Senior Nick Loredo pitched a complete game five-hit shutout to lead UCSB past visiting Loyola Marymount on Tuesday, 5-0. It was the Gauchos third shutout in the last four games.
Loredo (4-3) allowed two baserunners in an inning just twice in the game, but no runner ever reached third base. It was the first complete game and shutout of his career and he allowed just two walks while striking out four.
UCSB (24-25) got all the runs it would need when second baseman Sean Williams led off the fourth inning with his second home run of the season. LMU (27-25) starter Matt Florer (3-1) was tagged with his first loss of the season.
The Gauchos added a pair of insurance runs in the fifth inning on two-out RBI singles by center fielder Ben Edelstein and Williams.
With Jeremy Burrell on in relief for the Lions, UCSB scored another pair of runs in the seventh. With one out, designated hitter Derek Eligio walked. One out later, Williams collected his third hit of the game with a single to right field, moving Eligio to second base.
Burrell was pulled for left hander Ryan Hawthorne who immediately gave up a single to left by Mark Haddow, scoring Eligio and moving Williams to third. First baseman Joe Wallace then pounded a double down the line in left. Williams came around to score, but when left fielder Nick Truhan overthrew the cutoff man, Haddow tried to score as well but was thrown out at the plate. First baseman Sean McIntyre recovered the overthrow and made the throw to catcher Matt Koch to nail Haddow.
Loredo took it from there, allowing just one more single the rest of the way and retiring the final seven batters he faced. No LMU batter had more than one hit in the game and McIntyre was the only player to record an extra base hit as he doubled in the fourth but was stranded at second.
With the win, Santa Barbara has now won three of its last four, all by way of shutouts. Tuesday’s shutout lowered the team’s ERA to 3.65.
The Gauchos will remain at home for their final three games of the season when they host the University of the Pacific in a three game series on Fri.-Sun., May 27-29. Friday’s game will start at 3:00 p.m., while the Saturday and Sunday contests will begin at 1:00 p.m.
