The UCSB baseball team scored six runs on 14 hits, but it was not enough to complete a four-game sweep of Cal State Bakersfield as they lost 8-6 at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium on Tuesday.
Junior right-hander David Meals (2-2) took the loss for the Gauchos. He allowed seven runs and struck out three Roadrunners over five innings.
Brian Gump led UCSB with three hits, but he was thrown out trying to advance to second after a single in the sixth inning. Gump and head coach Bob Brontsema complained that CSUB first baseman Richard Escalera obstructed Gump’s path to second, but the call was not overturned.
Gunnar Terhune also got caught trying to advance to second on a single in the fourth inning. The loss of runners due to aggressive base running, in addition to Gump getting caught stealing in the eighth, were costly to the Gauchos in a game that was decided by only two runs.
Second baseman Matt Valaika hit his fourth home run of the year, a two-run shot in the second inning that scored Ryan Cavan. Valaika and Gump led the team with two RBI each, and the home run extended Valaika’s hitting streak to nine games.
Freshman Ryan Palermo made his first career start at third base for UCSB. He went 2-for-3 with an RBI, and now has five hits in nine at-bats on the year.
Gump, Cavan, Palermo, and Ryan Tregoning all had multi-hit games. Nine different Gauchos recorded hits, but they were scattered and outs on the base paths ended innings prematurely.
Gump’s single in the eighth inning brought the Gauchos within one run, but CSU Bakersfield added an insurance run in the top of the ninth. The Gauchos were unable to score in the bottom half of the ninth.
Freshman right-hander Spenser Messmore (2-2) gave up six runs, but pitched a complete game to earn his second win of the season for CSUB.
UC Santa Barbara has lost three in a row heading into their weekend series at Cal State Fullerton and is now 23-15 on the season. They are 6-6 in Big West games, good for fifth in the conference.
The next home game will be a makeup game against Pepperdine on Monday, May 4 at 3 P.M. It will be held at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium and admission is free.
