Muristek
No. 20 UCSB (43-13) dropped its Stanford Regional opener to No. 14 Texas State (46-12) Friday night 7-3. The Gauchos will now return to Sunken Diamond tomorrow to face the fourth-seed, Binghamton (22-29), at 1 p.m. in an elimination game.
Cory Lewis (9-1) was the pitcher of record, suffering his first loss of the season throwing five innings and allowing four earned runs to the Bobcats. He hung four zeros and struck out eight batters but allowed a four-run fourth inning to the TXST.
Nick Vogt went 2-for-4 with an RBI double and a solo home run
Broc Mortensen smashed a home run of his own to give him the outright Big West homer title with 16 on the season, which ranks fourth all-time in Gaucho history. He now has 31 in his career which is tied for sixth most all time despite only having played two seasons.
Nick Welch had a brilliant outing out of the bullpen, entering in the seventh with the bases-loaded and just one out and getting out of the jam. He posted another zero in the eighth to give him a final line on 1.2 innings pitched with none earned, two K’s and a pickoff at second base.
The Gauchos got going in the top of the first as Blake Klassen led off the game with a single and Christian Kirtley extended his on base streak to 44 games with a four-pitch walk. An unfortunate double play ball saw Klassen move over to third and next was Nick Vogt crushing a double off the left field wall to put his team up 1-0.
Lewis struck out the side in the bottom half to preserve the lead and send Mortensen up to the plate as the lead-off batter in the second. The home run king promptly took the second pitch he saw deep over the wall in deep center to double the lead.
The Bobcats finally got to Lewis in the bottom of the fourth and did so in a big way, posting a four-spot to take a 4-2 lead.
After being held scoreless for three-straight innings, UCSB cut the lead to one with one swing in the top of the 6th as Nick Vogt crushed a no-doubter to left field. It was his seventh of the season as he made it a 4-3 ball game.
Matt Ager entered in the bottom of the sixth and quickly retired the first two batters, but then allowed a two-run homer that extended the Bobcat lead to 6-3. It is the first homer the freshman has allowed all year.
UCSB put two runners on in the top of the seventh, but a pair of Bobcat relievers got themselves out of the jam stranding the two aboard.
TXST added one more in the bottom half on a bases-loaded walk but Nick Welch came in and retired the next two batters to get out of the jam.
Daniel Moebus-Bowles writes about sports for UCSB.
email: sports@newspress.com
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