April 5, 2009
Box Score
Santa Barbara, Calif. - After posting 14 runs in the last two games, the Pacific baseball team's pitching was finally able to limit UC Santa Barbara and let their bats do the talking, when the Tigers secured a 13-3 victory behind starting pitcher RHP Hunter Carnevale (Roseville, Calif.).
Avoiding the sweep, Pacific improves to 11-15 and 4-2 in Big West play, as UC Santa Barbara dropped to 17-9 on the year and 3-3 in conference.
The Tigers truly set the tone in the first at-bat of the afternoon, when sophomore Nick Longmire (San Diego, Calif.) sky-rocketed a pitch over the left field wall to give Pacific a quick 1-0 lead in the first inning.
Holding the Gauchos from the mound, Pacific's starting pitcher Carnevale went one-two-three to retire Gunnar Terhune, Brian Gump and Eric Oliver in order to preserve the 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first.
That led the way for Pacific to continue the long ball into the second inning, when senior Kurt Wideman (Fallbrook, Calif.) followed Longmire's cue and homered in the first at-bat of the second inning to give Pacific a 2-0 lead. Junior Mike Walker (Marysville, Calif.) then took a pitch to his body and trotted on over to first. In the following at-bat, freshman Allen Riley (Fresno, Calif.) drew a walk and moved Walker into scoring position over at second base. One out later and with two runners on, Longmire went yard for the second time in the game for his fourth homer of 2009. That gave the Tigers a 5-0 lead and secured three more RBI for Longmire.
UC Santa Barbara would not sit back quietly in the second, as the Gauchos responded with a run off a double from John DeAlba to cut Pacific's lead at 5-1. But that was all they could get, as Carnevale send down the next two batters he faced to end the inning.
Both teams went scoreless in the third, but Riley snapped that drought in the fourth when he laced a lead-off single to center field for the first baserunner of the inning. After one out, Longmire came to the plate and continued his tear with a single that moved Riley over to third and 90 feet from scoring. Two batters later, with runners at the corners, sophomore J.B. Brown (Alvin, Texas) recorded a sacrifice fly to deep right field, scoring Riley and giving Pacific a 6-1 lead.
But the Gauchos came right back in the bottom of the fourth with an answer to Pacific's run. Carnevale hit two and walked a batter to load the bases with no outs in the bottom of the inning. The righty then recovered and caught DeAlba swinging on strikes for the first out. Carnevale then forced the next batter to fly out inside the park, but plated one run at UCSB crept closer at 6-2. But Pacific's starter was able to limit the damage and strand three runners with the bases loaded heading into the fifth inning.
Continuing the theme, sophomore Brian Martin (Livermore, Calif.) walked up to the plate as the lead-off hitter in the fifth inning. Martin saw a pitch that he drove over the center field wall to give the Tigers a 7-2 lead with no outs. However, the Gaucho reliever, Jesse Meaux, only needed to face four more batters to end the inning with only one run allowed.
Pacific plated two more runs in the top of the sixth, when Brown continued his hitting streak to 17-consecutive games with an inside the park home run off the right center wall that no one in UC Santa Barbara's outfield could field cleanly. Brown also scored senior Joey Centanni (San Diego, Calif.) lifting Pacific over the Gauchos 9-2. Centanni walked with one out in the inning and then stole second during Brown's at-bat to put himself into scoring position. Senior Mike McKeever (San Diego, Calif.) then continued the one-out rally with a single up the middle and Martin moved him to second when he was hit by a pitch. With two outs, Walker connected for his first hit of the game, scoring McKeever to take a 10-2 lead before Martin was gunned down at home for his aggressive base running.
The Tigers were able to plate one more run in the top of the seventh inning with an RBI for Brown. They scored two more runs in the eighth for the highest lead of 11 runs in the game, before UCSB notched one final run in the bottom of the ninth.
Carnevale (2-3) earned the win after limiting the Gauchos to two runs off of one hit in seven innings of work. Mike Ford took the loss for UC Santa Barbara, dropping to 3-3 on the year.
The Tigers scored five total home runs, the most they've scored in a single game since they did it twice against Washington and Cal State Northridge back in 2005.
Pacific next returns to action on Tuesday, April 7, when it hosts San Francisco at Klein Family Field at 5:35 p.m.
