May 11, 2008

Box Score

LONG BEACH-- UC Santa Barbara (31-19, 10-8 Big West) salvaged the final game of the three-game series as Chuck Huggins (8-2) pitched into the eighth as the Gauchos defeated No. 26-ranked Long Beach State (30-18, 11-7 Big West) 5-3 on Sunday afternoon.

Huggins was cruising through seven, on 89 pitches, before a 26-pitch eighth inning saw LBSU comeback to within 5-3 with two runs in the eighth. Shane Peterson's RBI double made it 5-2, before a sacrifice fly cut the lead to 5-3. After loading the bases, Huggins was relieved by Jason Roenicke, who struck out Jason Tweedy to send things into the ninth.

TJ Mittelstaedt led off the ninth with a pinch-hit single, before a strikeout and double play ball saved the game for Roenicke, his second of the season.

Jake Thompson (2-5) was pulled after three hits in the fifth, and a 3-1 Gaucho lead. Reliever David Roberts surrendered a base hit to make it 4-1, as Thompson gave up four runs on seven hits over 4.1 innings. Roberts gave up another run in the sixth to make it 5-1.

A solo home run by Eric Oliver made it 1-0 in the for first for UCSB, before an RBI single by Matt McColgan, making his first start of the series, doubled the lead to 2-0 in the second.

An RBI single by Danny Espinosa, following a leadoff triple by Peterson, cut the UCSB lead to 2-1 in the second.

Long Beach State embarks on their final road trip of the season, a four-game trek beginning at San Diego State on Tuesday at 6 p.m., and continuing at Cal Poly for a three-game series beginning on Friday at 6 p.m. Tuesday's game will be a staff day for the Dirtbags.