UCSB catcher Jackson Morrow dives to make the final out of the eighth inning by tagging Hawaii’s Steven Pollakov. Andrew Calica made the throw from the outfield to complete a double-play that allowed the Gauchos to escape a one-out bases-loaded jam. (Presidio Photos/John Dvorak)
Four more hits for Joey Epperson and five scoreless innings from Austin Pettibone lifted UCSB’s baseball team over Hawaii on Saturday, 8-7, as the Gauchos held on to take the Big West matchup after dropping the series opener on Friday.
UCSB led 8-0 after five innings but had to fight off Hawaii’s rally in the final innings.
“A little close for comfort but the Big West is a competitive conference,” said Epperson, who holds the nation’s second-highest batting average. “That’s a good team over there. I think they’re a much better team than their record might show due to a tough schedule.”
Ranked No. 10 in the country, UCSB improves to 19-4 on the season while Hawaii falls to 13-13. Both teams hold a 1-1 conference record with Sunday’s rubber match scheduled for 1 p.m. at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium.
“They brought it to us a little bit on Friday,” Epperson said. “You don’t like to tip your cap too much but they played a good game on Friday so we needed a response today and I think we got it.”
UCSB has not lost back-to-back games all season.
Epperson was 4 for 4 with two runs scored and two RBI. Two of the hits were doubles as he raised his average to .500 in 23 games. The senior third baseman is 6 for 8 so far in the series.
“We haven’t been able to get him out for two games so it’s about as good a roll as you’ll see the way he’s swinging right now” said Hawaii head coach Mike Trapasso. “And today more of the same: he was hitting away, he was hitting in. We were trying different things, different pitches, and he just stays on them. He’s a great hitter.”
UCSB’s Joey Epperson has a .500 batting average through 23 games this season.
Andrew Calica, who was batting .405 coming into the game, was 0 for 3 but started a game-saving double play with the bases loaded in the eighth inning and one out. Calica made a catch in left-center field and gunned down the runner tagging on third at home plate.
In the ninth inning, it was right fielder Scott Quinlan who made a difficult shoestring catch on the dead run with two runners on base. Hawaii scratched all the way back to make it a one-run game but the Rainbow Warriors stranded four runners in the final two innings and nine for the game.
“Our kids are tough and they’re resilient. They’re gonna play to the last out but we just made too many mistakes today early that cost us the game,” Trapazzo said.
Hawaii had a four-hit man of its own in Marc Flores. The Warriors outhit the Gauchos 14-9. Nearly all the damage came after Pettibone left on a pitch count after five innings.
The junior right-hander, who is working his way back from injury and was making his second appearance of the season, had a three-hit shutout going when he left the game. He was able to go three innings in his first game and five on Saturday.
“Hopefully we’ll get clearance to be able to get him up there and get him deeper into the game, but he was outstanding today,” said Gauchos head coach Andrew Checketts.
Pettibone threw 50 of his 73 pitches for strikes.
Dillon Tate earned the save by retiring Hawaii in the eighth and ninth innings
The weekend series with Hawaii is the first of eight conference series. UCSB will host Hawaii, Cal State Fullerton, Cal State Northridge and UC Riverside in Santa Barbara. The Gauchos travel to No. 5 Cal Poly next weekend.
Even though it was just the second game of conference play, the Gauchos weren’t interested in dropping to 0-2 out of the gates.
“Obviously we lose today and lose the series at home, that’s not how you want to start off conference play,” Checketts said. “It will be a battle tomorrow, conference play always is.”
