UCSB’s Dillon Tate, a Golden Spikes Award finalist, will pitch on Friday. (Presidio Sports File Photo)
UCSB and Cal State Fullerton meet this weekend in Orange County for a pivotal Big West Conference baseball series between two of the three teams tied atop the conference standings.
The Gauchos, Titans and UC Irvine are all 11-4 going into the weekend.
UCSB Baseball appeared in all five major national polls for the tenth consecutive week on Monday, including a No. 6 ranking by the NCBWA, the program’s highest national ranking since the 1986 season, when they were fifth in the NCAA. This is the second consecutive season that UCSB has been ranked among the top-10 nationally at some point. Besides the NCBWA, the Gauchos checked in at No. 7 in D1 Baseball, No. 7 in USA Today, No. 11 in Baseball America, and No. 13 in Collegiate Baseball.
Though they have traditionally been a power at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium, the Gauchos are getting it done on the road as well this season, as they have gone undefeated in away series so far in 2015. Should UCSB win its series against CSF and lowly UC Riverside this month, the program will go undefeated in road series for an entire season for the first time in program history.
Cal State Fullerton’s Goodwin Field is not an easy place to play, however. The Titans are 4-2 at home in Big West games this season and 13-6 overall. In order to ascend to the top of the Big West standings, UCSB will have to overcome a bit of history. The Gauchos have won just one of their last seven series against Cal State Fullerton (last year), and they haven’t taken a series at Goodwin Field since the 2007 season.
For the second consecutive weekend, the Gauchos will enter play with the lowest team ERA (2.09) in the entire NCAA. This is the first time in program history that the Gauchos have led the country in ERA this late in the season. Much of the team’s pitching success can be attributed to the four-man rotation, which has put together a collective 25-9 record, a 2.18 ERA, and six complete games. UCSB remains the only squad in the country with four starters that have winning records and ERAs below 2.50.
UCSB is expected to start Dillon Tate on Friday, Justin Jacome on Saturday and Shane Bieber on Sunday. Fullerton is coming with Thomas Eshelman, Justin Garza and John Gavin.
All games in the Cal State Fullerton series will be broadcast locally on KZSB AM 1290.
