HATTIESBURG, Miss. — The UC Santa Barbara Baseball team's visit to No. 20 Southern Miss lived up to its billing as one of the marquee series across college baseball's opening weekend, with Sunday's rubber match another classic, featuring late-game heroics from both teams. Cade Goldstein and Cole Kosciusko both delivered clutch, game-tying hits for the Gauchos, but the 20^th-ranked hosts claimed the series with a walk-off, 6-5 win.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
Santa Barbara struck first in each of the two prior games and did so again on Sunday, plating a run before they had recorded an out. Rowan Kelly led off the game with a single, stole second, then took third when a wild pitch skipped off the rain-dampened turf. Goldstein's first key knock of the day, a single into right, drove Kelly home.
 
In a change from the first two games of the series, the Gauchos were not able to keep the Golden Eagles off the board in their half of the first, with a two-out single tying the game at one. However, that was the one blemish on what was an otherwise strong first five innings for Kellan Montgomery in his Santa Barbara debut. The veteran painted the corner with a slider for his first Gaucho strikeout to end a scoreless second, then got a Golden Eagle swinging to start a scoreless third. He allowed only a walk in the fourth, and was perfect in the fifth.
 
In the top of the fourth, the Gaucho offense had restored their lead too, thanks to another veteran addition: first baseman Nick Husovsky. The Ball State transfer hit his second home run in as many games to lead off the Santa Barbara fourth, going to the opposite field after putting one out to left on Saturday. The Gauchos had a chance to add more runs, with men on second and third and one out, but could not convert.
 
And in the sixth, the Golden Eagles rained on Montgomery's homecoming parade. A leadoff homer of their own tied the game again, and a one-out walk and single ended Montgomery's day on the mound, though both of those runners would come around to score by the end of the inning.
 
Southern Miss held its 4-2 lead for all of one out in the top of the seventh, as the top of the order struck again for the Gauchos. Kelly's one-out single gave Goldstein a runner to work with, and the true freshman lined his first collegiate home run over the right field wall to square up the scores at four apiece.
 
Then, it was déjà vu all over again for Santa Barbara, as the Golden Eagles once again took the lead with an eighth-inning home run. This one had all the makings of a backbreaker: an opposite-field, two-out solo shot. But the Gauchos did not roll over. Jack Haferkamp was unlucky not to have a pinch-hit single to start the top of the ninth, denied by a diving snag by the Southern Miss second baseman. After Kelly went down swinging, Goldstein came up as Santa Barbara's last hope. The Gauchos were handed a lifeline when the freshman's pop-up was put down on the infield, and Kosciusko made the most of it. He missed a home run by no more than a foot, bouncing an RBI triple off the center field wall.
 
A lead-off single was not how the Gauchos would have wanted to start the bottom of the ninth, nor was the walk to follow it. After a sacrifice bunt put runners on second and third with just one out, an intentional walk gave Santa Barbara a forceout at every base, but they never got the chance to make it. A walk forced home the winning run to end the game and series.
 
UP NEXT
The Gauchos return to their home state of California, where they will remain for the rest of the regular season, on Tuesday, Feb. 17 for their next game. Santa Barbara will meet up with Pepperdine in Malibu, with first pitch set for 1:30 p.m. The game will be live on ESPN+ with live stats and a free, audio-only broadcast available at ucsbgauchos.com.