It would be Bush’s only hit of the day, but it certainly was a huge one.
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The Musketeers jumped out to 2-0 lead in the first on RBI singles by Soria and Chris Givin. UC Santa Barbara will look for Andrew Calica, Clay Fisher, and Devon Gradford to keep up the production while Xavier will surely want Daniel Rizzie and Rylan Bannon to pick it up with their season on the line.
The Cards outscored their three regional opponents, 24-5, and their three starting pitchers gave up just one run in 21 innings of work. The nine runs allowed in the fourth inning were the most surrendered in a single inning by the Musketeers this season.
It was another senior – this time on the UCSB side -who put away Xavier for good.
Justin Kelly kept the Gauchos in contention in the 13th and 14th innings and picked up the win.
Xavier (32-30) had been getting key hits throughout the tournament, but they left 12 runners on base Monday. The Gauchos are now in control of their own destiny, and, this late in the season, that is a victory in and of itself.
The Cards will compete against the team from the University of California – Santa Barbara. The former would definitely be the more optimal choice for the team in control of its destiny.
UC Santa Barbara (38-18-1) faces the victor of the Vanderbilt-Xavier game, which was postponed due to weather. The game will also be streamed live on ESPN3.com.
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Both UC-Santa Barbara and Louisville come into this weekend’s Super Regional play having faced very little test in the Regional round.
