It was quite a pitching duel Friday afternoon at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium as UCSB’s Mario Hollands held the LMU baseball team to only a single hit, allowing the Gauchos to pull ahead in the eighth inning for 1-0 victory over the Lions.
“Mario was dominant from the very first inning. He had to be because their pitcher was very good,” commented UCSB coach Bob Brontsema.
The 2008 Big West Freshman Pitcher of the Year held the Lions to no hits for the first half of the game and walked away with a total of 10 strikeouts.
LMU’s senior Lee Roberts also pitched an outstanding game, striking out eight batters and only forfeiting one hit to Brian Gump late in the sixth.
“Their pitcher was doing the same stuff Mario was doing. He was throwing three pitches for strikes, working both sides of the plate, and kept our players off balance. I thought he was really good,” credited Brontsema.
Backing up Hollands with several diving catches along the third-base line was Robby Cummings who “played a particularly excellent game defensively,” praised Brontsema.
Although the scoreboard lacked some action early on, the game was far from uneventful. In the bottom of the third, the Lions seemed rather nervous after an error by LMU’s shortstop and a walk by Roberts put Gump and Ryan Cavan on first and second. With an 0-2 count on senior Eric Oliver, LMU coach Jason Gill called in his infield to convene at the mound, and after a quick pep talk, the team managed to pull themselves out of a potentially disastrous situation.
The Lions had an opportunity to take the lead in the fifth after senior T.J. Bernardy launched a two-out single to center (it ended up being LMU’s first and last hit of the game). Trevor Gee followed and advanced Bernardy to second and into scoring position with a sacrifice bunt.
But Hollands wasn’t having any of it, and quickly retaliated by striking out Andrew Irvine to close out the inning.
It was Gump’s line drive over reliever Chris Eusebio’s head that began the Gauchos’ push to victory. Gump then saw his window to steal second, which put him in scoring position to easily score on an ensuing Oliver double to center. Oliver’s hit was all the Gauchos needed for Holland to close out the game and rack up another win for UCSB (6-2).
The two teams will meet again for a double header tomorrow before wrapping up the four-game set on Sunday.
