For the fourth straight season, UC Santa Barbara and Oregon have faced each other. In the last three series, Oregon won the first six games between 2021 and 2022.
And it seems like Gauchos have had this series circled on their calendar for the past two years.
Last season, UCSB swept the three-game series at PK Park. After game two of this season, the Gauchos (5-4) have officially won the series after beating the Ducks (6-3), 7-3.
Grayson Grinsell was on the mound for Oregon, who made the transition from bullpen to the starting rotation after the Ducks’ postseason run last season. In the first three batters he faced, he opened it with a 91 mph strike.
The difference between him and UCSB’s starting pitcher Mike Gutierrez? An average of 15 mph slower.
“Gutierrez is a different pitcher. He’s different than the other players we’ve faced,” head coach Mark Wasikowski said. “He’s a big junkball guy and you have to have a disciplined approach when facing players like that.”
A two-strike double down the left field line in the second inning from Bennett Thompson was the Ducks’ first hit of the game. After Jacob Walsh’s groundout to second, Thompson was able to advance to third.
After Ryan Cooney drew a full-count walk, putting runners on the corners, Bryce Boettcher hit an RBI single for Thompson to score the first run of the game.
Bats stayed silent for both the Ducks and Gauchos until the fourth. Grinsell hit two straight batters and walked a batter on a 3-2 count to load the bases with two outs. After fighting off four foul balls, he hit his third batter of the inning to give UC Santa Barbara their first run, tying it at 1-1.
“I thought we stunk in this inning,” Wasikowski said. “The rest of the game we played okay.”
Two pitches into his at bat, UCSB’s Jonah Serbring hit a double that bounced off the left field wall to bring home two runners, making the score 3-1.
Grinsell’s second walk of the inning to load the bases for the second time brought in Logan Mercado to relief. A single to left field scored two Gaucho runners to extend their lead to four.
After fumbling a ground ball up the third base line, Drew Smith overthrew the ball to first, putting on another UCSB runner in the top of the fifth. Thompson threw that runner out as he attempted to steal second. But that didn’t stop them from getting on base — or making safer base running decisions for that matter.
Long leadoffs caused Mercado to throw to the base to keep the runners close multiple times throughout the inning, but UCSB didn’t capitalize on the opportunity.
Oregon got its first hit since the second inning after a pitch hit the handle of Carter Garate’s bat and rolled between third base and the pitcher’s mound. A balk by Gutierrez put him in scoring position, the first time since the Ducks scored, but the inning ended quickly after that.
Jeffery Heard extended his hitting streak to nine games with a short, infield single where his speed outbeat the play. Dominic Hellman hit a double down the left field line to put Oregon runners in scoring position.
An RBI sac-fly from Thompson brought home Heard to cut the deficit to three with three innings to go.
Gutierrez was pulled out of the game in the bottom of the seventh and was relieved by Tyler Bremner, who averaged pitch speeds similar to Grinsell. The Ducks struggled to adapt to the change at first, but in the bottom of the eighth, Smith hit an RBI single to bring Justin Cassella home after his walk to make the score 5-3.
Bradley Mullan came in for the Ducks to close out the game, but after a seven-pitch outing that included a four-pitch walk, a far single, and a double to center field, the Gauchos extended their lead by one.
Oregon turned to Michael Freund to end the game, but it wouldn’t end without another run for UCSB.
The Ducks have one more opportunity to take a game from UC Santa Barbara Sunday at 12 pm, but with the Gauchos winning the series, we will have to wait until the schedule comes out next season to see how this rivalry continues.
