Sophomore Austin Pettibone had one of the best starts of his young career in leading UCSB to an 8-1 baseball win over Fresno State on Satuday night at Beiden Field.
The rigth-hander, who led the team in wins last year with eight, earned his first “W” of the season by throwing six innings and giving up just one run. Pettibone got the Bulldogs to ground into a pair of double plays and didn’t allow a flyball into the outfield until the sixth inning.
That was a solo homer by Fresno leadoff hitter Jordan Luplow, The Bulldogs tried to mount a rally as the next two batters singled. But freshman right fielder Andrew Calica — in his UCSB debut — made a nice catch on a well hit ball off the bat of Trent Garrison before Pettibone got Austin Wynns to roll into a 6-4-3 double play.
Pettibone finished the night with three strikeouts, one walk, and seven hits allowed.
UCSB’s offense got off to a slow start, but was able to manufacture a run in the third inning. Calica, in his first collegiate at-bat, singled to the left side to lead off the inning. Following a pair of sacrifice bunts, junior shortstop Brandon Trinkwon singled right back up the middle to plate Calica.
Fresno State starter Derick Velazquez otherwise kept the UCSB offense at bay over the first five innings, but one swing of the bat changed that quickly.
Leading off the sixth inning, sophomore second baseman Peter Maris hammered a ball over the right-center field fence for his first career home run. After retiring Trinkwon in the next at bat, Velazquez’s seams came undone. Sophomore first baseman Tyler Kuresa doubled to center, then sophomore designated hitter Greg Mahle earned a walk to put two men on. Senior third baseman Marc Venning and sophomore outfielder Luke Swenson followed with back-to-back RBI doubles to give the Gauchos a sizable lead.
Chasing Velazquez — who finished with a line of four earned runs over six innings pitched with five strikeouts and three walks — from the game did little to temper UCSB’s bats, as the Gauchos were able to score four more runs combined in the seventh and the eighth innings. Mahle and Venning were the ones who came through in the seventh with consecutive RBI singles, while junior catcher Jackson Morrow did it mostly by himself in the eighth — earning a walk, stealing second and advancing to third on an errant throw from pitcher Connor Chase before scoring on a sac fly from leadoff hitter Cameron Newell.
By the end of the game, every UCSB starter recorded at least one hit, besides Morrow, who had a walk and a sacrifice himself. Maris, Kuresa, and Venning each had two hits, while Mahle and Venning led the team with two RBIs apiece.
A pair of freshman pitchers made impressive debuts for the Gauchos. Southpaw Domenic Mazza relieved Pettibone in the seventh, throwing two scoreless innings and allowing just one hit. Righty Connor Baits pitched a scoreless ninth inning and only allowed a walk. Both youngsters struck out one batter.
The final game of the series will take place on Sunday afternoon at 1:05 p.m.
