SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — The UC Santa Barbara Baseball team (10-2, 1-0 Big West) had to do it the hard way, but the Gauchos won their opening game of Big West play, 4-3, over Long Beach State (4-9, 0-1 Big West) on Friday night. After
Jackson Flora was dinged for a pair of early runs, Santa Barbara's ace buckled down and ensured those were the only two runs he surrendered, while striking out seven Dirtbags.
Cole Kosciusko spearheaded the offensive breakthrough with a homer as part of a three-run fifth inning, and
Chase Hoover was tough as nails out of the bullpen, setting up
AJ Krodel to lock down a high-leverage save.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The much-hyped Flora had to face his toughest adversity of the season on Friday night, with Long Beach's first two batters both singling off him before a double steal put them both in scoring position. A third single in the inning plated both of them, and Flora had suddenly surrendered more runs in a third of the inning than he had in any of his previous three outings on the season. He put a stop to the rally with a lineout and a strikeout, and while he would have to contend with traffic all evening, he handled it much better over his final five frames, allowing just one Dirtbag to advance as far as second base.
Flora also picked off a pair of baserunners at first, one in the fourth and another in the fifth. Then, in the sixth, to end his night on the mound, Flora got to watch third baseman
Xavier Esquer make a nifty play in foul ground, an over-the-shoulder basket catch with the wall of Santa Barbara's bullpen looming.
Even better for Flora, the offense had picked him up after that tricky first inning. After some early rallies had been quenched by a pickoff and a double play, the Gauchos finally got runs up in their half of the fifth.
Colin Beazizo turned a leadoff walk into chaos on the basepaths, stealing second and then taking third on a failed pickoff attempt.
Rowan Kelly smacked a single up the middle, and Beazizo put the Gauchos in the run column. The very next pitch, Santa Barbara had the lead. Kosciusko blasted a no-doubt home run, his first of the season, to put the home team on top, 3-2.
The Gauchos expanded their lead by another run in the bottom of the sixth, with
Jordan Marian starting a one-out rally with a pinch-hit single. Beazizo followed that up with a single of his own, and Kelly again drove in the run, this time with a double into right field. A double play prevented Santa Barbara from getting even more, but the lead would hold.
In the top of the seventh, Hoover found himself thrust into a sky-high-leverage situation with runners on second and third and just one out, but managed to pull off the escape act with a pair of strikeouts, even after walking a batter to load the bags with two outs in the inning. The lefty's eighth inning was much more straightforward, started and ended with a strikeout.
In the top of the ninth, it was Krodel's turn to be thrown from the bullpen into the fire, inheriting runners on first and second with nobody out. After a strikeout got him off on the right foot, Gaucho right fielder
Noah Karliner showed he is fleet of foot by tracking down a fly ball in the right center gap for the second out. A two-out single cut Santa Barbara's lead to one, but Krodel came back and ended the game by inducing a groundout from the next batter he faced.
UP NEXT
The Gauchos and Dirtbags return to Caesar Uyesaka Stadium on Saturday, March 7 for the second game of their three-game conference-opening series, with
Nathan Aceves scheduled to take the mound for Santa Barbara. First pitch is set for 3:05 p.m., and tickets are on sale now at ucsbgauchos.com/tickets.
