HONOLULU — Sophomore right-hander Shane Bieber fired nine shutout innings to lead seventh-ranked UC Santa Barbara to a 5-0 win in Sunday night’s rubber match at Les Murakami Stadium.
With the win, UCSB improved to 31-10, 8-4 Big West. With a shutout on Friday and just one run against on Saturday, the Gauchos established a new program record by allowing just a single run for the entire three game series.
In addition, it was the program’s first ever series win over the Rainbow Warriors.
It was the second complete-game effort of the season for Bieber, who scattered seven hits and fanned five with no walks in his outing.
He shut down the Rainbow Warriors in the early going, facing just one batter over the minimum through the first five innings.
The Laguna Hills, Calif. native didn’t face too much trouble until the ninth inning, as a pair of UH singles to lead off the inning put two runners on with nobody out. However, Bieber responded by getting Chayce Ka’aua to line out to right fielder Luke Swenson before a pair of groundouts ended the inning and game with no damage done.
On the offensive side of the ball, a four-run fourth inning provided most of the scoring for UCSB. The first five batters in that frame reached for the Gauchos, including three consecutive singles to lead off the inning, which loaded the bases. Freshman shortstop Clay Fisher promptly unloaded the bases with a two-RBI double into the right field corner, then additional runs came around on a wild pitch and a run-scoring base hit up the middle from Swenson.
Sophomore DH Paddy O’Brien continued his hot-hitting ways, opening the scoring in the second with an opposite field, run-scoring base hit. The Santa Barbara City College transfer was one of four Gauchos with multiple hits on the day, joining Cameron Newell, Woody Woodward, and Peter Maris (who extended his team-best hit streak to 16 games).
UCSB jumps right back into action on Tuesday afternoon as they host Loyola Marymount before welcoming UC Davis to Caesar Uyesaka Stadium for a three-game set starting on Friday
