SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - Saint Mary's hit the road Tuesday night to face their first ranked opponent of the 2025 season in no. 21 UC Santa Barbara. The Gaels brought the energy from the very first pitch and as a result, hustled and pitched their way to a 5-1 victory for their first win over a ranked opponent since March of 2024.
Second year Gael
Dylan Delvecchio got the start and cruised through two innings allowing just one hit. Saint Mary's scored three runs in the first two innings and took advantage of some sloppy defense from the Gauchos. They added to their lead with RBI doubles from
Diego Castellanos and
Aiden Taurek to take a 5-0 lead.
After working around a solo shot from UCSB in the sixth, sophomore right hander
Justin Santiago would come in and shut the door. Santiago picked up his first save of the season allowing just one run over three innings of work and struck out a career high five batters.
1ST AND 2ND INNING
Cody Kashimoto led the game off with a walk and then fellow lefty
Tanner Griffith would lay down a sacrifice bunt in an effort to move him to second. Santa Barbra's starting pitcher Reed Moring would field the bunt but airmail the throw to first, allowing Kashimoto to score and Griffith to reach third on the throwing error.
In the second,
Aiden Taurek would lead things off with a walk and find himself on second after a failed pickoff attempt from Moring, throwing the ball in the dirt past his first baseman. After a single into left field from freshman catcher
Ian Armstrong,
Diego Castellanos would lay down a beautiful safety squeeze bunt to the right side. Taurek would score and nobody covered first allowing Castellanos to reach safely and double the Gaels lead.
Senior lefty
Dylan Delvecchio got his first start of the 2025 season and was nearly flawless through two innings, allowing just one hit and striking out a pair of Gauchos. He would depart for
Talin Gardini to start the third.
4TH AND 5TH INNING
The San Diego native made his second appearance of the season and bounced back nicely after giving up a home run and two runs in his collegiate debut against Saint Louis. Gardini threw 2+ scoreless innings allowing just two hits and would eventually get credit for his first collegiate win. He struckout two batters in the third and then worked around a leadoff double in the fourth to strand the runner on third.
In the top half of the fourth,
Diego Castellanos served a two-out double down the left field line to score Armstrong from second and extend the Gaels lead to 4-0. Armstrong doubled down the left field line the at-bat prior to set up Castellanos for the RBI opportunity.
In the fifth,
Aiden Taurek would get in on the action with an RBI double of his own that snuck just inside the third base line. He would plate
Eddie Madrigal from second who got hit by a pitch and stole second to put himself in scoring position.
Garret Plata would replace Gardini to finish the fifth inning. Despite giving up a solo shot in the sixth, Plata struckout two batters and turned things over to
Justin Santiago in the seventh with a chance to finish the game and earn his second career save.
Santiago showcased a nasty combination featuring a low 90's fastball and a sweeping breaking ball, allowing him to strikeout a career high five batters. Santiago was perfect in his three innings of work, retiring all nine hitters in order and also struckout the side in the bottom of the eighth. Santiago would get the final batter looking for his fifth K, and emphatically celebrate with his teammates as he sealed the 5-1 road victory.
UC Santa Barbara finished the night with three costly errors while Saint Mary's played a clean game defensively and pitched incredibly well, allowing just one run on four hits. On top of that, the Gauchos were undefeated at home during the entire 2024 regular season, with the Gaels handing them their first home defeat in the regular season since May 21st of 2023. They will leave Caesar Uyesaka Stadium with great momentum as they prepare for a three-game set with one of the most prolific college baseball programs in the country in 15th ranked Vanderbilt starting on Friday.
LOOKING AHEAD
Saint Mary's improved to 4-1 on the season with their first win over a ranked opponent since beating 4th ranked Florida in March of last season. They will bus back to Moraga and prepare for a three-game series against 15th ranked Vanderbilt starting on Friday, February 21st. Full game times, live stats, ticket and stream links can be found at smcgaels.com.
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