AUSTIN, Texas —
Rowan Kelly,
Jonathan Mendez and
William Vasseur each hit their first NCAA Tournament home runs for the UC Santa Barbara Baseball team (38-19) on Friday night, but it was not enough to overcome untimely miscues and the four balls that Tarleton State (38-19) hit out of the yard in the first-ever meeting between the Gauchos and Texans. With the 11-5 defeat, Santa Barbara now has no margin for error and will face Holy Cross (25-29) in an elimination game on Saturday afternoon.
QUOTABLE
From head coach Andrew Checketts: "They played CBU, we played CBU, we know they won their conference, we knew we had our hands full, we knew they are very talented, we've seen the numbers," Checketts said. "They put a lot of pressure on us. We couldn't keep the ball in the ballpark. Going into it, a team that won their league, won their conference tournament and beat an opponent that we have a lot of respect for and has played us tough, we knew what we were getting into, we knew that we would have to play well, and we didn't play well."
From catcher Nate Vargas "We have to tip our cap a little bit to them," Vargas said. "Their pitchers came in with a plan and they executed the plan. I think our hitters are just as talented as them; I don't think we showed it tonight. There were some stretches and some glimpses of it, but going into tomorrow, we have to execute our plan."
From designated hitter Jonathan Mendez: "I feel we came in prepared, we just started off slow," Mendez said. "We had the homer in the first, we saw some success early with Kelly's homer but just the rest of the offense, I think we didn't adjust early enough and that's just what we need to do if we want to keep playing. We can't wait until the fourth, fifth inning to start making adjustments while the other team is swinging the bat well."
HOW IT HAPPENED
The teams traded runs in the first inning, with Kelly's big fly to center field countering a sacrifice fly from the Texans. And after taking 22 pitches to get through the top of the first, Gaucho starter
Calvin Proskey settled in and took just 21 pitches total to set the Texans down in order in both the second and third.
A two-run home run put Tarleton State back on top in the fourth, and they extended their lead to 5-1 with a two-run double in the fifth. Vasseur got one of those runs back in the bottom half of the inning with a sacrifice fly, but another Texans home run helped the team in purple keep pace out in front. The Blue and Gold got closer in their half of the sixth, with Mendez's two-run homer cutting the deficit to a pair.
An unearned run in the seventh got Tarleton State back ahead by three, and a home run plus three more unearned runs broke the game open in the top of the ninth. Vasseur led off the bottom half with an impressive home run, but it did not kick off a rally for the Gauchos.
UP NEXT
Santa Barbara now matches up with Holy Cross, which dropped a 19-1 decision to hosts Texas earlier on Friday, in an elimination game on Saturday. First pitch from UFCU Disch-Falk Field in Austin is scheduled for 1 p.m. Central, 11 a.m. Pacific.
