University of California, Santa Barbara

AUSTIN, Texas — The UC Santa Barbara Baseball team (39-19) kept its season alive and set some records in the process on Saturday, defeating Holy Cross (25-30) by a score of 15-1 in an elimination game at the Austin Regional. Those 15 runs are the most the Gauchos have ever scored in an NCAA Tournament game, and starting pitcher Jackson Flora eclipsed the program's single-season strikeouts record in the process of holding the Crusaders to that one solitary run.
 
QUOTABLE
From head coach Andrew Checketts: "Fantastic effort by Jackson and the rest of the guys, grinding out some offense there," Checketts said. "Took us a little while to get going but got going. Happy to get back in the win column and be here another day."
 
"It was a good response. I think that the first half, we were feeling the heat a little bit, we were struggling, we had some disciplined at-bats where we were able to score based on them walking us, but didn't love the at-bats that first half. We were able to make some adjustments there, again like I said that third time through the order we were finally able to get some swings off against their starter, who did a nice job. I thought the at-bats continued to be good for the rest of the day."
 
From starting pitcher Jackson Flora: "I can't pitch every game, so I'm just glad my team got me this far into the season and I was glad to go out and help them win today," Flora said. "Strikeouts are a really fun part of the game but it all starts with the process, going and getting strikes early and then finishing hitters and executing pitches, but that was pretty sweet."
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
Flora, renowned as one of if not the single most competitive Gaucho on the team, knew how many strikeouts he needed to pass Rodney Boone's single-season record from 2021, and he came out on maximum attack. He struck out four Crusaders on his first pass through the lineup, and he was even or ahead in the count for 29 of the 35 pitches that it took him to get those first nine outs.
 
On the other side, the Santa Barbara offense was carving out opportunities to score when they got themselves ahead in the count. The Gauchos' first baserunner of the day was Rowan Kelly's one-out walk in the first, and Santa Barbara's first two runs came from more free passes. Liam Barrett sparked the third-inning rally with a bunt single, and after Kelly's single, William Vasseur walked on four pitches to load the bases. Nate Vargas looked at four more balls in a row to force home the first run, and after a strikeout, Corey Nunez made it 2-0 with a four-pitch walk of his own. Xavier Esquer provided the first run-scoring hit of the day with a single back up the middle, and the Gauchos left the third with a 3-0 lead.
 
Flora picked up his fifth strikeout of the day to break the single-season K record in the bottom of the fourth and kept right on rolling all the way into the eighth. The only speed bump was a solo home run in the fifth, but the righty allowed just two more baserunners for the rest of his afternoon, finishing with nine strikeouts. Raymond Olivas finished the game on the mound, racking up a trio of K's for himself.
 
With Flora on his game, the Santa Barbara offense needed extra runs less for insurance and more for confidence, and they got them in bunches in the seventh inning. The Gauchos started the inning with four straight hits, including singles of the RBI variety from both Barrett and Kelly. A walk loaded the bases, and Vargas promptly un-loaded them by blasting a grand slam over the wall in right-center field. Cole Kosciusko brought up double digits for Santa Barbara with a pinch-hit RBI single, then Noah Karliner was hit by a pitch in his second plate appearance of the inning to re-load the bases. Kelly cashed in again, punching a two-run single back up the middle to make the score 12-1.
 
In the eighth, Xavier Esquer's two-out, two-run single tied the Gauchos' best-ever NCAA Tournament score, and the new record came up in the ninth. Mitch Namie walked and then scored on an error to plate Santa Barbara's 15^th run.
 
UP NEXT
The Gauchos advance to another elimination game on Sunday, when they will play the loser of No. 6 Texas' Saturday-night matchup with Tarleton State. First pitch from UFCU Disch-Falk Field in Austin is set for 12 noon Central, 10 a.m. Pacific.