The No. 20 UCSB baseball team picked up its third straight win Friday night, taking game one of its weekend series over Nevada 4-1. Sophomore Cory Lewis tied his career-high with 11 strikeouts in the home opener victory.
Lewis (1-0) tossed six full in his first win of the season leaving the game with a no-hitter and 11 Ks. He scattered four walks and now has an ERA of 1.69.
UCSB outhit Nevada 7-3 with second baseman Nick Oakley collecting the sole multi-hit effort going 2-for-4 with two doubles, two runs and an RBI.
Third baseman Bryce Willits went 1-for-2 with a double, a sac-fly, and two RBI.
Senior Jason Willow extended his hit streak to 12 games and Kyle Johnson collected a walk and has now reached base in every game this year.
Michael Rice was the first arm out of the pen tossing 1.2 innings and allowing the Wolfpack’s sole score, a solo shot in the 7th. Ryan Harvey earned his first save of the season tossing the final 1.1 innings and fanning three batters. In all, the ‘Chos collected 15 strikeouts.
The Gauchos drew seven walks and now have a team OBP of .399 in the young season.
Oakley got it going with an RBI double to right center in the bottom of the second to score Broc Mortensen, and Willits followed with a sac-fly to bring in Oakley to make it 2-0.
The game went quiet through the middle innings until the Wolfpack found their solo homer in the 7th to cut the lead to just one run. UCSB loaded the bases in the bottom half and Mortensen sent a huge ball into the outfield, but the cold night air knocked it down.
The Gauchos found insurance in the bottom of the 8th. Willits sent a double down the right line to bring in Oakley and then came around to score on an error to make it 4-1.
Harvey entered with two outs in the top of the eighth and immediately started throwing heat hitting 95 MPH on an elevated fastball to end the inning. He found two more Ks in the ninth to end it.
Daniel Moebus-Bowles writes about sports for UCSB.
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