SANTA BARBARA, Calif.—UC San Diego baseball dropped a 7-5 decision to UC Santa Barbara on Friday evening . The Tritons (26-17, 13-9 Big West) scored four runs in the final three innings and brought the tying run to the plate in the ninth, but the Gauchos (29-12, 15-4 Big West) took the series opener.
 
Three Tritons finished 2-for-4, including Nick Costello who knocked a solo home run, Doyle Kane who finished with an RBI and a run scored and Emiliano Gonzalez who tallied two runs scored. 
 
Starter Anthony Eyanson (5-2) was credited with the loss, pitching 6.0 innings and allowing seven runs on seven hits with two walks and six strikeouts. Julian Custer pitched 2.0 innings without allowing a hit or a run with one walk and one strikeout.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Gauchos got on the board early, scoring one run in the first and two more runs in the third to lead, 3-0. UC San Diego broke through in the top of the fourth with an RBI single down the right field line for Kane to make it 3-1.
 
Eyanson retired the Gauchos in order in the second and the fourth before UCSB put up four runs in the fifth with back-to-back home runs to lead, 7-1. Eyanson retired the Gauchos in order again in the bottom of the sixth. 
 
The Tritons broke through for two runs in the top of the seventh, scoring on an RBI double by Colton Lomanto and a sac-fly by Benjamin Rosengard. Custer faced the minimum in the bottom of the inning to maintain the 7-3 score.
 
UC San Diego added another run in the top of the eighth with a leadoff homer by Costello to make it 7-4. 
 
The Tritons rallied again in the top of the ninth after a leadoff single by Gonzalez. Brock Kleszcz singled to center and advanced to second on a fielding error by UCSB to allow Gonzalez to score from first and bring the tying run to the plate with one out. However, a ground-out and a strikeout ended the comeback and secured the contest for UC Santa Barbara.
 
TRITON TIDBITS

• Nick Costello hit his ninth home run of the season and now ranks third in the Big West.
• It was the 10th multi-hit game of the season for Emiliano Gonzalez, ninth for Doyle Kane and seventh for Nick Costello. 
• UC San Diego moved to 1-14 in the all-time series (1-12 in D-I) with UC Santa Barbara and 0-1 in the weekend series.

UP NEXT
UC San Diego will continue the weekend series at UC Santa Barbara with game two scheduled for Saturday at 3 p.m. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+ with live statistics available via UCSDTritons.com.
 
About UC San Diego Athletics
After two decades as one of the most successful programs in NCAA Division II, the UC San Diego intercollegiate athletics program began a new era in 2020 as a member of The Big West Conference in NCAA Division I. The 23-sport Tritons earned 30 team and nearly 150 individual national championships during its time in Divisions II and III and helped guide 1,400 scholar-athletes to All-America honors. A total of 83 Tritons have earned Academic All-America honors, while 38 have garnered prestigious NCAA Post Graduate Scholarships. UC San Diego scholar-athletes exemplify the academic ideals of one of the world's preeminent institutions, graduating at an average rate of 91 percent, one of the highest rates among institutions at all divisions.