UCSB Baseball Falls in 12-inning Slugfest with UCLA, 13-12

The UC Santa Barbara Baseball team played 12 innings for the second time in three games on Saturday, dropping a thriller against UCLA, 13-12, at Jackie Robinson Stadium.

The game featured 41 hits, four home runs, and just three completely scoreless innings.

The four-hour-and-45-minute marathon also had a wild side, including seven hit batters, an ejection, last Sunday’s starter pitching for the Gauchos and a position player taking the mound for the Bruins.

Tuesday night’s contest was entertaining from the first pitch, with the Gauchos putting barrel to ball early.

Santa Barbara’s first inning ended with Brendan Durfee’s line drive that was practically right into the first baseman’s glove, allowing him to double off Ivan Brethowr after the big righty had drilled a single.

The Gauchos’ luck did not improve in the bottom half of the frame, as a two-out, four-pitch walk kept the inning alive for the Bruins, who mashed a two-run home run to take the lead.

The Gauchos immediately took the lead themselves in the second inning with a similar formula. Reiss Calvin worked a phenomenal at-bat that ended with a walk. 

Justin Trimble stung a single into right field, then Jessada Brown launched a no-doubt, three-run home run over the fence in left center, making it 3-2 Santa Barbara.

The Gauchos chased UCLA’s starter then added to that lead before the inning ended, with Brethowr delivering an RBI single to make it 4-2.

To fully affirm just what a rollercoaster Tuesday night’s contest would be, UCLA tied it right back up in the bottom of the second, only for the Gauchos to edge back in front in the third.

After singles from Zander Darby and Calvin put two in scoring position, Trimble stung a grounder down the first base line, the UCLA first baseman having to dive to take away a certain double. It did still bring across a run, but that was all the Gauchos would get.

UCLA did not have an answer in the bottom of the third, as starter Jackson Flora started to find his rhythm on the mound, setting the Bruins down in order. Santa Barbara was then able to build on their lead in the fourth. 

Jonathan Mendez led off the inning with a single, and Durfee started the scoring by bringing him home with a single of his own. Aaron Parker followed him and brought home the seventh run of the game on yet another RBI single.

The Bruins and Gauchos traded a run each in the bottom of the fourth and top of the fifth, with Parker providing the RBI again for Santa Barbara.

After a single and two hit batters loaded the bases, his chopper skipped out of the third baseman’s glove, allowing Brown to scurry home.

UCLA chased Flora in the bottom of the fifth and tied the game back up, 8-8, on a double, a sacrifice fly and a bunt single. They nearly took the lead in the bottom of the sixth, but Nick Oakley made a phenomenal play defensively to keep it even.

With two outs and runners on first and second, the Gaucho second baseman ranged to his right and dove to field a bouncing ball, then threw home from his backside, getting the ball to Durfee in time for him to apply the tag.

It stayed tied until the bottom of the seventh, when just as it looked like reliever Frank Camarillo was finding his groove on the mound, UCLA hit back-to-back two-out home runs, taking a 10-8 lead.

Both sides went down in order in the eighth, with Ryan Troye taking care of UCLA in dominant fashion as the Gauchos looked for momentum.

Mendez made his contribution by leading off the ninth with a single, and Oakley nearly hit a game-tying home run to the opposite field, only to watch it get hauled in on the warning track.

After a second out, Durfee got every stitch of a ball and hit it a mile, but it crept just foul. He did single to keep the inning alive, and the clutch hit would come. 

LeTrey McCollum replaced Durfee on the basepaths, and he was able to score the tying run when Parker doubled down the left field line, the ball landing just out of the lef fielder’s reach. 

Jonah Sebring then replaced Parker, and he came home to score on Darby’s triple, giving Santa Barbara an 11-10 lead.

Troye returned for the bottom of the ninth, and while he had trouble, he nearly got out of it. Oakley was inches away from turning a double play on a lineout, and later in the frame, a bases-loaded hit by pitch tied the game back up.

Neither side scored in the 10^th, as Calvin Proskey replaced Troye and set the Bruins down in order, then his offense gave him a lead to work with. 

Nick Putnam, who took over catching duties after Durfee was lifted, led off the 11^th inning with a single and would come around to score on a double down the left field line from Darby.

However, UCLA tied the game back up at 12 in the bottom of the 11^th, then set the Gauchos down in order to start the 12^th. Reed Moring, who started Sunday’s game at Cal Poly, had finished the 11^th inning and came back out for the 12^th.

With a runner on and one out, Moring got a tailor-made double play ball, but it bounced out of Oakley’s glove, keeping everyone safe. The Bruins’ next batter walked off the game.

The Gauchos return to Caesar Uyesaka Stadium this weekend, hosting San Jose State. The series will begin on Thursday, March 28 with a game currently set for 4:35 p.m.

However, with rain in the forecast, start times may change. Any schedule updates will be announced on ucsbgauchos.com as soon as possible.