Irvine, Calif. — Missed opportunities against rival Cal Poly have nudged the UC Santa Barbara baseball team to the brink of elimination at the Big West Championships.
The second-seeded Mustangs scored the final three runs of the game to pull away with a 4-2 victory and move into the driver’s seat of the double-elimination tournament.
“It was a competitive Big West baseball game. We’ve had a lot of those with Cal Poly over the years,” said UCSB coach Andrew Checketts. “We didn’t end up on top, but I thought it was a well-played baseball game.”
The Gauchos had an opportunity to break open the game early, as Cal Poly starter Carson Turnquist walked three batters and hit another in the bottom of the first inning. William Vasseur walked with the bases loaded to score Corey Nunez and give UCSB a 1-0 lead.
However, with a reliever warming up in the bullpen, Turnquist was able to escape the threat with an inning-ending double play in what proved to be a crucial moment in the game.
“You have to give him a lot of credit for being able to turn that thing around,” Checketts said of Turnquist, who completed six innings on the mound. “We were a swing away from probably getting him out of the game a couple times, but we weren’t able to land that blow.”
Cal Poly answered in the second inning, using a one-out double by Gavin Spirindoff, a single by Cam Hoiland, and a sacrifice bunt by Dante Vachini to even the score at 1-1.
Gauchos starter Calvin Proskey delivered a solid outing against one of the conference’s top offenses, working 5 1/3 innings while repeatedly escaping trouble. Proskey stranded multiple runners in several innings and recorded key strikeouts to keep Santa Barbara in contention.
“At the end of the day, it’s just trusting yourself,” Proskey said. “I trust Checketts. He knows what to throw. He’s been calling pitches all year long. It worked the first few games and just didn’t pan out today.”
The Gauchos regained the lead in the fourth inning when Noah Karliner drove in a run with a two-out single after back-to-back walks. Once again, however, Santa Barbara left the bases loaded and failed to capitalize on a larger scoring opportunity.
Cal Poly tied the game in the sixth inning on a pinch-hit sacrifice fly by Xander McLaurin that scored Jake Downing.
The Mustangs took the lead for good in the seventh on an unearned run as Downing singled to score Alejandro Garza.
The Mustangs added insurance in the eighth with a leadoff double by Hoiland, who went 4-for-4, which was followed by an RBI single from Nate Castellon that extended the margin to 4-2.
Santa Barbara mounted one final push in the ninth after reliever AJ Krodel struck out the side in the top half of the inning, but the Gauchos were unable to complete a comeback despite bringing the tying run to the plate.
“We’ve been through hard times before and had to bounce back,” Checketts said. “The goal is to go out, play aggressive, and play our brand of baseball.”
The Gauchos will now face UC San Diego in an elimination game Saturday at 1 p.m. A victory would advance Santa Barbara to a rematch with Cal Poly later that evening, with a potential winner-take-all championship game awaiting Sunday.
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