No. 16 UC Santa Barbara scratched out five runs early in the game and then junior righty James Carter pitched 2 1/3 superb relief innings to close down a 5-4 win over visiting Brigham Young University on Monday afternoon at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium, clinching a four-game sweep against the Cougars.
The win pushed the Gauchos to 4-0. It is the first time since 1996 that UCSB has won its first four games of a season. BYU fell to 0-4.
Senior left fielder Cameron Newell was at the center of the Gauchos’ efforts on the day, going 3-4 with a run scored and an RBI out of the No. 3 hole in the lineup. Senior right fielder Luke Swenson had two hits and three runs driven in while junior first baseman Dalton Kelly extended his season-opening hitting streak to four games while scoring a pair of runs.
Having outscored the Cougars 17-2 through the first three games of the series, the Gauchos looked like they were well on their way to another uncomplicated victory after jumping out to a 5-1 lead through five full innings.
But from there, a UCSB pitching staff that had produced a sparkling 0.67 ERA through three games began to show a few cracks.
The top of the sixth began with a UCSB fielding error, the first by the team this season. BYU’s Tanner Chauncey followed that up with a solid single to right field. After a fielder’s choice put runners on the corners, UCSB starting pitcher Domenic Mazza threw away a pickoff attempt to first base, allowing a run to score and reducing BYU’s deficit to three runs.
A walk, hit by pitch, and wild pitch to start the top of the seventh gave the Cougars two runners in scoring position with nobody out. Those two runners scored on a groundout and single, respectively, bringing BYU within one with the threat of more runs.
UCSB head coach Andrew Checketts summoned Carter, who had recorded the save in the nightcap of Saturday’s doubleheader.
Carter didn’t disappoint, as the Chabot College transfer got his team out of a bases-loaded jam by inducing a Jarrett Jarvis check-swing on a slider off the plate for an inning-ending strikeout.
That punchout was one of four on the day for Carter, who earned his second save of the weekend while allowing just one hit in 2 1/3 innings of work. The righty showed good command and velocity on his low 90’s fastball while mixing in a breaking ball that consistenly kept the Cougars off balance.
The Danville, Calif. native brought a stabilizing presence to the game, going 1-2-3 in the eighth and allowing just a two-out single in the ninth before coaxing a Chauncey flyout to end the contest.
UCSB will continue its homestand – in which the squad will play 12 of its first 13 games at home – this weekend as they host SEC-member Kentucky for a three-game series, starting on Friday at 2 p.m.
