UC Santa Barbara Eyeing Tournament After Strong Start

UC Santa Barbara has not won 40 games in a season since 1990 and has not reached the NCAA tournament since 1996.

But the surprising Gauchos are on pace to achieve both feats, and possibly more, as they begin a three-game Big West Conference series today against Long Beach State.

Santa Barbara (33-11), under eighth-year Coach Bob Brontsema, began the week ranked 25th by Baseball America, the first time since 1996 that the Gauchos have appeared in the ratings. Santa Barbara is 7-2 in the Big West and in second place behind sixth-ranked Cal State Fullerton (34-11, 8-1), which has won 21 of its last 22 games. The teams play a three-game series next weekend at Fullerton.

“I know there are a lot of people out there who have no idea about UCSB,” said Brontsema, whose team is 21-4 since March 18. “There are a lot of doubters out there, so we still have a lot to prove.”

For the last few years, Santa Barbara’s program was best known nationally as a stopping-off point for players on their way to USC. Pitcher Barry Zito, now in the major leagues with the Oakland Athletics, pitcher-designated hitter Justin Lehr and third baseman Justin Gemoll all played for the Gauchos before transferring to USC. The trio helped USC advance to the NCAA super regionals in 1999. Gemoll helped the Trojans advance to the College World Series last season.

But a solid nucleus remained and the Gauchos now have an experienced team that features 10 seniors, a fourth-year junior and a couple of draft-eligible sophomores.

“The biggest difference this year is our pitching,” said Brontsema, whose team finished 28-25 last season. “Our players have confidence these guys can do the job every time they go out there.”

Junior James Garcia (8-1, 2.68 earned-run average), senior Rylie Ogle (9-2, 3.57) and sophomore Jim Bullard (7-2, 5.24) lead a staff that has a 4.09 ERA, the Gauchos’ best since 1984.

Santa Barbara, with a team batting average of .345 and six players over .375, leads the Big West in eight offensive categories.

Senior third baseman Dave Molidor is batting a team-high .412 with nine homers and 56 runs batted in. Sophomore outfielder Ryan Spilborghs is batting .377 and has a 23-game hitting streak. Junior outfielder Jed Stringham is hitting .388 with 11 homers and 41 RBIs, and junior first baseman Tyler Von Schell has 16 homers and 51 RBIs.

“We have guys that have matured and made better adjustments and are using better discipline,” Brontsema said. “They’ve always been good hitters but because of our pitching, they don’t have the pressure to have to score 15 runs to win, 15-14.”

Santa Barbara defeated Long Beach, 5-4, in 12 innings in a nonconference game Tuesday at Long Beach. With the NCAA selection committee on his mind, Brontsema used Garcia to pitch the 12th inning, assuring the Gauchos a victory over a perennial playoff team.

Along with the Big West series against Long Beach (29-16, 6-3) and Fullerton over the next two weekends, the Gauchos also play a nonconference game against UCLA (26-20) and a season-ending Big West series against Cal Poly San Luis Obispo (28-17, 6-3).

“If we stay solid through these last 10 games, we are a very strong regional team,” Brontsema said. “But there is still a long way to go.”

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No. 14 Pepperdine (32-15) lost two of three West Coast Conference games against San Diego last weekend and a nonconference game against Fullerton on Tuesday, but the Waves are 19-5 in the WCC and head into this weekend’s series at St. Mary’s leading the West Division by two games over San Diego.

Pepperdine concludes the regular season next week with a nonconference game against San Diego State and a WCC series against Portland.

Noah Lowry is 12-1 with a 1.65 ERA and Dan Haren is 8-3 with a 2.62 ERA for the Waves.

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Fifth-ranked USC (33-16), which moved into first place in the Pacific 10 Conference with its sweep of UCLA last weekend, will not play again until May 12 because of finals.

The Trojans conclude their season with three-game Pac-10 series against Washington State and Oregon State.

UCLA, which ended an eight-game losing streak with a victory over San Diego State on Tuesday, has 11 games remaining, including conference series against California, Oregon State and Arizona State.

Bruin designated hitter Brian Baron began the week as the nation’s leading hitter with a .468 average, but dropped to .460 after the San Diego State game. Michael Woods of Southern University began the week at .460.