The real HarbourCats of Santa Barbara - Mar 21 edition

Nesovic scores the winning run on Saturday

The UCSB Gauchos snagged two of three games from the Sacramento State Hornets last weekend and HarbourCats pitcher Robby Nesovic played a huge role in the series victory. Nesovic, who had multiple hits in all three games against Sacramento State, has been a man on a mission in the batter’s box of late. The freshman went 7-for-11 with a pair of RBI on the weekend and he now appears to be the team’s regular DH and cleanup hitter. Nesovic also has an impressive six-game hitting streak.

It’s difficult to select the high point of Nesovic’s weekend for the Gauchos, but perhaps it was in the eighth inning of Saturday’s game. With two outs and the score tied 4-4, Nesovic hit a liner over second to start a UCSB rally. Two batters later, he raced from second on a base hit and slid in safely at home on a close play for the eventual game-winning run.

Nesovic has posted some scary numbers so far this season – a .500 batting average, .541 on-base percentage and an out-of-this-world slugging percentage of .600. Ay, caramba!! This young man is going to be a joy to watch at Royal Athletic Park this summer, whether it is at the plate or on the mound.

The low point of the weekend came in the first inning of Sunday’s 13-7 loss when the Gauchos gave up eight runs and committed three errors. The lopsided first inning did have a bright side for HarbourCats fans, as it allowed Connor Baits to come in and help stop the bleeding. The freshman’s 3 1/3 innings of work was his longest relief appearance of the season, and he gave up four hits and two earned runs without walking a batter. Baits now has a 5.91 ERA in eight relief appearances.

Connor Baits

The other two H-Cats on the UCSB squad, Dillon Tate and Art Vidrio, remained on the sidelines this past weekend. Hopefully they’ll get into their first game of the season soon, but that seems less likely each week. The next bit of action for UCSB is this coming weekend when they play a three-game series against the Cal Poly Mustangs. The Gauchos are then off to Honolulu to play the University of Hawaii the following weekend in the first conference games of the season.

- Co-written by WC and Gus