UCSB Baseball Pounds UConn 13-3 in Long Awaited Home Opener

It wasn’t exactly what he wanted, but Andrew Checketts had to say it was beautiful.

On a field of newly planted green grass, with a backdrop of mountains turned green by winter rains, UCSB’s baseball team won its belated home opener Friday evening. The scoreboard was beautiful too, showing that the Gauchos pounded out 15 hits in defeating the Connecticut Huskies, 13-3.

The Gauchos had been slated to play eight of their first 12 games at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium, but rainy weather and a delay in getting the grass field ready – it was a late substitute for an artificial turf project that was scuttled – forced them to hit the road for a month.

“We haven’t even practiced on [the new field] yet,” Checketts said. In his 13^th year as UCSB’s head coach, he would have preferred the installation of turf. “I think it’s right for training and playing in the climate and the weather patterns here,” he said. But looking out on the field, he said, “I think grass is beautiful.”

Gaucho catcher Brendan Durfee spent nine innings Friday looking out at the field through his mask. “Oh, my god, it’s absolutely unreal,” Durfee said. “It was like playing at Dodger Stadium.”

Starting pitcher Matt Ager overcame some early control problems to string together six scoreless innings and earn his second win of the season.

Before the game, Ager told Checketts he was nervous. “He hadn’t pitched here in nine months,” the coach said. “It felt like our first game of the year. I felt it too. I was more stressed out about a home game than all the road games.”

While Ager was settling down, the Gauchos staked him to a 10-0 lead. Five of the runs came in the fourth inning, after UConn starter Garrett Coe had thrown a perfect third inning with three strikeouts on nine pitches.

Justin Trimble led off the fourth with an opposite-field double to left, and freshman Jonathan Mendez lifted a home run to left center. After Jessada Brown beat out an infield single, and Durfee drew a walk, designated hitter Aaron Parker greeted UConn’s relief pitcher by powering a three-run homer to deep center.

Parker returned to the lineup after being sidelined by an injury in UCSB’s season opener at Campbell University in North Carolina. Parker had five RBIs in that game, and had five more Friday for 10 in two games.

Durfeee, who replaced Parker behind the plate, had three hits against the Huskies, as did Trimble. Getting hits in pairs were Brown, Mendez and Nick Oakley.

“We’ve done more offensively than I thought we would,” Checketts said, noting that several plays have exceeded expectations. “Brown has been amazing. Trimble fantastic.”

The Gauchos, 7-5 and a perfect 1-0 at home, will continue the series against the Huskies on Saturday at 3 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m. UNLV will visit Tuesday at 4:35 p.m., and then the homestand winds up with a three-game Big West series between the Gauchos and Long Beach State starting next Friday, March 15.