SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — The UC Santa Barbara Baseball team (34-16, 19-8 Big West) hosts its final three games of the regular season this weekend, welcoming UC Riverside (15-34, 10-17 Big West) to Caesar Uyesaka Stadium beginning on Thursday. The Gauchos enter the weekend atop The Big West standings, in control of their own destiny. Three wins will secure The Big West regular season championship for Santa Barbara and send them to the conference tournament as the no. 1 seed.
 
Prior to Saturday's regular-season finale, the Gauchos will honor nine graduating student-athletes: Nick Husovsky, Nate Vargas, Corey Nunez, Kellan Montgomery, Cole Kosciusko, William Vasseur, Mitch Namie, Noah Karliner and Donovann Jackson in a Senior Day ceremony which will begin at 12:40 p.m.
 
LAST TIME OUT
Santa Barbara saw its win streak come to an end after seven games in a tough evening against California Baptist on Monday night, but the Gauchos are still 7-3 in their last 10 games and 14-6 in their last 20. They also already have a guaranteed spot in The Big West Championship after sweeping Cal State Bakersfield and CSUN on the road in their last two weekend series. Rowan Kelly continued to do his best Tony Gwynn impression, hitting .545 over the last five games, with six of his 12 hits driving in runs. His outfield parter Liam Barrett has blossomed as Santa Barbara's leadoff hitter, having hit .438 over the last five games. The Gauchos' veteran shortstop Nunez has gotten hot with the bat too, batting .436 over his last 10 games to bring his season average up to a career-best .326 entering the weekend. In that same 10-game span, Chase Hoover has become Santa Barbara's go-to guy out of the bullpen, pitching 13 innings across five appearances, earning a win and a save while maintaining an ERA of 0.69 and striking out 14.
 
THE PLAYOFF PICTURE
The Gauchos have already punched their ticket to The Big West Championship, but the regular season title (and top seed in the tournament) remain up for grabs. All Santa Barbara needs to do to secure both is match Cal Poly's results against Long Beach State, since the two enter the weekend tied and the Gauchos own the tiebreaker. A Santa Barbara sweep would guarantee the top spot.
 
A sweep is also effectively necessary for the Gauchos to defend their case for a potential at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. While Santa Barbara is currently projected to make the field of 64, it is via The Big West's automatic bid. Slip up next weekend, and the Gauchos will need to earn one of 35 at-large invites to the big dance. Santa Barbara enters the weekend ranked 30^th in the NCAA's Ratings Percentage Index (RPI), the most notable criteria for at-large selection. With UC Riverside sitting all the way down at 284, three wins are not likely to move the Gauchos any higher, but any loss would see them drop significantly, though Santa Barbara is 12-0 against teams with RPIs below 150 this season. Claiming The Big West regular season championship this weekend would also boost the Gauchos' at-large candidacy.
 
SCOUTING THE HIGHLANDERS
With a conference record of 10-17, UC Riverside has just pride and schadenfreude left to play for this weekend. The Highlanders need to win one more game than Cal State Bakersfield this weekend to avoid a last-place finish in the conference, and with an RPI over 280, any Highlander win would punch a massive hole in the Gauchos' chances of earning an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.
 
On paper, UCR's best chance to pull the upset will be when Matthew O'Brien takes the mound. The only Highlander to start all 13 of his appearances, O'Brien threw a complete game in UCR's upset of Cal Poly earlier in the season and also started their win over UC San Diego and one of two wins over CSUN. The left-hander's 4.23 ERA is third-best on the team, though he does have just 39 strikeouts to 29 walks. Expect the Highlanders to turn to right-hander Matt Hudson out of the bullpen late in the game.
 
As for the bats most likely to cause the Gauchos trouble this weekend, circle the names of Manoah Chapman, Jarren Sanderson, Robert Pitts and Isaiah Hernandez. Those four have all played major roles in UCR's best Big West wins this season, with Hernandez doing so mainly off the bench. Chapman is the Highlanders' leader in batting average and Sanderson their leader in RBIs. With six home runs on the season, Chapman and Pitts are tied for second in that category.
 
FOLLOW ALONG
First pitch times are set for 4:35 p.m. Thursday and Friday evening from Caesar Uyesaka Stadium, with Saturday's regular-season finale to begin at 1:05 p.m. Santa Barbara will host a Senior Day ceremony honoring its graduating student-athletes prior to Saturday's game, at 12:40 p.m. Tickets for all three games are on sale at ucsbgauchos.com/tickets.