SAN FRANCISCO – UCSB freshman Brandon Trinkwon became the first player at the Cal Baseball Classic, held at AT&T Park the home of the San Francisco Giants, to hit a home run, sparking the Gauchos to a 4-2 win over Louisiana-Lafayette on Saturday afternoon.
Trinkwon, making just his second start as a Gaucho, hit a two-run blast in the fifth inning to right field helping Matthew Vedo defeat the Ragin’ Cajuns.
“It was big for us,” UCSB head coach Bob Brontsema said. “He was fired up, the team was fired up, the crowd was fired up; it was neat. He continues to give us good at-bats.”
Trinkwon’s homer bounced off the top of the wall and into play and the freshman from Tustin, Calif. actually slid into third. But an umpires huddle ruled that the ball cleared the top of the wall and where it hit was actually over the wall, resulting in the two-run homer.
Vedo allowed just five hits and one earned run in seven solid innings, striking out four and walking two. Zak Edgington made his UCSB debut by pitching a scoreless eighth inning, with a strikeout.
Nick Loredo got some help in the ninth inning to lock down the game and earn his second save.
With one out, runners on first and second and a run in, Loredo struck out Brian Bowman looking and catcher Dan Camou gunned out Michael Strentz trying to steal third on the play to end the game.
“Camou made a nice throw to (Beck) Wheeler and he made a nice tage and we celebrated,” Brontsema said.
It was one of four double plays the Gauchos turned on the Ragin Cajuns and a terrific all-around defensive outing that also included a tremendous diving catch from leftfielder Joe Wallace with the bases loaded in the second inning. Wallace’s play in shallow left field prevented a run from scoring.
“Any trouble that he got himself into, he got himself out of,” Brontsema said of Vedo. “Overall, we played very good defense and that’s how we finished the game.”
The Gauchos scored a run in the first inning on Sean Williams’ base hit, one of his team-leading two knocks on the day. UCSB added a run in the fourth inning when Mark Haddow led off with a triple and Trevor Whyte’s groundout brought him in.
That appeared to be all that Vedo needed as he didn’t allow a run through the first six innings. In fact, he set down 11 of 12 batters after loading the bases with one out in the second inning.
Trinkwon’s homer, his first as a collegiate player, just added extra insurance, but was received in a big way as the Gaucho offense had just one hit in the final three innings.
The Gauchos will face No. 18 Rice on Sunday in an 12:30 p.m. game at AT&T Park. The team returns home for a three-game series vs. Nevada starting on Saturday, March 19 with a doubleheader. All three home games will be broadcast online at UCSBgauchos.com.
