Moments prior to his first at-bat of the game, Ben Edelstein had come in as a defensive replacement for a guy who was a triple short of the cycle. Now, here was the senior batting in a tie ballgame with two outs, a runner in scoring position. Talk about pressure.
Edelstein worked the count to 3-1 against Cal State Northridge reliever Paul Tremlin, then sent a base hit up the middle, scoring Steven Moon to break the tie in a game UC Santa Barbara eventually won, 6-4 on Tuesday afternoon at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium.
For UCSB, it was the team’s fourth win in five games as it defeated CSUN in a non-conference match-up to improve to 18-17 overall. The Matadors fall to 18-22.
Edelstein had entered the game in the top of the eighth inning to replace Derek Eligio in center field. All Eligio had done was go 3-for-4 with a single, double, home run and two runs scored. After Edelstein’s hit, Sean Williams tripled to give UCSB a two-run cushion.
Greg Davis pitched a 1-2-3 ninth with two strikeouts to end the game and earn his fourth save.
UCSB trailed CSUN 2-0 entering the bottom of the third when Eligio used the strong winds to lift a fly ball to right field over the wall for his second home run of the season. After the Matadors scratched out a run in the fourth, Eligio doubled to left to open the fifth and scored on Mark Haddow’s base hit.
It would be Haddow, the team’s senior leader, who came through again. He hit a two-run home run in the seventh inning to give UCSB a 4-3 lead. It was Haddow’s fifth round-tripper of the year and his three RBI give him 30 this season.
However CSUN’s Drew Muren led off the eighth with a base hit, went to second on a wild pitch and scored on Steven Keller’s base hit to tie things at 4-4.
After two quick outs in the eighth, Moon doubled to right-center then scored the winning run on Edelstein’s single.
Nick Loredo started the game – his first start since Mar. 30 – and allowed two runs on five hits in three innings before handing off the baton to the bullpen.
Casey Schapper made his UCSB debut by throwing 0.2 innings before giving way to Connor Whalen. The senior lefty pitched a season-high 2.0 innings, allowing just one hit. Matthew Brady got an out and Bryce Uhrig (2-1) allowed one run in his two innings of work before getting the ball to Davis in the ninth.
While Eligio missed the cycle by a triple, Sean Williams missed it by a home run as those two, along with Haddow and John Vaccaro all had multiple-hit games.
The Gauchos play at UC Riverside for three games this weekend beginning on Friday at 6 p.m.
