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University of California, Santa Barbara

Flora pitching at the NCAA Regional
Jeff Liang
4
Winner UC Santa Barbara SB 30-16
3
Cal State Fullerton CSF 25-22
Winner
UC Santa Barbara SB
30-16
4
Final
3
Cal State Fullerton CSF
25-22
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
UC Santa Barbara SB 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 4 10 1
Cal State Fullerton CSF 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 3 8 0

W: Flora, Jackson (5-2) L: Gurnea, Chad (0-1) S: Olivas, Raymond (1)

Game Recap: Baseball |

Gauchos Grab Crucial Win over Titans in Series Finale

FULLERTON, Calif. — The UC Santa Barbara Baseball team (30-16, 14-13 Big West) ended their three-game series at Cal State Fullerton (25-22, 16-8 Big West) on a very high note, earning a crucial 4-3 win thanks to another career outing from Jackson Flora on the mound and home runs from both Jonathan Mendez and Jack Holman. Flora struck out a career-high 12 Titans in 6 1/3 innings of relief to earn the win; Mendez's home run gave Santa Barbara the lead they would never surrender, with Holman's solo shot providing pivotal insurance late on.
 
With the win, the Gauchos still have a shot at finishing third in The Big West and avoiding the play-in game on the first day of the conference tournament. Santa Barbara currently sits in fifth with one conference series left to play, half a game ahead of Hawai'i, which has two series left to play.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Gauchos got on the board first, manufacturing a run in the opening frame. Nate Vargas reached on a fielder's choice after LeTrey McCollum led off with a single, then Xavier Esquer's sacrifice bunt put Vargas in scoring position. Cole Kosciusko came through with a clutch, two-out hit, and Santa Barbara had a 1-0 lead.
 
Fullerton tied the score in the bottom of the first with a pair of doubles off of Gaucho opener Hudson Barrett, but they failed to score any more, despite hitting a two-out single. McCollum made a great throw in from right field, cutting down the runner at home.
 
Flora relieved Barrett in the second and struck out the first Titan he faced, going on to retire the first five batters who came to the plate against him on the afternoon. After Flora finished a clean bottom of the third, Mendez gave the Gauchos the lead back, leading off the top of the fourth with a no-doubt home run into the parking lot behind left field.
 
Flora gave up a double to start the bottom of the fourth but struck out the side afterwards, then struck out the first two batters in the fifth, retiring the side in order in that inning as well.
 
After Rowan Kelly was hit by a pitch and Corey Nunez's double put Gauchos on second and third in the top of the sixth, Holman collected his first RBI of the day with a sacrifice fly to center, giving Santa Barbara a 3-1 lead.
 
Flora made that stick by retiring the side in order again in the bottom of the sixth, then striking out the side around a two-out single in the bottom of the seventh.
 
The momentum was all the Gauchos' in the top of the eighth, when Holman led off the inning by blasting the second no-doubt home run of the afternoon, a shot that cleared the netting behind the right field wall to make it 4-1.
 
As it turned out, Santa Barbara would need that cushion in the bottom of the eighth. Flora got the first out, but his afternoon ended after a one-out single. An error and a double turned that single into a run, the only blemish on Flora's ledger, then an RBI single cut the Gaucho lead to one. But again, the Santa Barbara defense cut down a runner at the plate. This time it was Kelly firing the ball in from center and the shortstop Nunez making a great relay play to wipe away the trail runner and keep the Gauchos in the lead.
 
Raymond Olivas came in from the bullpen and won a full-count battle to end the inning with a strikeout. The freshman was back out there for the ninth and earned his first career save with a clean inning, picking up two backwards K's in the frame.
 
BY THE NUMBERS
  • With his first career save on Sunday, Olivas becomes the sixth Gaucho to record a save this season, with he and Nathan Aceves the only two freshmen in that group.
  • While Holman's eighth-inning home run provided the eventual winning score for his team, it also ended a 30-game stretch without a homer for the slugger, who had previously gone 107 at-bats without leaving the yard. Prior to the dry stretch, he had six home runs in eight games.
  • After missing his start last Sunday, Flora did not miss a beat this Sunday, racking up a career-best 12 strikeouts, the second-largest haul by any Gaucho pitcher this season (Tyler Bremner's 13 against Cal Poly). In his last two outings, Flora has a 0.59 ERA and 21 strikeouts to just two walks in 15 1/3 innings of work.
  • With another hit and walk on Sunday, McCollum extended both his hitting and on-base streaks, having now reached base safely in 42 consecutive games. The senior is now four games away from breaking the program record of reaching safely in 45 games, set by Christian Kirtley in 2022.
 
UP NEXT
The Gauchos will play their final four non-conference games of the season next, hosting USC on Tuesday, May 6 before playing a three-game set against LMU, May 9-11. The May 9 game will be held at Page Stadium in Los Angeles, with Santa Barbara hosting on both May 10 and 11 at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium. First pitch times are set for 4:35 p.m. against the Trojans on Tuesday, then 6 p.m. Friday, 3:05 p.m. Saturday and 1:05 p.m. Sunday against the Lions. Kids who come out to the ballpark will have the chance to run the bases after Sunday's game, and fans can pick up an exclusive Isla Vista jersey t-shirt at Tuesday's game against USC while supplies last. Tickets are on sale now at ucsbgauchos.com/tickets.
 
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