No. 19 UCSB Baseball (24-8, 13-2) made it a clean sweep of UC San Diego (12-22, 4-8), outlasting the Tritons in game three 8-7. The Gauchos have now won six-straight games and have swept three different conference series.
Blake Klassen, Nick Oakley, and Christian Kirtley all collected solo shots in the contests as Kirtley went 2-for-3 with two walks and two runs and Nick Oakley went 2-for-4 with a run.
Nick Vogt went 2-for-4 with a walk and two runs, and both Broc Mortensen and John Newman Jr. saw doubles.
Kyle Johnson had the game winning swing with a two-RBI double and had a walk.
The Gauchos stole four bases in the game, all by different players as they just outhit UCSD 11-10.
Six arms graced the mound for the Gauchos as Sam Whiting (1-0) picked up the win in his first decision and Ryan Harvey closed out the ninth for his ninth save, which leads the Big West.
Klassen served as the lead-off man once again and wasted no time taking the second pitch he saw deep over the right field wall to put his team up 1-0.
Two more came in the bottom of the second with Nick Vogt collecting a lead-off single and making his way to second on a Triton error. A ground-out put him on third and a wild pitch saw him touch home to make it 2-0. Nick Oakley earned his second straight start at second base and made the most of it, hitting a dinger to right field, his first home run of the year.
Gallagher held strong, stranding Tritons aboard in the first three innings until the fourth, when UCSD broke through with two unearned runs.
The Tritons tied the game with a solo home run in the fifth to make it 3-3.
The third solo homer of the day for the Gauchos came with two outs in the 5th as Kirtley took his turn tattooing a ball to regain the lead 4-3. It was the left fielder’s sixth of the season, but the lead didn’t hold long with UCSD scoring another run in the sixth to tie it once again.
The Gauchos loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom half, but the damage was severely limited as they only managed to score one run on a walk from Willits.
UCSD threatened to score for the third straight inning bringing two aboard but Hayden Hattenbach entered and got out of the jam getting a quick lineout and ending the inning with the strikeout swinging.
For the third straight inning the Gauchos scored one as Vogt singled and got pushed to second on a Newman Jr. walk. A double steal brought him to third and he would come around to score on a wild pitch to extend the home team’s lead to 6-4.
Unfortunately, the relentless bats of the Tritons managed to plate a pair in the top of the 8th to ice the game yet again.
Johnson was the savior in the bottom of the eighth, ripping a two-out single to score a pair. A double steal during his at-bat may have been the difference in the game, bringing both runners into scoring position.
UCSD refused to quit, adding another in the ninth, but it wasn’t enough as UCSB held on for its sixth-straight win.
The home stand continues this Tuesday as No. 12 UCLA comes to town, followed by a weekend series with Long Beach.
Daniel Moebus-Bowles writes about sports for UCSB.
email: sports@newspress.com
