Baseball Falls to No. 8 UC Santa Barbara 9-6 on Saturday

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – No. 8 ranked UC Santa Barbara used a pair of four run innings to come back from a three run deficit and beat Santa Clara 9-6 on Saturday afternoon setting up Sunday's rubber match. 

UCSB (1-1) scored four runs in the bottom of the fourth to erase a 3-0 deficit and never looked back, sending nine batters in the inning against reliever Nick Sando.  The first five Gauchos batters reached base in the inning on singles by Nicolas Vogt, Christian Kirtley, Mason Eng and Cole Cummings was hit by a pitch as each came around to score.

In the fifth, facing new reliever August Souza, UCSB put up four more runs sending eight batters to the plate with the big hit coming on McClain O'Connor's two out, two-run triple.

Santa Clara (1-1) got off to a solid start against Gauchos starter Michael McGreevy scoring a pair of runs in the top of the third on Jason Dicochea's single with the bases loaded.  Matt Jew hit an opposite field solo homer in the fourth to give SCU a 3-0 lead for starter Freddie Erlandson who allowed just two hits in three innings before being lifted in favor of Sando.  

Each team had 12 hits but UCSB pitching issued just two walks and three hit batsmen compared to seven walks and two hit batsmen by the Broncos staff.

McGreevy went five innings allowing six hits and three runs to pick up the win.  Sando took the loss.

O'Connor drove in three runs for the second straight game for the Gauchos while Dicochea matched that total on two hits.