SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — The UC Santa Barbara Baseball team (34-16, 14-13 Big West) enters the final weekend of the regular season in control of their own destiny but with their playoff lives still on the line. The Gauchos must win two of their three games against Cal State Bakersfield (17-36, 8-19 Big West) to secure a place in The Big West Championship. The action begins with a Thursday evening contest and concludes with Santa Barbara's Senior Day on Saturday.
 
POSTSEASON SCENARIOS, SUMMARIZED
If the Gauchos make The Big West Championship field, they will have to play in the play-in game between the no. 4 and no. 5 seeds on May 21; who they play and whether they bat first or second is still up in the air. Coming into this weekend, it is possible for three teams to finish with identical 17-13 conference records and a tie for third place — Cal State Fullerton, Santa Barbara and either Hawai'i or UC San Diego, who play each other in Manoa — but the Gauchos do not hold the tiebreaker against any of them. The best Santa Barbara could finish is fourth, making them the designated home team in the play-in game, needing to sweep Bakersfield this weekend and hope that neither the Rainbow Warriors nor the Tritons sweeps the other. If either Hawai'i or UC San Diego does sweep the other in their series and Cal State Fullerton is swept by UC Irvine, the Gauchos will play the Titans in the play-in game. But, if the Titans win at least one game against the Anteaters, Santa Barbara will face the winner of the Tritons-Warriors series.
 
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. Fans are encouraged to park in Lot 22, the garage next to the Thunderdome. Lot 27, in front of the Thunderdome, will also be available. 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
Santa Barbara is coming off of their bye week, getting a break from conference action and playing a series against LMU over the weekend. The interlude came at an opportune time for the Gauchos; they were able to shuffle their arms and give some pitchers extra rest, while the bats poured on runs all weekend long. Tyler Bremner made history in his Friday start, punching out 10 Lions to break UC Santa Barbara's all-time career strikeout record. He was named Big West Pitcher of the Week on Monday. AJ Krodel and Cole Tryba both had great days in relief of Frank Camarillo on Saturday, with Tryba picking up a six-out save. And on Sunday, Hudson Barrett made his longest outing since returning from Tommy John surgery, striking out three in 2 2/3 hitless innings. At the plate, Nate Vargas had a monster series, batting .636 with two doubles, a triple and a homer over the three games. Jack Holman hit .500 on the series with a homer, and Jonathan Mendez homered twice on the weekend as six Gauchos batted .400 or better over the three-game set.
 
SCOUTING THE ROADRUNNERS
The Gauchos cannot afford to underestimate Cal State Bakersfield, despite their 8-19 conference record and nine-game losing streak. The Roadrunners won their conference series against UC San Diego, took wins on the road at Cal State Fullerton, Long Beach State and Hawai'i and just last weekend gave UC Irvine as much as the No. 12 Anteaters could handle. The Bakersfield offense tagged Anteater ace Riley Kelly for five runs in four innings in a 14-11 defeat on Friday, scored all three of their runs off of stellar Saturday starter Trevor Hansen in that 7-3 loss, then held the Anteater offense to just five runs in a 5-3 defeat on Sunday. Still, Santa Barbara enters the weekend on an 18-game winning streak against Bakersfield, their longest active run against a conference opponent. In fact, the last time the Gauchos lost to the Roadrunners, in February of 2017, Bakersfield had not yet joined The Big West.
 
At the plate, this year's 'Runners are led by two men with seven homers each: Nick Mascaro, who comes into the weekend batting .305, and Evan Cloyd, who has mastered the art of standing still when the ball is coming right at him. No player in college baseball has been hit by more pitches than Cloyd this season; the junior has gotten on base the hard way 33 times. Some of his teammates are well-bruised too; senior Brock Perreira has worn it 16 times and has a solid average at .285. Seniors Lewis Barnum and Elijah Pelayo have been hit 12 and 11 times respectively; they are not guys to give free passes to as Barnum has 10 steals and Pelayo a team-high 16 on the season. All told, the Roadrunners have been plunked 119 times as a team, sixth most in Division I.
 
However, Roadrunner pitching has hit 100 batters themselves this season, the 15^th most in college baseball. That stat does not benefit their team ERA, which sits at 5.60 to start the weekend. Bakersfield's scheduled starters for the weekend — Jack Leary, Ryan King and Shane McAlinden — all have individual ERAs around that mark, with King's 4.76 the best of the bunch. King has also had easily the worst luck of the bunch, coming into the weekend with an 0-5 record. Two weeks ago, he threw seven shutout innings against Cal Poly but did not feature in the decision. Last week though, he got shelled for eight runs in three innings against UC Irvine. Leary also got hit around against the Anteaters, giving up three runs in 1 2/3 innings. Despite leading the team in total innings pitched, he has not worked more than four in a game since March 21 and has made just seven starts. McAlinden is in fact the only Roadrunner to start all of his appearances, entering the weekend with a 5.46 ERA. Patience seems to benefit hitters against him, as McAlinden has struck out only 26 batters in 57 2/3 innings, while walking 18.
 
FOLLOW ALONG
This weekend's series will run from Thursday, May 15 to Saturday, May 17, with first pitch times set for 4:35 p.m. Thursday and Friday and 1:05 p.m. on Saturday. Saturday will be Senior Day, and the Gauchos will celebrate eight graduating members of their program prior to the game. Tickets are still available at ucsbgauchos.com/tickets, and fans following from afar can catch all the action live on ESPN+ or with the live stats and audio broadcast available at ucsbgauchos.com.