SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — The UC Santa Barbara Baseball (1-2) team hosts its first series of the 2026 season this weekend, welcoming Portland (1-2) to Caesar Uyesaka Stadium for a three-game set, Feb. 20-22. The Gauchos then hit the road to visit LMU (1-2) for their first mid-week contest of the year on Feb. 24.
 
LAST TIME OUT
Santa Barbara won their Opening Day visit to No. 20 Southern Miss behind the pitching of ace righthander Jackson Flora, who worked six shutout innings and struck out five Golden Eagles en route to Big West Pitcher of the Week honors. Saturday and Sunday arms Nathan Aceves and Kellan Montgomery were solid too, but the hosts snatched late wins in both games to take the series.
 
At the plate, the Gauchos benefitted from their newcomers, with Nick Husovsky and Cade Goldstein leading the offense. Husovsky homered twice on the weekend and Goldstein batted an even .500 across the four games, adding a home run and three RBIs in the finale to earn Big West Player of the Week honors. Noah Karliner marked his debut weekend in the Blue and Gold with some clutch hitting as well, driving in the winning runs of Friday's opener, which Rowan Kelly capped off with his first collegiate home run.
 
SCOUTING THE PILOTS
Portland arrives in California after opening the season with three games against Purdue in Sugar Land, Texas. Like the Gauchos, Portland won on Opening Day but fell in the final two games of the series. The Pilots visit CSUN on Wednesday afternoon before coming up the coast to Santa Barbara.
 
Portland's weekend on the mound was highlighted by a pair of long relief appearances. Freshman Will Labonte threw 5 1/3 scoreless innings out of the bullpen in their 2-1 Saturday loss, while junior Trey Newmann had turned in 3 2/3 of scoreless relief the day prior to earn the win. Friday's starter, Kaden Segel, had only lasted 4 1/3 innings after being tagged for three runs. And on Sunday, two-way player Trey Swygart allowed three runs in four innings in his start.
 
Swygart hit just a moderate .200 over what was a quiet weekend for him, and it was likewise for the Pilots' lone Preseason All-West Coast Conference player, infielder Jonas Salk. Salk hit a measly .182, though he did drive in four runs. In their stead, utility players Brady Bean and Nolan Miller both stepped up, hitting .400 or better on the weekend. Infielder Cole Katayama-Stall also had a big game on Sunday, smacking a pair of home runs.
 
SCOUTING THE LIONS
LMU also picked up just one win from their opening series, taking the Saturday game from their three-game set with Tulane in Los Angeles. Before they host the Gauchos on Tuesday, the Lions will visit USC, host Washington for a three-game weekend set, then host TCU on Monday.
 
Not many members of LMU's pitching staff could hide from the Tulane bats over the weekend, as the nine Lion arms deployed in the series allowed 20 earned runs combined. Jonah Johnson did have a solid start on Saturday, allowing just a single run across 4 2/3 innings, though his spot in the weekend rotation makes him an unlikely foe for the Gauchos come Tuesday. One arm for Santa Barbara to watch is that of lefty Caleb Sweeny, the only Lion not to allow a run over the weekend. He struck out three Green Wave batters across two innings of work on Friday.
 
At the plate for LMU, there are two names that clearly need circling after the first weekend of games: Andrew Mhoon and Jaxson Wall. The freshman infielder Mhoon hit .455 over the weekend with four RBIs, including the game-winning runs on Saturday night. The graduate Wall missed Sunday's game but hit .333 across the first two, highlighted by a home run on Saturday.
 
FOLLOW ALONG
First pitches against the Pilots are set for 4:05 p.m. Friday, 3:05 p.m. Saturday and 12:05 p.m. Sunday from Caesar Uyesaka Stadium. Season and single-game tickets are on sale now at ucsbgauchos.com/tickets or by calling the ticket office at (805) 893-UCSB(8272). Fans can also catch the action from anywhere by watching live on ESPN+ or by following along with live stats at ucsbgauchos.com. Tuesday's game against LMU will start at 6 p.m. from Page Stadium in Los Angeles. The game will also be live on ESPN+ with a free, audio-only broadcast and live stats available at ucsbgauchos.com.