February 17, 1999
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - The UC Santa Barbara Gauchos (6-5) dodged a ninth-inning rally to defeat the UCLA Bruins (6-9) 7-6 at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium. With runners on first and second and one out, sophomore 1b Garrett Atkins hit a sharp liner that was snared by Gaucho 2b Chad Peshke who promptly threw it to second, picking off senior ss Jack Santora to end the ballgame. Down 7-5 heading into the top of the ninth, the Bruins scored on a RBI single by Santora, knocking home junior cf Mike Hymes from second base. Junior dh Brian Baron sustained the rally with a single up the middle, advancing Santora to second. The Gauchos would elude the inevitable however, on Peshke's double play off the line drive by Atkins.
Sophomore 2b Chase Utley hit his third homerun of the year, a two-run bomb in the sixth inning that tied the game at four. An RBI single by freshman 3b Randall Shelley that scored sophomore lf Bill Scott enabled the Bruins to take a 6-5 lead heading into the bottom of the sixth. The Gauchos would take the lead for good with two runs in the bottom of the seventh and one in the eighth. Interestingly, UCSB is the first team this season to score on UCLA in the seventh inning. Through 14 contests, the Bruins outscored opponents 24-0 in the seventh, before allowing the Gauchos to break the streak. UCLA is still shutting out opponents in the first inning this season, 14-0 through 15 games.
UCLA sophomore rhp Chad Cislak made his first appearance since January 23 at Hawaii, replacing sophomore starter rhp Jon Brandt in the fourth inning. Cislak, who has been working on a new wind-up, gave up one earned run in 2.1 innings and was saddled with the loss, his first decision of the year. Sophomore of Charles Merricks recorded his first hit of the season, a ninth inning pinch-hit single. Hymes made his first start of the season in place of the injured cf Matt Pearl. Hymes got his first hit of the season as well, a sixth inning single. The Gauchos scored five unearned runs off two UCLA errors and eight in the two-game series against the Bruins.
The Bruins head to San Diego on Thursday to participate in the San Diego Baseball Classic hosted by San Diego State. Freshman rhp Josh Karp (1-1, 5.68) is expected to start against Loyola Marymount (4-5) on Friday, February 19 at 10 am. Sophomore lhp Ryan Carter (0-2, 5.40) is the tentative starter against #13 Texas Tech (6-4) on Saturday, Feb. 20 at 10 am. Finally, Jon Brandt (2-1, 2.79) is expected to make his sixth start of the year on Sunday, Feb. 21 versus the host SDSU Aztecs (6-4). Loyola Marymount defeated the Red Raiders of Texas Tech 6-3 on February 15 at the Lions' George Page Stadium.