Every one is due for an off day now and again and it would be wrong to expect the brilliance Mario Hollands had shown recently in every outing.
After wracking up 29 strikeouts in his past two starts, Hollands didn’t dominate in the opener of a three-game series against the University of San Francisco on Friday like many have come to expect. Hollands allowed six runs – five earned – on nine hits in six innings as the Gauchos dropped their fourth straight, 6-4, to USF.
UCSB, which has dropped these four games after rattling off six successive wins, falls to 9-8. USF improves to 12-11.
After looking strong in his first two innings, Hollands ran into trouble in the third and fourth frames. Three straight singles following an error in the third inning plated a pair of runs and back-to-back one out doubles in the fourth accounted for one run while a bunt single brought in another.
However the Gauchos battled back.
Trevor Whyte and Beck Wheeler opened the fourth inning with a pair of singles before Marty Mullins was hit by a pitch, loading the bases. In all, USF hit five UCSB batters on Friday.
Ryan Palermo’s sacrifice fly scored one run before a ground out and Gunnar Terhune’s base hit each scored a run. Steve Moon followed Sean Williams’ single with one of his own, tying the score at 4-4.
But the Dons scratched out single runs in both the fifth and sixth innings, dooming the Gauchos.
Williams and Terhune each had a pair of hits for UCSB and both drove in a run. Greg Davis, Connor Whalen and Mike Ford pitched well out of the bullpen, with Ford entering into a bases loaded jam in the eighth and silencing USF.
Ford finished with 1.1 scoreless innings with a strikeout.
