SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — The UC Santa Barbara Baseball team's run of big games is not ending anytime soon, as the Gauchos (20-10, 8-4 Big West) host conference leaders UC San Diego (14-14, 10-2 Big West) this weekend and pay a visit to the No. 1 team in the nation, UCLA (30-2, 15-0 Big Ten) on Tuesday night.
 
With rain in the forecast this weekend, all three games against the Tritons are now scheduled to begin at 1:05 p.m. from Caesar Uyesaka Stadium. And Tuesday night in Los Angeles, the Gauchos and Bruins will be on the national stage, with a Big Ten Network broadcast bringing with it a start time change; first pitch from Jackie Robinson Stadium is now set for 7 p.m.
 
LAST TIME OUT
Few stretches are tougher than the Gauchos' last 12 games — home to an elite Hawai'i pitching staff, a mid-week matchup up in the Bay, then Oregon for three, at USC, a road Blue-Green Rivalry series and a rematch with those Trojans — and while Santa Barbara scuffled through the start of that gauntlet, they have rediscovered their sea legs of late. The Gauchos swept Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo as both the pitching and offense delivered great performances, then upset No. 14 USC at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium Tuesday evening. Santa Barbara's pitchers allowed just one unearned run, while both Nate Vargas and Corey Nunez smacked home runs as part of a five-run haul on offense.
 
The Gauchos enter this weekend with the best team ERA in the nation, 2.80, and rank among the top five for both hits allowed and WHIP, while also among the top 25 for strikeout-to-walk ratio and walks allowed. Friday starter Jackson Flora, fresh off his second complete game shutout of the Mustangs in as many seasons, leads all qualified Division I pitchers with a 0.69 ERA and is riding a 34-inning shutout streak. His 4.47 hits allowed per nine innings is good for fifth among Division I arms, and his 0.78 WHIP is good for sixth. He also ranks fifth nationally in wins and 14^th in strikeouts.
 
More importantly, the Gaucho offense has come back to life in recent days to support their stellar pitching staff. Santa Barbara has out-hit its opponents in each of its last five games, even though one of those went down as a loss, and they scored six or more runs in three of those five after reaching that total just once in the prior seven. Xavier Esquer ended a six-game home run drought for the Gauchos with his first yard call of the season on Sunday, and Vargas and Nunez's Tuesday night jacks gave Santa Barbara its first multi-homer game in a month.
 
SCOUTING THE TRITONS
UC San Diego is on an upswing as well, having won 10 of its last 14 games and each of its first four Big West series. Two of the Tritons' losses came at the hands of the Ducks immediately prior to Oregon's visit to Santa Barbara, leaving UC San Diego 10-2 in conference play and alone atop The Big West standings, with a two-game lead over the Gauchos entering the weekend.
 
The Tritons are one of the better slugging teams in the conference, ranking third among Big West squads in slugging percentage and second behind only CSUN for home runs, with 36. Twenty-one of those long balls have come in conference games, with Michael Crossland and Gabe Camacho hitting four each, representing a quarter and a third of their Big West hits so far, respectively. J.C. Allen has been a beast in conference games with a .473 Big West average, plus two home runs of his own.
 
On the mound, the Tritons have a more modest staff, with an ERA of 4.83 in conference contests, though they did shut out Hawai'i in Saturday's series finale. Trevor Rector played opener for typical Sunday starter Austin Bowker in that game, with Bowker lowering his conference ERA to 6.00 thanks to the 5 2/3 scoreless innings. Ahead of him in the rotation, Steele Murdock and Nic Gregson enter with conference ERAs of 4.98 and 4.15 respectively. In the bullpen behind them, lefty Jake Villar has been a Big West specialist, pitching 8 1/3 conference innings across four conference games without allowing an earned run, a significant difference from his non-conference resume, as he has been dinged for 17 runs over 10 1/3 non-Big West frames.
 
SCOUTING THE BRUINS
There has been no upswing needed for UCLA, as the Bruins started the season No. 1 and have stayed there. They have lost just twice, both in the month of February and both to teams from San Diego: the Sunday of Opening Weekend against the Tritons and Tuesday, Feb. 24 against San Diego State. Since then, it has been 24 consecutive wins for the Bruins, with the likes of TCU, Tennessee, Mississippi State and USC, among others, all meeting their Blue-and-Gold buzzsaw.
 
UCLA are led by shortstop Roch Cholowsky, the consensus top pick in this year's Major League Baseball Draft. But he is far from the only powerful bat in the Bruins' lineup, as Cholowsky's .352 batting average is good for just third on his team and his 13 home runs are only tied for first, alongside teammate Will Gasparino, whose .365 batting average is second on the squad. Mulivai Levu and Roman Martin make it four qualified Bruins with batting averages over .350, and the first baseman Levu has a power stroke himself, with nine long balls on the year to accompany his team-leading .373 average.
 
While UCLA unsurprisingly has one of the top offenses in the country, ranking 11^th in runs per game and 18^th in homers, their pitching staff ranks even higher, with the nation's fifth-best ERA, 3.29. Weekend starters Logan Reddemann and Michael Barnett contribute greatly to that mark, with the midweek staff looking more approachable on paper. Freshman righty Angel Cervantes has handled Tuesday starting duties and enters the weekend with an ERA over five, coming off an outing at Cal State Fullerton where he surrendered three earned runs in as many innings. But the Gauchos may need to make the most of their opportunity against Cervantes because the Bruin bullpen is no joke. Wylan Moss has a 0.89 ERA in 30 1/3 innings of relief. Closer Easton Hawk has allowed just six earned runs in his 19 1/3 innings out of the bullpen, and Ian May has given up the same number in 18 2/3 for a nearly identical ERA. Zach Strickland has been a relief workhorse too, with eight earned runs against him in 20 innings out of the bullpen.
 
FOLLOW ALONG
With the goal of avoiding the rain forecast to hit Santa Barbara this weekend, all three of the Gauchos' games against UC San Diego — Friday, Saturday and Sunday — will begin at 1:05 p.m. For the most up-to-date schedule information, check ucsbgauchos.com. Any additional schedule changes will also be announced on the team's social media accounts: @ucsb_baseball on both Instagram and Twitter/X.
 
Tickets for this weekend's games (and all Gaucho home games) are on sale now at ucsbgauchos.com/tickets. Fans can also catch all the action from anywhere, live on ESPN+ or by following along with live stats at ucsbgauchos.com/BSBLiveStats.
 
Tuesday night's game against the Bruins has been selected for a national broadcast on Big Ten Network and will now begin at 7 p.m. from Jackie Robinson Stadium in Los Angeles. Fans can also tune in to a free, audio-only broadcast through ucsbgauchos.com.