Given the chance to end the game for the Gauchos two innings earlier, Beck Wheeler wasn’t going to let his second chance pass him by.
The senior chopped a single through the infield in the 13th inning to score Joe Wallace from second, giving UCSB a 5-4 win over Cal Poly on Sunday at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium. The Gauchos took two in the three-game Big West series.
UCSB (14-12 overall, 2-1 Big West) broke through after putting runners in scoring position in the eighth, 10th, 11th and 12th innings against Mustangs’ closer Jeff Johnson.
After Cal Poly (11-16, 3-3) tied the game with two runs in the eighth inning, Mark Haddow walked and stole second with one out. However, he was thrown out at third base after a pitch in the dirt didn’t fully get past catcher Chris Hoo.
In the 10th, Steven Moon came inches away from ending the game with a walk-off home run, but the ball hit the top of the right field wall and Moon settled for a two-out double before he was stranded there.
UCSB seemed to have its best chance to finish off the Mustangs in the 11th when Haddow led off with a double and Trevor Whyte was intentionally walked. Ryan Palermo’s sacrifice bunt put runners on second and third before Johnson intentionally walked Wallace with one out to load the bases. Joe Winterburn struck out on a full-count fastball and Wheeler hit a ground ball to second base to end the inning.
In the 12th Ben Edelstein led off with a single and Moon’s sacrifice put him at second. After a fly out, Haddow and Whyte both walked to load the bases, but Palermo grounded out.
Then, in the 13th, Wallace reached on an infield single and moved to second on Winterburn’s bunt before Wheeler chopped a 2-2 pitch into center field, past a diving Denver Chavez, allowing Wallace to score on a headfirst slide and setting off a celebration at home plate.
“We played hard and Nick Capito gave us a great effort out of the bullpen,” said Wheeler, whose walk-off single was the first by the Gauchos since a 10-9 win on March 20, 2010 vs. New Mexico. “We executed our bunts in the late innings and I knew I’d get the job done.”
Capito pitched five shutout innings of relief, allowing just three hits while striking out five Mustang batters. He allowed just one runner past first base. Capito (2-2) helped relieve a Gaucho bullpen that had been heavily. He came in relief of Matt Vedo, who wasn’t bad himself, going seven-plus innings, allowing five hits and three earned runs while striking out five.
Vedo gave way to Bryce Uhrig with two on and nobody out in the eighth inning, but J.J. Thompson’s single brought in a run to make it 4-3 and Evan Busby’s groundout tied the game.
UCSB scored once in the third and then three times in the fourth to take a 4-2 lead. Haddow led off the fourth inning with a double and Whyte’s single put runners on the corners. After an out, Wallace hit a ground-rule double to score a run before Winterburn’s base hit to left field plated both Whyte and Wallace.
UCSB got its first run without accruing a base hit. Wheeler walked, then caught a break when catcher Jordan Hadlock’s throw bounced off shortstop Mike Miller’s glove on a steal attempt, leaving Wheeler on second. A groundout put Wheeler on third before left fielder Jimmy Allen dropped Brandon Trinkwon’s fly ball to bring in a run.
Haddow was 3-for-4 with a run scored and a stolen base and Wallace was 2-for-4 with two runs scored and an RBI.
“It was a good weekend to start Big West play and that hopefully will propel us into a strong weekend at Cal State Fullerton,” said Haddow, who was 7-for-11 in the series with a home run, two doubles, four runs scored and four RBI. “We showed this weekend that we are a contender in the Big West and that we have all the tools to make a run.”
Before the Gauchos play at Fullerton this weekend, the team will play a non-conference game at Cal State Northridge on Tuesday at 3 p.m.
