The vaunted UC Santa Barbara pitching staff had no answer for the Tarleton State lineup on Friday at the Austin Regional.
The Texans exploded for an 11-5 victory, racking up 13 hits and three home runs as the Gauchos could not keep pace in their NCAA Tournament opener.
“They put a lot of pressure on us. We couldn’t keep the ball in the ballpark,” UC Santa Barbara coach Andrew Checketts said. “Going into it, a team that won their league, won their conference tournament and beat {Cal Baptist} — an opponent that we have a lot of respect for and that has played us tough — we knew what we were getting into. We knew that we would have to play well, and we didn’t play well.”
The teams exchanged runs in the first inning. Rowan Kelly opened the scoring for UCSB with a solo home run to center field after Tarleton State had taken a 1-0 lead on a sacrifice fly.
Gaucho starting pitcher Calvin Proskey settled in after a lengthy first inning, retiring the Texans in order in both the second and third innings. Tarleton State regained the lead in the fourth on a two-run home run and extended its advantage to 5-1 with a two-run double in the fifth.
Nick Vasseur drove in a run with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the fifth, but another Texans home run restored the four-run margin. Santa Barbara closed within two runs in the sixth when Aaron Mendez hit a two-run homer, cutting the deficit to 6-4.
Tarleton State added an unearned run in the seventh before breaking the game open in the ninth with another home run and three additional unearned runs. Vasseur led off the bottom of the ninth with a solo homer, but the Gauchos were unable to mount a comeback.
The loss drops the Gauchos to 38-19 overall and sends them into an elimination game against Holy Cross on Saturday. Tarleton State improved to 38-19 and advanced in the winner’s bracket to a matchup against host Texas.
Kelly, Mendez and Vasseur each recorded their first NCAA Tournament home runs for UCSB.
“I feel we came in prepared, we just started off slow,” Mendez said. “We had the homer in the first, we saw some success early with Kelly’s homer, but the rest of the offense didn’t adjust early enough. That’s what we need to do if we want to keep playing. We can’t wait until the fourth or fifth inning to start making adjustments while the other team is swinging the bat well.”
Catcher Sergio Guerra led the Texans offensively, hitting two home runs and finishing 2-for-4 with three RBIs and three runs scored. Guerra became the first Tarleton State player to hit multiple home runs in an NCAA postseason game.
The Gauchos must now win four consecutive elimination games to advance out of the Austin Regional.
