SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — The UC Santa Barbara Baseball team (18-10, 7-4 Big West) took another step towards re-finding its groove on Friday night, coming from behind in the final three innings to defeat Cal Poly (17-11, 10-4 Big West) by a 4-2 scoreline and secure the Blue-Green Rivalry Series win. As if there was any doubt after his 4 1/3 innings of perfect relief against Oregon last weekend, Cole Tryba proved himself well and truly back with another dominant outing out of the bullpen on Friday, pitching 3 2/3 of shutout ball to earn the win in relief. And with a third solid performance in a row, the Gaucho offense hinted that they might just be back as well. Santa Barbara had to manufacture all of their runs the hard way — Ryan Severns' first career double was the only extra-base hit the Blue and Gold got on Friday — but the Gauchos were able to punish Mustang mistakes to tally the final four runs of the game and earn the win.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
Santa Barbara starter Nathan Aceves had to manage traffic early, with the Mustangs' lead-off batter reaching in each of the first three innings. He got a double play in the first and struck out the side in the second to get out of those frames scot-free, but could not pull the same trick in the third. A hit batter, a sacrifice bunt and a bloop single gave Cal Poly its first run against the Gauchos in 20 innings of baseball and its first lead in 28.
 
Aceves responded with a perfect fourth inning but got tagged for another run in the fifth, an infield single and a double doing the trick this time. Santa Barbara's offense picked up their pitcher by scratching across a run in the top of the sixth, when Rowan Kelly reached on an error and eventually scored on a wild pitch, but after a one-out walk in the bottom of that frame, it was time for Tryba. The lefty allowed a sacrifice bunt and hit a batter, but then settled into the rhythm that had the Ducks flummoxed six days prior. It helped that Liam Barrett made a sliding catch in left field for the final out of the sixth.
 
It helped even more that when Tryba took the mound on the other side of the seventh inning stretch, he had a lead. The Gauchos had been knocking at the door, with the tying run thrown out at the plate in both the fifth and sixth innings. The third time would be the charm. Fresh off his nice play in the field, Barrett started the seventh with a single, and Noah Karliner worked a walk to follow him. Corey Nunez's single loaded the bases with nobody out, and back-to-back sacrifice flies from Severns and Kelly gave Santa Barbara a 3-2 lead.
 
Tryba was perfect in the seventh to make that lead stick, and the Gauchos tacked on an insurance run in the top of the fourth. Nick Husovsky led off that inning with a walk and scored on Barrett's fielder's-choice groundout. Tryba gave up a two-out single in the bottom of the eighth but that was all. The final four Mustangs to walk to the plate on Friday night walked back to their dugout after being on the receiving end of a Tryba strikeout.
 
UP NEXT
The Gauchos now have the chance to sweep the Mustangs for the first time since 2022, with Kellan Montgomery set to take the mound in Saturday's series finale. First pitch is set for 1 p.m. from Baggett Stadium in San Luis Obispo. Fans can catch all the action from anywhere by watching live on ESPN+ or by following along with live stats and a free audio-only broadcast at ucsbgauchos.com.