June 3, 2016
Austin Bush obviously felt like enough was enough.
Leading off the bottom of the 14th inning, Bush rocketed a solo homer to right field to lift UC-Santa Barbara to a 3-2 win over Washington in the opening game of the Nashville Regional on Friday.
The contest lasted four hours and 45 minutes, and a total of 425 pitches were thrown by the two teams.
Bush finished just 1-for-6, but his lone hit was one that will be remembered most. The walk-off blast against Washington reliever Alex Nesbitt (6-3) set off a huge celebration among the Gauchos, who poured out of the dugout to greet Bush after he circled the bases.
Bush’s blast was the second dramatic homer of the game for UCSB (38-18-1).
With the Gauchos trailing 2-1 in the bottom of the 12th, UCSB’s Devon Gradford led off the inning with the first homer of his career — a towering shot over the wall in left field that tied the game at 2-2.
Gradford finished 2-for-5 with two RBIs, and was the lone UCSB player with multiple hits. MJ Hubbs finished 2-for-5 with an RBI for Washington (32-22).
UCSB reliever Justin Kelly (2-0) earned the win with 1 1-3 scoreless innings.
Both starting pitchers were effective. Washington’s Noah Bremer went nine innings, allowing one run on four hits with two walks and two strikeouts. UCSB’s Shane Bieber worked 7 1-3 innings, and was charged with one run on eight hits. He finished with two walks and five strikeouts.
Santa Barbara took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the third on a two-out, RBI single by Gradford. Ryan Clark opened the inning with a single, moved to second on JJ Muno’s sacrifice bunt and scored the game’s first run on Gradford’s single.
Washington tied the game at 1-1 in the top of the fourth on Joey Morgan’s sacrifice fly to right field. The run was set up by a leadoff single by Chris Baker and a double by Hubbs that put runners at second and third with one out.
Washington then took a 2-1 lead in the top of the 12th when Hubbs drew a bases-loaded walk. But Gradford tied the game with his solo shot in the bottom of the inning.
UCSB will play again on Saturday night at 8 p.m. against the winner of tonight’s Vanderbilt-Xavier game. Washington will play an elimination game on Saturday at 2 p.m. against the Vanderbilt-Xavier loser.