Two weeks after UCSB pitched a shutout in a 4-0 upset of No. 1-ranked UCLA, the Bruins came to Santa Barbara with redemption in mind. It didn’t take long for them to show their scoring punch.
Roch Cholowsky, a power-hitting shortstop and top major-league prospect, smacked a towering two-run homer on the eighth pitch of the game, and the Bruins kept hammering seven Gaucho pitchers to post a 15-3 victory. UCSB’s ordeal ended after seven innings.
“UCLA wanted some revenge, and they spanked our bottoms,” UCSB coach Andrew Checketts said. “It’s embarrassing, in front of our family.”
The Bruins showed the capacity crowd at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium why they are the nation’s top team. They won their 40th game against four losses, while UCSB dropped to 27-15.
It was not UCLA’s most lopsided rout of the year. In Big Ten games last month, it recorded wins of 19-0 and 19-6 over Iowa and Ohio State.
UCSB had used 10 pitchers in its weekend series against Cal State Fullerton, and most were not available Tuesday. Checketts sent out sophomore left-hander Van Frohling for his first start of the year.
The Bruins greeted Frohling with four consecutive hits. Cholowsky’s round-tripper, his 18th of the year, disappeared high among the construction cranes beyond the left-field fence. A bases-loaded double by Phoenix Call gave UCLA a 5-0 lead and sent Frohling to the bench.
Chase Hoover came in and retired leadoff batter Dean West for the third out of the inning. Hoover, a former San Marcos High standout, had UCSB’s best stint on the mound. He gave up a run on a sacrifice fly in the second inning and pitched a scoreless third.
“I felt pretty good, competing pitch to pitch,” said Hoover, who allowed one hit, walked two, and fanned two. As for UCLA’s total of 15 hits, he said, “Baseball is that way. Things go well, and other times your ass gets kicked.”
Down 6-0, the Gauchos had a chance to halve the deficit when slugger Noah Karliner came up in the bottom of the second with two runners on base. But UCLA starter Angel Cervantes got him on a hard-swinging third strike.
Karliner connected twice when the game was out of reach — a solo homer in the fifth inning to make the score 12-1 and a two-run shot in the seventh.
For the most part, Checketts said he was “disappointed in our competitiveness” against the Bruins. “We have to handle taking some blows and be able to respond.”
The Gauchos are in a tight race for the top spot in the Big West standings. They will play their next two conference series on the road — at Cal State Bakersfield and Northridge — and wrap up the regular season at home May 14-16 against UC Riverside.
“We’re going to be the hunted,” Checketts said. “Those teams will be gunning for us. We need to be able to handle that and play better.”
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