UCSB's Jesse Meaux earned the victory from the mound in the first game of a double header on Saturday.
Matt Vedo came one batter shy of throwing the first no-hitter by a UCSB pitcher in 31 years, holding Nevada hitless for 8 2/3 innings in the second game of a doubleheader on Saturday.
Vedo instead had to settle for a 2-1 victory, which followed a 5-3 UCSB win, as the Gauchos swept the Wolf Pack at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium. UCSB improves to 9-6 overall this season. Nevada falls to 4-11.
The junior right-hander from Colusa, Calif. struck out a career-high eight batters and walked just three, breezing through Nevada’s lineup. He didn’t allow a runner past first base until the ninth inning.
With one out in the ninth inning, pinch-hitter Anthony Rosa tapped a ball to third baseman Ryan Palermo. The Gaucho junior bare-handed the ball and in his haste, threw the ball past first baseman Trevor Whyte, putting Rosa on second base on a two-base throwing error.
Vedo got the next batter to ground out and on the first pitch to Joe Kohan, Nevada’s second baseman laced a double down the left field line, breaking up the no-hitter and the shutout in one fell swoop. Vedo got the next batter to ground out, settling for a one-hitter and a victory.
Vedo, who transferred to UCSB from Yuba College, was aiming to become the first Gaucho to toss a no-no since Mark Nowlin did it with seven no-hit innings on March 29, 1980 in a 3-1 win over UC Irvine. Instead, Vedo becomes the first UCSB pitcher since Mario Hollands in 2009 to throw a one-hitter.
The Gauchos scored in the first inning of the second game on consecutive doubles by Derek Eligio and Sean Williams and added the much-needed insurance run in the eighth inning. Williams singled and then took two bases on a wild pitch and scored on Mark Haddow’s single.
Williams went 3-for-4 with a run and an RBI in the second game and was 6-for-7 with two runs batted in on the day.
Vedo upstaged Jesse Meaux, who also pitched well, allowing three runs on eight hits in seven innings in the first game. Meaux walked one and struck out three.
However, Meaux had to tightrope walk his way out of several innings to get the win. He had runners on in all but one of his seven innings, but Nevada left all but three stranded.
In the third inning the Gauchos loaded the bases on three bunts and Williams drove in a run on a sacrifice fly and Haddow brought in another on a single. In the fourth, Dan Camou’s one-out single drove in Joe Wallace, who walked and stole second base.
Nevada scored twice in the sixth to make it 3-2, but Steven Moon hit a two-out, two-run double in the bottom half of the inning, which proved to be the difference.
The Gauchos and the Wolf Pack will conclude their three-game series on Sunday at 1 p.m. The game will be broadcast live online at UCSBgauchos.com.
