MALIBU – Redshirt sophomore centerfielder Andrew Calica had a career-high five hits in five trips to the plate and the sixteenth-ranked UC Santa Barbara baseball team capitalized on four errors by Pepperdine while recording a season-best 14 hits for the second consecutive game to claim a 6-4 win on Tuesday afternoon at Eddy D. Field Stadium in the Gauchos’ first road contest of the year.
The first Gaucho to collect five hits in a game since Marc Venning in March 2012, Calica also scored a team-high two runs and was the sparkplug for a UCSB offense that produced 14 base hits. Senior third baseman Peter Maris, senior catcher Campbell Wear, and freshman shortstop Clay Fisher each had a pair of hits as well. It was the first multi-hit game of Fisher’s young career.
In what was one of the few close games of the year so far for the squad, UCSB had to battle back from an early deficit to grab the win.
All of Pepperdine’s four runs came on one swing of the bat, as leadoff hitter Brandon Caruso negated an early season slump (he entered the game with a .086 batting average) by slapping a Domenic Mazza fastball over the left field fence for a go-ahead grand slam in the bottom of the fourth inning.
Luckily for the Gauchos, their offense began to get rolling after being held off the scoreboard over the first three innings by Waves starter Kiko Garcia. Senior right fielder Luke Swenson and Maris got the ball rolling with a pair of two-out singles in the fourth, putting runners on the corners. Swenson notched the first run of the day with Wear at the plate, coming home when Garcia was called for a balk following an awkward fake to home, throw to third attempt. A double into the right-center gap in the ensuing Wear at-bat brought Maris home and put the Gauchos up 2-0 for the time-being.
Singles from Fisher and Calica to open the top of the fifth helped the Gauchos capitalize on Pepperdine mistakes later in the inning, canceling out the advantage afforded by the Caruso grand slam.
Following those base hits, a walk to reigning Big West Field Player of the Week Cameron Newell loaded the bases for junior DH Robby Nesovic, who hit what should have been an inning-ending double play ball. Instead, the grounder was mishandled by Waves third baseman Chris Fornaci, scoring a run and leaving the bags full. Swenson then walked to tie the game back up at 4-4.
Maris put the Gauchos up for good in the seventh with an RBI single through the right side, and then Nesovic gave UCSB an insurance run in the eighth with a run-scoring double off the left field wall, missing a home run by mere feet.
Those late-inning runs set the Gauchos bullpen up with an opportunity to lock down the game, and Andrew Checketts’ relievers responded with aplomb, collectively allowing just two hits over five scoreless innings.
Freshman lefty Kyle Nelson received the decision on the day for his first career win after tossing two-thirds of an inning without a hit, but he was one of just a few Gaucho pitchers who thrived on Tuesday.
Redshirt freshman righty Joe Record walked a batter, but dominated the other five hitters he faced, allowing no hits.
Junior flamethrower Connor Baits did a great job settling the game down after the grand slam. He entered the game with two on and nobody out in the fifth, and ended up escaping the inning without a scratch, helping his own cause with big strikeouts against Jack Ross and Caruso. He ended with 1 2/3 scoreless innings on his resume.
Finally, junior closer James Carter had an unconventional 1-2-3 inning in the ninth to earn his third save of the young season, striking out Brad Anderson to start the frame before snagging a Fornaci line drive comebacker as part of a game-ending 1-3 double play.
Mazza escaped his four-plus inning outing without a loss and without a earned run allowed, as the fourth-inning grand slam was preceded by a UCSB fielding error. His final line included six hits, four walks, and five strikeouts.
His counterpart, Garcia, gave up 10 hits and four runs (three earned) with two walks and two stirkeouts in six innings pitched. The first reliever out of the bullpen, Jeremy Erisman, was tagged with the loss, his first decision of the year, after allowing two runs (one earned) in a third of an inning.
UCSB returns home this weekend for a marquee three-game series against No. 23 Oregon. Dillon Tate will toe the rubber for the opener on Friday, with first pitch scheduled for 2:00 p.m. UCSBGauchos.com will carry audio broadcasts of all three games against the Ducks, with Gerry Fall on the mic.
