The Ducks took the field at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium in Santa Barbara on Sunday looking to complete a four-game sweep of the No. 7 ranked UCSB Gauchos.

In the top of the first, Kenyon Yovan picked up where he left off with another home run, his fourth in two days. Yovan has added much-needed strength to the Ducks’ batting order.

The Ducks didn’t stop there, as the .417-hitting Aaron Zavala walked and Josh Kasevich continued his power surge, bringing Zavala home with a double. The Ducks led 2-0, their first early lead of the four-game slate.

Junior left-handed pitcher Robert Ahlstrom got his first start of 2021 for Oregon. He gave up a leadoff single in the first, and the runner advanced to second on a wild pitch but Ahlstrom recorded two strikeouts to get out of trouble.

The Ducks loaded the bases in the second with a hit by pitch and two walks, but Gabe Matthews softly grounded out to end the threat. Ahlstrom walked the first hitter in the bottom of the second, but worked out of it by inducing soft contact.

Third baseman Sam Novitske made an error in the third and the runner eventually advanced to third. Ahlstrom recorded two clutch strikeouts to end the inning, letting out a roar as he walked off the mound.

Freshman Isaac Ayon replaced Ahlstrom after three innings. He worked around a one-out walk with a double play to pitch a scoreless fourth inning, and recorded two strikeouts in a perfect fifth.

Zavala got on base for the third straight time with a single in the fifth, upping his average to .462, but the Oregon offense remained mostly quiet after their two-run first inning.

After singles from Anthony Hall and Kasevich in the sixth, UCSB made their first pitching change of the game and shut the Ducks down once again.

Ayon came back out in the bottom of the sixth for his third inning of work, his longest appearance so far this season. He gave up a leadoff triple that came home on a groundout for the Gauchos’ first run, but utilized his slider to record another strikeout and hold onto a 2-1 Ducks lead.

The Ducks got their bats going again in the seventh, as Tanner Smith doubled and Yovan brought him home on a long single. They continued to rally, as Novitske made it 4-1 with a bases-loaded walk.

Ayon worked a quick bottom of the seventh as he was stretched out to four innings.

With two outs and nobody on in the eighth, the Gauchos intentionally walked the red-hot Yovan. Matthews singled to put runners on the corners, but Zavala made his first out of the game to strand them both.

Hunter Breault entered in the bottom of the eighth, and the Gauchos immediately hit him hard. A solo home run, a single and a two-run homer tied the game just like that, 4-4.

With Andrew Mosiello on the mound in the ninth, the Gauchos doubled with two outs and a runner on first. The right fielder Zavala made a nice throw to the cutoff man Gavin Grant, who fired home to catcher Jack Scanlon to throw the runner out at the plate and send the game to extras.

With two outs and nobody on in the tenth, the Gauchos intentionally walked Yovan for the third time. Matthews walked to put two on for Zavala, who singled home the go-ahead run.

The Ducks added more insurance as Kasevich hit one that ate up the Gauchos’ third baseman to make it 6-4. UCSB had some sloppy play in the inning, as a wild pitch and a throwing error brought in two more runs. A Novitske single then brought in the fifth run of the inning as Oregon took a 9-4 lead.

All of this came with two outs as the intentional walk to Yovan came back to haunt the Gauchos.

Mosiello pitched a scoreless ninth inning to secure the 9-4 win, and the Ducks stunned the No. 7 ranked Gauchos with a four-game sweep.

The Ducks, now 6-2, will continue their road trip with a three-game series against Oregon State that starts on Friday.