DAVIS – The Gauchos clinched their sixth consecutive series win on Saturday afternoon by virtue of a 8-1 victory over the UC Davis Aggies, equaling their longest series win streak since 2001.
With the win, UCSB moved to a season-best 10 games over .500 at 33-23, with a 16-10 record in Big West play. UC Davis fell to 19-36, 5-21.
Robby Nesovic starred on the mound for the Gauchos, tossing his fourth straight quality start and improving his record to 4-3 by pitching into the seventh inning and allowing just a single unearned run.
He matched season-bests with his 6 2/3 innings pitched, four hits against, and zero earned runs against, all of which came on Apr. 14 at Cal State Fullerton.
Nesovic survived a trio of UCSB errors by inducing double plays in both the third and fifth innings.
UC Davis’ Austin Logan landed the only extra base hit of the day off Nesovic with a leadoff double in the seventh inning. After retiring the next two batters, Logan would come around to score on an error. Nesovic’s day ended when he gave up a single to the next batter.
After a ten-run output on Thursday, the UCSB offense was just as effective against Aggies starter Spencer Koopmans, scoring runs in five of the first six innings and six of nine overall.
Left fielder Joey Epperson sparked the Gauchos all night. He had leadoff doubles in both the first and third innings, coming around on RBI singles by Tyler Kuresa and Brandon Trinkwon. The Lafayette, Calif. native finished 4-4, reached base five times, and scored three times.
The Gauchos were able to score a pair of runs in both the fifth and sixth innings as well. Epperson started yet another rally in the fifth after reaching on a hit by pitch. After a Brandon Trinkwon walk, Epperson came around to score when Koopmans made a throwing error on a sac bunt. A Kuresa RBI groundout then scored Trinkwon.
RBI base hits from Epperson and Trinkwon in the sixth pushed the UCSB lead to 7-0, before Cameron Newell closed the scoring with a run-scoring groundout in the ninth.
Trinkwon, Kuresa, Marc Venning, and Luke Swenson each tallied a pair of hits as part of a 15-hit team effort, two off the season-best of 17 hits against UC Irvine on May 3.
Koopmans was tacked with the loss, falling to 1-9 on the year.
Greg Mahle and Jared Wilson combined to keep the Aggies off the board for the final 2 1/3 innings of the game.
The Gauchos will finish up the regular season with their 1:00 p.m. series finale on Saturday afternoon. Sophomore lefty Andrew Vasquez will take on Evan Wolf of UC Davis.
