Nick Loredo took the baton from Matt Vedo and Greg Davis and continued the terrific pitching that UCSB has featured early this season.
The senior struck out eight batters while allowing just one run through six innings in the Gauchos’ 8-4 nonconference baseball win over Westmont on Tuesday afternoon at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium.
After Vedo and Davis both pitched brilliantly in a Sunday doubleheader sweep over La Salle, Loredo opened his season with a career-high eight strikeouts over visiting Westmont. Working in a fluid tempo, Loredo didn’t walk a batter and faced trouble just once – in the first inning – as he picked up his first career victory.
The Gauchos are 3-0 for the first time since the 2008 season and head to Pullman, Wash. this weekend to face Washington State.
Loredo led a staff that struck out 15 Warriors and didn’t walk a batter in the victory. Freshman Cameron Cuneo struck out two batters in his lone inning of work and former Santa Barbara High star Bryce Uhrig struck out the side in the ninth.
In a tight 2-1 game, the Gauchos broke things open with a five-run fifth inning. Trevor Whyte had a two-run single and Steven Moon followed with a bases loaded double to push the lead to 7-1.
The Gauchos scored twice in the first on Mark Haddow’s run-scoring triple and Ryan Palermo’s RBI double and then tacked on a run in the sixth as Sean Williams scored on a wild pitch.
Loredo retired 11 batters in a row at one point before Westmont put runners on the corners in the fifth, but Loredo got a double-play groundball to get out of the jam.
