SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — The UC Santa Barbara Baseball team (18-9, 5-7 Big West) returns home after a five-game road trip, hosting a three-game series against UC Davis (12-13, 3-6 Big West) April 4-6 and a mid-week game against Pepperdine (6-22, 2-4 West Coast) on April 8. The Gauchos will look to get their Big West campaign back on track against an Aggies squad that has been swept in their last two conference series over the weekend, then complete their first season sweep of the Waves since 2021 on Tuesday.
 
KNOW BEFORE YOU GO
Plan to Park in Lot 22 — Due to ongoing construction, parking in Lot 30 next to Caesar Uyesaka Stadium will be extremely limited. Also, due to other campus events this weekend, Lot 27 will also be closed. Fans are encouraged to park in Lot 22, the garage next to the Thunderdome. UC Santa Barbara Athletics will provide assistance getting to and from the ballpark for seniors and people with mobility issues.
 
Introducing the Yardi Youth Pass — In partnership with Yardi Systems, UC Santa Barbara is offering free admission to all home baseball games for young Gauchos in 6^th grade or below. Tickets will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis, beginning 60 minutes prior to each game from the Yardi Youth Pass table outside the front gate of Caesar Uyesaka Stadium. Availability may be limited due to the stadium's capacity.
 
LAST TIME OUT
The Gauchos went 3-2 on their five-game road trip, winning Tuesday games at Saint Mary's and LMU either side of a series loss at Long Beach State over the weekend. Calvin Proskey continued his great season on the mound, moving up into the role of Saturday starter and throwing seven shutout innings against the Dirtbags. Jackson Flora threw six innings of one-run ball in a bounce-back performance, albeit out of the bullpen on Sunday. Also on Sunday, Liam Barrett recorded his first two career hits with a home run and a double, both of them run-scoring. Fellow freshman Ian Fernandez hit his first career homer on Tuesday night against LMU. 
 
SCOUTING THE AGGIES
UC Davis has experienced nothing but sweeps in conference play so far, being on the winning end of one against UC Riverside to open Big West action but on the losing end of their most recent two, at Hawai'i and against Cal Poly at home. The Aggie offense had been struggling, posting three or fewer runs in seven straight games, but broke out with 12 runs in their Wednesday win over Nevada.
 
This weekend's series therefore shapes up as a pitchers' duel, as the mound is the strong point for both Davis and Santa Barbara. Last weekend, Cal Poly was able to do most of their damage against the Aggie starters, with Noel Valdez, Tyler Wood and Bryan Green combining to allow 12 of the Mustangs' 20 total runs in the series. As such, Davis is set to mix up their rotation for this weekend. Last Sunday's starter, Green, is the only one of those three with an ERA under five, sitting at 3.06 coming into the weekend and is scheduled to pitch the opening game on Friday. He also leads the team in strikeouts, with 35, though he has also allowed the most home runs, with three. Freshman Ned Frutchey is set to make his fifth start of the year on Saturday; he pitched five shutout innings with nine K's in his last start, March 26 against Nevada. Fellow freshman Matt Barnes II is scheduled to pitch Sunday, making what would be his first career start. Through 12 relief appearances so far this year, he has a 2.41 ERA.
 
At the plate, Davis will be looking for someone to step up alongside leading batter Braydon Wooldridge, who currently leads the team in average (.351), on-base-plus-slugging percentage (.935) and RBIs (18). The only other Aggie with at least 10 at-bats and an average of .300 or better is Ethan Kang, who has only played in 14 games, coming off the bench in 13 of them. Tyler Howard is just under that number, batting .299 after going 3-for-6 in the leadoff spot against Nevada. Alex Gouveia and Jason Hanson also both had big games against the Wolfpack; Gouveia went 2-for-4 with two doubles and four RBIs, while Hanson hit a three-run homer.
 
SCOUTING THE WAVES
Pepperdine has gone 5-14 in the 19 games since the Gauchos beat them, 13-2, in Malibu, losing their last three and six of their last seven. During that span, the Waves have played two Big West teams, defeating Long Beach State but losing to Cal Poly. Pepperdine will host Santa Clara over the weekend before coming up to Santa Barbara.
 
The Waves started Jordan Cole on the mound in their first meeting with the Gauchos back in February, and he started Pepperdine's last mid-week win over Long Beach State in March, but Oregon transfer Jackson Pace has taken the ball in the Waves' last two Tuesday contests. Cole was actually Pepperdine's most effective pitcher against the Gauchos, the only one to keep Santa Barbara off the board, but he has not pitched since allowing three runs on two hits without recording an out against Nebraska. Pace is yet to post a scoreless outing this season and most recently gave up two runs on two hits in two innings at UCLA on Tuesday night.
 
On the other side, every Gaucho pitcher was more or less effective at containing the Waves when they met in Malibu, as Santa Barbara allowed just three hits, though they also walked six. Esteban Sepulveda, Julian Nunez and Joe Cardinale were the three Waves to record three hits in that game, though none of them are hitting above .300 on the season. The only Pepperdine hitter doing so is Nick Upstill, who comes into the weekend with a .310 average. Nunez has proven dangerous despite his .215 average, as he leads the team with three home runs and seven RBIs. Sepulveda's six RBIs put him in a three-way tie for second.
 
FOLLOW ALONG
First pitch times are set for 4:35 p.m. Friday, 3:05 p.m. Saturday, 1:05 p.m. Sunday and 4:35 p.m. Tuesday from Caesar Uyesaka Stadium. Tickets are on sale now at ucsbgauchos.com, and fans can catch all the action from anywhere by watching live on ESPN+. There will also be a free audio only stream and live stats available at ucsbgauchos.com.