles against Proskey, but Santa Barbara did not stay behind for long. Cole Kosciusko celebrated his birthday by wearing an 0-2 pitch to lead off the game; he then stole second and scored on Jack Holman's one-out RBI single through the right side. Kim hit his first of three singles and moved Holman over to third, and Nate Vargas drove Kim home with a sacrifice fly to right, giving the Gauchos a 2-1 lead. Mendez then doubled that lead, driving a two-run home run just over the fence in left field.
 
With a 4-1 lead to work with, Proskey had much less trouble getting through the second, getting a strikeout, a foul out and a batter's interference call while allowing just an infield single. He allowed just a single in the third as well, getting a sacrifice bunt, a groundout and a strikeout to take care of the Camels.
 
On offense, the Gauchos kept on chugging. Kim drove in a run in the bottom of the second with a bases-loaded hit-by-pitch, and Santa Barbara put up another crooked number in the bottom of the third. Mendez led off with a single, then Xavier Esquer roped a double down the left field line to put two Gauchos in scoring position with nobody out. A Rex DeAngelis walk loaded the bases, and a one-out wild pitch allowed Mendez to score. Kosciusko drove in the second run of the inning with an RBI groundout that kicked off the first baseman right to the second baseman in one of the Gauchos' few bad breaks on the weekend.
 
Proskey gave up another single in the fourth, though it was preceded by a lead-off home run that cut the lead to 7-2. After that though, it was a one, two, three inning for the sophomore righty. But like they did in the bottom of the first, the Gauchos got that run back and more in the bottom of the fourth. Back-to-back singles from Holman and Kim, then a Vargas walk loaded the bases, and another wild pitch allowed Holman to score and make it 8-2. Mendez then hit a double just inside the bag down the third-base line, scoring Vargas and Kim to put the Gauchos ahead, 10-2.
 
Proskey's day ended in the top of the fifth after a hit batter and a single, with San Marcos High School alum Hoover summoned from the bullpen. The lefty struck out the first batter he faced, then induced a 5-4-3 double play to end the threat. He struck out the side in the sixth and worked around a leadoff double in the seventh.
 
Santa Barbara's last big inning on offense was the bottom of the sixth. Kim and Vargas led it off with consecutive singles, then Mendez was plunked to set up another bases loaded, no outs situation for the Gauchos. Again, a wild pitch allowed the lead runner, Kim, to score from third. And again, the next guy up delivered a big hit. This time it was Esquer, who cracked his first home run as a Gaucho to make the score 14-2. DeAngelis also recorded his first career hit in the inning, but was left stranded.
 
Nic Peterson took over for Hoover in the top of the eighth and worked around a hit batter and a one-out single, picking up his first strikeout of the season in the process. Elliot Gallegos took charge in the ninth, with Jimmy Zakhar taking over catching duties for his Gaucho debut. Gallegos allowed a homer, a triple and an RBI groundout to make the score 14-4, but he finished his outing strong with a backwards K to end the game.
 
FROM THE STUDENT ATHLETES
Jonathan Mendez on his big day at the plate: "You know, it started when we walked into the field," Mendez said. "We go over the scouting report, they send out all the stuff we have on their pitcher and today it wasn't much, so it was just go out there, just play baseball, do what we can. The first at-bat, I felt like I was seeing him well, got the homer there and then after that, confidence is high, stuck with it, stuck with my approach."
 
BY THE NUMBERS

• Three Gauchos: Kim, Mendez and Esquer, finished the weekend with a batting average of .500 or better. Kim leads the group, hitting .545, while Mendez owns the team's top slugging percentage, of 1.250.
• Vargas and Holman finished just shy of the .500 mark for the weekend, each batting .455 over the three games. Holman is also in the 1.000 slugging percentage club, hitting the number exactly.
• Hoover collected five strikeouts to just one hit and one walk en route to earning his first win in the Blue and Gold on Sunday; he is one of the four Gaucho pitchers who finished their first outings of the season with a batting average against under .150.

 
UP NEXT
The Gauchos will complete their first homestand of the season on Tuesday, Feb. 18, welcoming Saint Mary's to town for a mid-week matchup. The Gaels took three out of four from Saint Louis in their opening weekend series and were the opponent in Santa Barbara's last Tuesday game of 2024. First pitch is set for 4:05 p.m. from Caesar Uyesaka Stadium. Season and single-game tickets are on sale now at ucsbgauchos.com, and kids in sixth grade or below get in free to all Gaucho home games this season with the Yardi Youth Pass. Visit ucsbgauchos.com to learn more. For fans following from afar, the game will be live on ESPN+ with live stats available through ucsbgauchos.com.