SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — The UC Santa Barbara Baseball team (21-11, 9-5 Big West) went all 12 rounds with UC San Diego (15-15, 11-3 Big West) — well, actually just 11 — as Saturday afternoon turned to evening, outlasting the Tritons in a nearly five-hour slugfest thanks to Xavier Esquer's 11^th-inning walk-off RBI single. The Gauchos evened up this weekend's three-game series with their 11-10 victory, with freshman Josh Jannicelli picking up his well-deserved first collegiate win with three clutch relief innings on the mound.
 
QUOTABLE
From head coach Andrew Checketts: "It's actually funny because before the weekend — Coach Newman and I have a good relationship and we were talking about the weekend — we said they'll probably win the low-scoring game and we'll probably win the high-scoring game because they've scored runs and had trouble keeping runs off the board and we have kept runs off the board but had trouble putting them up," Checketts said. "He was right so far, they won the low-scoring affair, we won the high-scoring affair, which isn't exactly how both teams typically win, so it would be nice to score a bunch tomorrow and not give up very many.
 
I thought Josh Jannicelli was awesome today. He came in with a runner on second and nobody out, was able to get that thing stopped, and then pitched fantastic. That was his first collegiate win, so that was certainly a highlight for the bullpen."
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
The teams spent the first few innings feeling each other out before Santa Barbara delivered the first big blow of the day, Nate Vargas' two-run home run to straightaway center field. UC San Diego answered with a right jab of an RBI double in the top of the fourth as haymakers started to fly in both directions.
 
Mitch Namie landed a left hook with an RBI double to left center in the fourth, his first extra-base hit and RBI as a Gaucho. William Vasseur came through with a jab of an RBI single in the fifth, then Corey Nunez's big right cross of a double down the right field line added another run. Vasseur was alert to a bad throw back in on the play and took the opportunity to scamper home, and with a 6-1 lead, Santa Barbara seemed to have their visitors on the ropes.
 
But Tritons surged off the mat in the sixth, coming through with an RBI single and a sacrifice fly. Those two body shots not only cut the lead to three, but they also set up the first big uppercut, a two-out, two-RBI double to left center that made the score 6-5.
 
After both teams' swings found nothing but leather in the sixth, the Gauchos got a jab through the Triton defense to extend their lead in the seventh, with Jonathan Mendez's opposite-field single making the score 7-5.
 
Yet again, UC San Diego responded by coming up swinging. The Tritons landed the biggest punch of the day in the eighth, a two-out grand slam to take their first lead of the game, 9-7. Back-to-back doubles to start the ninth constituted a pair of left hooks and put the Gauchos right up against the ropes, down 10-7 with just three outs to play with.
 
Taking a lesson from their opponents, Santa Barbara swung its way off the mat. Jonathan Mendez started the inning with a huge right cross, a line-drive home run over the wall in left field. Then the Gauchos got scrappy. Max Stagg's hustle to first base broke up what would have been a game-ending double play, and Santa Barbara made the most of its extra life. Rowan Kelly legged out an infield single to make the score 10-9, then Jack Haferkamp, who entered the game as a pinch runner, came home on a wild pitch, just narrowly beating the tag to earn his squad a ticket to extra innings.
 
Jannicelli had struck out the side after those back-to-back doubles in the top of the ninth, truly the first punches in Santa Barbara's fightback. He was back out and back at it in the 10^th, picking up two more K's in a perfect frame. After the Gauchos went in order in their half of the 10^th, Jannicelli again kept the Tritons from landing any punches. He did hit a batter, but he left him stranded at second. When Santa Barbara got themselves a runner at second thanks to Nunez's lead-off single and a textbook bunt from Stagg, they made sure not to waste their window of opportunity. Esquer landed the knockout blow, a two-out single back up the middle for the Gauchos' first walk-off of the season.
 
UP NEXT
Santa Barbara's victory sets up a rubber match on Sunday, with the winner taking the series. First pitch is set for 1:05 p.m. from Caesar Uyesaka Stadium, with Kellan Montgomery scheduled to take the mound for the Gauchos. Tickets are on sale now at ucsbgauchos.com/tickets.