BASE | Gaels Fall to No. 16 UCSB in Penultimate, Midweek Matchup

Tuesday, May 7

Santa Barbara, CA

3 PM

Saint Mary's College of California

27-19

UC Santa Barbara

37-7

Saint Mary's (CA)

UC Santa Barbara

Photo by: Saint Mary's Athletics / Tod Fierner

BASE | Gaels Fall to No. 16 UCSB in Penultimate, Midweek Matchup

5/7/2019 6:26:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – Saint Mary's took the lead twice in Tuesday's midweek game at No. 16 UC Santa Barbara, however the Gauchos rallied from behind both times to take a 6-3 win, splitting the season series with the Gaels.

HOW IT HAPPENED

The Gaels jumped out to an early lead in the first inning. With one out, SMC loaded the bases with a pair of singles from freshman Bryce Willits and junior Ryan Novis and a walk from junior Kevin Milam. Then, senior Eddie Haus gave Saint Mary's a 1-0 lead after working a walk to score Willits from third.
UCSB tied the game in the top of the second as the Gauchos' Andrew Martinez hit a solo home run to left field to lead off the inning.
Milam gave the lead back to the Gaels in the top of the third: on a 3-0 count, a ball down and away was called a strike, but instead of lingering over a missed walk, he hit his seventh homerun of the season to left field on the following pitch instead. It was his second-straight game with big fly.
The Gauchos went ahead 4-2 in the bottom of the sixth as UCSB's Armani Smith hit a 3-run homer, giving the Gauchos a 2-run lead.
The Gaels got a run back in the top of the eighth inning: junior Joe Vranesh hit a two-out, RBI single to right field, scoring sophomore JC Santini from second who led off the inning with a double to left-center. SMC left the inning trailing 4-3.
UCSB added two more in the 8th with a 2-out, bases loaded single from Tevin Mitchell. Sophomore right-hander Michael Hobbs entered the game with one out and runners on first and third. After loading the bases with a walk, he induced a groundout which caught the runner at the plate, but then a sharp ground ball got past the diving Conor Thane at short to make it 6-3 Gauchos.

NOTABLE NUMBERS

13: Vranesh has now extended his heat streak to 13 games
18: Vranesh has now reached safely in 18-consecutive games
50: No. of RBI for Vranesh on the season (double his freshman campaign two years ago)
.500: Bryce Willits' batting average during his 7-game hitting streak (12-for-24, four multi-hit games during that time).
11: No. of hits for the Gaels – 20 games with double-digit hits this season
6: The Gaels have homered in six-straight games (13 home runs during this stretch)
15: Saint Mary's has a recorded one or more doubles in each of their last 15 games. There have been only two games this season where they have not recorded a double.

COMING UP

Saint Mary's will now return to Moraga for their final home series of the season. They will host Santa Clara May 10-12 and will celebrate the team's seniors on Sunday.

#GaelsRise – Tickets for all upcoming home game are available for purchase here on SMCGaels.com or by calling the SMC Ticket Office at (925) 631-GoTx. Fans can find all live coverage links on SMCGaels.com.