LOS ANGELES – The UCSB baseball team defeated Loyola Marymount 4-1 on Tuesday at Page Stadium behind Jesse Meaux’s seven scoreless innings.
Meaux struck out two and only allowed four hits. The junior right-hander is now 2-0 on the season with a 1.71 ERA. The junior from Glendale, Calif. retired 11 straight hitters from the third inning to the end of the sixth. He threw just 80 pitches to get through seven innings.
Gunnar Terhune led off the game with a double and scored on a ground out by Matt Valaika to put the Gauchos on the board early. Third baseman Ryan Palermo added to the lead with a single that scored Shane Arslan in the second inning.
Valaika earned his team-high second RBI of the game in the fifth inning, and Mark Hadddow hit his second home run of the year in the eighth. The two-strike solo shot ties Haddow with Arslan for the team lead.
The Gauchos scraped for another run in the fifth, extending the lead to 3-0. Lance Roenicke reached with a hit-by-pitch before moving to third on a sacrifice bunt and a groundout to the pitcher. LMU’s Shawn Roe made a diving stop at third on a one-hopper off the bat of Valaika on the ensuing play. Roe got to his feet, but delivered a low throw that could not be picked out of the dirt by Sean McIntyre at first base, allowing the run to score.
Junior lefty Kevin Gelinas finished the game by allowing one run and striking out two over the last two innings.
Catcher Marty Mullins led the Gauchos with three of the team’s 11 hits.
Alex Gillingham (0-1) allowed three runs in seven innings in the loss for LMU. The loss drops the Lions to 1-7 on the season.
UC Santa Barbara (3-2) will play a three-game series at Stanford this weekend before returning home to take on Northern Illinois in a four-game series at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium March 12-14.
