SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — The UC Santa Barbara Baseball team (9-2) begins Big West play this weekend, hosting Long Beach State (4-8) in a three-game series from March 6 through March 8, before taking on Saint Mary's (8-4) on March 10 in a standalone non-conference midweek matchup at home.
 
LAST TIME OUT
The Gauchos head into the weekend on an eight-win hot streak, most recently dispatching of LMU on Tuesday and sweeping Utah last weekend. The pitching allowed just five runs across 35 total innings, with the Gauchos now ranked seventh nationally in earned run average. On the mound, Kellan Montgomery, Nathan Aceves and Jackson Flora each collected wins to continue their perfect records, while Donovann Jackson earned his first win of the season on Tuesday night.
 
Over the four games, Cade Goldstein, Nick Husovsky, and Nate Vargas each hit homers, each also with five RBIs. Both Cole Kosciusko and William Vasseur also accumulated five RBIs each throughout the four games.
 
SCOUTING THE BEACH
Long Beach State sits at 4-8, losing their last match to San Diego State, 13-10, on Wednesday. The Beach's four wins came against Texas A&M Corpus Christi, San Jose State, and twice against BYU.
 
In their last match, Dylan Lina hit two homers in a seven-RBI performance. Lina, who leads the Dirtbags with 16 RBIs on the season, is followed by Trotter Enright with 11.
 
On the mound, Luke Howe leads the Dirtbags with a 2.45 earned run average. The Dirtbags' rotation has been inconsistent all season but will likely look to Howe, Jake Fields, and Jason Gerfers to start this weekend's games.
 
SCOUTING THE GAELS
Saint Mary's is 8-4 on the season, going 2-1 against San Jose State before defeating UC Davis 7-2 last Tuesday. The Gaels will match up against San Diego State in a three-game weekend series before they take on the Gauchos.
 
In the Gaels' last game, freshman Jake Nobles made his second straight Tuesday start on the mound, recording a career high five strikeouts. Micah Nicholson hit the only home run of the game, marking the first home run of his career.
 
The Gaels are led by Tanner Griffith, who boasts a batting average of .515, which slots him in at fourth in the nation. Jacob Johnson leads Saint Mary's with 22 total RBIs on the season.
 
On the mound, the Gaels' rotation includes Jake Hilton, who leads the team with an ERA of 1.50, John Damozonio, and Cam Staton. For this midweek match, the Gales may look to Nobles, who has started their previous two midweek matchups.
 
FOLLOW ALONG
Against Long Beach State, first pitch times are set for 4:05 p.m. Friday, 3:05 p.m. Saturday, 1:05 p.m. Sunday, then 4:35 p.m. on Tuesday against Saint Mary's. 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 catch all the action live on ESPN+ or by following along with live stats at ucsbgauchos.com.