Backed up against the wall, the UC Santa Barbara baseball team locked in and snapped its four-game losing streak with a 5–1 victory over Hawaii on Sunday afternoon at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium.
The Gauchos bounced back from two lackluster offensive performances and avoided being swept at home by a Hawaii team that came into the series with a 1–5 Big West Conference record.
“You can’t get swept at home and expect to be a postseason team or win a conference championship,” said UC Santa Barbara coach Andrew Checketts. “Our backs were up against the wall, and we got a good response out of them.”
After scoring just two runs in the first two games of the series, the Gauchos were in need of an offensive spark, and catcher Nico Libed delivered.
Hitting just .143 on the season coming into the game, Libed was plugged into the two-hole in the lineup and went 3-for-3 with a walk.
“We were getting a little antsy there the last couple games,” Libed said. “We just had to stay grounded, stay present, make them come to us, and hammer pitches that we could handle.”
The Gauchos got on the board in the bottom of the first inning after Rowan Kelly was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning, and Libed followed with a single to right field, putting two on with nobody out.
Cole Kosciusko then drove in Kelly from third on a groundout to give the Gauchos a 1-0 lead.
In the bottom of the third inning, the Gauchos put together a two-out rally. Jonathan Mendez came up with the bases loaded and smacked a line drive to right-center that scored Libed and Kosciusko, extending the lead to 3-0.
The signs of life offensively were more than enough for Kellan Montgomery, who turned in another solid outing, surrendering just one run in five innings on the mound.
“I thought Kellan set the tone for the day on the mound. He had his best stuff, and he was attacking,” Checketts said. “We talk a lot about how, when we are at home, the first blow we can land is defensively, and it starts on the mound.”
Another bases-loaded hit by Mendez—this time an infield single—scored Libed in the bottom of the fifth, increasing the UCSB lead to 4-0.
Montgomery’s day came to an end after a leadoff walk and single to open the top of the sixth inning. Raymond Olivas and Van Froling came on in relief and limited the damage to one run.
Froling went on to have the best outing of his career to this point, pitching 3.2 scoreless innings and notching six strikeouts. He also recorded the first save of his career.
With the win, the Gauchos improve to 15-6 Overall and 5-4 in Big West Conference play.
The Gauchos will continue their season on Tuesday with a non-conference matchup against Saint Mary’s before hosting No. 21-ranked Oregon next weekend, March 27–29.
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