The UC Santa Barbara baseball team defeated top-ranked UCLA 4-0 on Tuesday night at Jackie Robinson Stadium, ending the Bruins’ 27-game winning streak and handing them their first shutout loss since the 2025 Big 10 Championship.
A combination of pitching and defense proved decisive for the Gauchos. Pitchers Calvin Proskey, AJ Krodel and Cole Tryba limited UCLA to five hits and worked out of multiple bases-loaded situations. Proskey, making his second start of the season, escaped an early jam in the first inning with the help of a diving catch by outfielder Colin Beazizo.
“That’s two-and-a-half center fielders there in the outfield with Rowan, Beazizo a center fielder as well, [Liam] Barrett was a center fielder before he got here; he’s probably a step behind those guys, but that’s our best defensive outfield out there,” said UC Santa Barbara coach Andrew Checketts. “Three good left-handed bats, so when those guys are healthy and doing their thing, they really make us better.”
Beazizo’s defensive play prevented an extra-base hits and highlighted a strong overall performance in the field by the Gauchos.
The Gauchos scored all the runs they would need in the third inning. After Cole Kosciusko reached on an infield single and Xavier Esquer doubled, Rowan Kelly drove in two runs with a bloop single to left-center field.
UC Santa Barbara added insurance runs late in the game. In the eighth inning, Kelly singled and later scored on a double by William Vasseur. Beazizo followed with an RBI single to extend the lead to 4-0.
Krodel and Tryba combined to maintain the shutout over the final innings. Tryba recorded key strikeouts, including retiring UCLA’s Roch Cholowsky with the bases loaded in the seventh inning, and closed the game without allowing a run.
Following the game, head coach Andrew Checketts noted the significance of the win, while acknowledging differences between midweek and weekend matchups.
“Midweeks are different — I don’t want to downplay it; our guys did a really good job — midweeks are obviously different from weekends,” Checketts said. “You see a lot of upsets that happen, but our guys played well and that’s a good team. I think we’ve got a good team, and it’s not very often you get to play the number-one-ranked team in the country at their place and win.”
The victory marks UC Santa Barbara’s first win over a No. 1–ranked team since March 3, 2020, when the Gauchos also defeated UCLA.
UC Santa Barbara improved to 23-11 with the victory, while UCLA fell to 33-4. The Gauchos will continue their road trip with a weekend series against UC Irvine from April 17-19 in a return to Big West Conference play.
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