Special to CollegeBaseballInsider.com
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – UC Santa Barbara junior righty Shane Bieber scattered eight hits in seven strong innings, striking out seven, to help the Gauchos knock off No. 2 national seed Louisville 4-2 Saturday at Jim Patterson Stadium.
“He’s clearly one of the best we have faced,” Louisville coach Dan McDonnell said. “It’s a power right-handed arm, and the ball gets on you quickly. I was more impressed that he even turned it up a notch when he got the lead and started pitching for the finish line.”
UCSB was a decided underdog coming into Saturday’s Game 1 of the Louisville Super Regional, but good pitching is a great equalizer. Bieber shined, giving up just one walk and tossing the ball to reliever Kyle Nelson in the eighth with a 4-2 lead.
“I hung a slider [early], and they took advantage of it and put it into the trees over there in right,” Bieber said. “But my offense picked me up after that, and I was able to settle in.”
Louisville’s Blake Tiberi hit a solo homer to lead off the second inning, but it was all the damage the Cardinals could do until the sixth as Bieber controlled the pace of the game and kept Louisville’s hitters guessing.
“He really just threw a lot of strikes,” Cardinals two-way star Brendan McKay said of Bieber. “The first time through the lineup we saw a lot of fastballs, but then second and third time through the lineup we saw more breaking balls, changeups and he kept us guessing.”
UCSB answered Tiberi’s homer with a run of its own in the top of the third when Clay Fisher hit a lofting 9-iron shot that bounced just inside the foul line beyond first base. That turned into a double for Fisher and scored Ryan Clark from second base.
Then in the fourth, Gauchos slugger Austin Bush, a 6-6, 270-pound behemoth, crushed a McKay strike and it landed 10-feet beyond dead center field. After a single by JJ Muno, designated hitter Kyle Plantier doubled down the third-base line to score Muno.
“He’s got four home runs in the last four games so – that’s pretty good,” Bieber said of Bush.
The Gauchos extended their lead in the fifth inning when Devon Gradford and Bush hit back-to-back singles, and Muno singled up the middle to score Gradford from second.
Bieber said he could sense Louisville batters start to press, and he started testing them up in the zone.
“As a group, I think we swung out of the zone a few times tonight,” McDonnell said. “We keep talking about not going for the knockout punch. We have to do a better job of jabbing and competing.”
Bieber seemed to gain momentum as the crowd of more than 5,000 grew more anxious and vocal.
“I was maybe a little fired up in the later innings, especially with a crowd like this,” Bieber said. “It was a great crowd and got me fired up.”
The Cardinals got a run back in the sixth inning on a double by Devin Hairston and a single by Tiberi, but that was all they could muster. Bieber and Nelson rolled through the Louisville lineup, facing just 10 batters in the final three innings without allowing a hit.
With a 1-0 series lead, UC Santa Barbara can advance to Omaha for the College World Series with a win Sunday. As for Louisville, the No. 2 national seed must regroup, refocus and try to avoid elimination Sunday and forced a decisive Game 3 on Monday.
“It’s baseball. We respect the game and we respect our opponent,” McDonnell said. “Fortunately, this is a two out of three series and we’re not out of it. … One of our sayings is ‘So what? Now what.’ It’s baseball. We have to move on. I’m glad we play at noon tomorrow. Get it started as quickly as possible.”
“Like Coach Mac said, this is a two out of three series,” Tiberi said. “I feel like we are in a good place. I don’t think we are panicking or freaking out.”
First pitch is scheduled for Noon Sunday. Louisville will throw lefty Drew Harrington, the ACC Pitcher of the Year. UCSB coach Andrew Checketts declined to name a starter in the postgame press conference.
THE UNDERDOG
UCSB is making its first appearance in a Super Regional. The Gauchos got out of the Vanderbilt Regional without having to face top-seed Vanderbilt. Conversely, Louisville was ranked in the Top 5 for most of the season and has been to four straight Super Regionals, six Super Regionals in the past 10 seasons and has three trips to the College World Series.
When a reporter referred to his program as a mid-major during a question, Checketts laughed and said, “Have you seen the beach at our place? That’s a big beach, a big-time ocean.”
RAY STRUGGLING
Louisville’s Corey Ray was just taken No. 5 overall in the MLB Draft, but his past few games have been a struggle at the plate. He has just one hit in his last 12 at-bats and he is 0-4 in the past two postseason games.
“I’m sure it is something [hitting] Coach [Eric] Snider will address with him, as they do after every game,” McDonnell said, noting that Ray and his teammates were likely pressing knowing that they want to help their team overcome a two-run deficit.
NO HANGOVER
Louisville had seven players taken in the Major League Baseball Draft Thursday and Friday, prompting some to ask if Saturday may have been a little bit of a hangover from the booming celebration the team experienced the past 48 hours.
McDonnell dismissed it quickly, “Nah, I don’t think that was a factor.”
Three Louisville players were taken in the first round, outfielder Corey Ray, closer Zack Burdi and catcher Will Smith. Nick Solak (2B) was taken in the second round, Blake Tiberi (3B) and Drew Harrington (LHP) were selected in the third and Kyle Funkhouser (RHP) was drafted in the fourth round. UCSB’s Bieber was drafted in the fourth round Friday.