SANTA BARBARA, Calif. --- No. 16 UC Irvine never recovered after a falling behind in the first inning to No. 19 UC Santa Barbara losing 10-1 Saturday afternoon in Caesar Uyesaka Stadium and dropping its first series of the season.

Early Hole
UC Santa Barbara (26-5, 4-1) once again got some first inning runs starting it off with another RBI single from Thomas Rowan singling off Anteater starter Tanner Brubaker's glove and into center field to make it 1-0. Later in the inning, Andrew Martinez really put a dent in Brubaker's day hammering a three-run home run out to left giving UCSB a 4-0 lead out of the gate.

Opportunity Awaits
The Anteaters (21-8, 5-3) struggled to manage any offense against UCSB starter Jack Dashwood, but the bats woke up in the fourth inning trailing 5-0. Singles from Jake Palmer and Mikey Filia started the inning, and Brandon Lewis tried to follow suit, but his grounder was gloved for an out moving the runners up. Mike Peabody also grounded out to score Palmer, but that's all the 'Eaters could get as they continued to trail 5-1.

Shutdown Starters
Brubaker did settle in after his disastrous first inning sailing through the order on minimal pitches with the help to a pair of double plays. Dashwood was better dealing for eight innings allowing just the four Anteater hits, two walks, and seven strikeouts to guide the Gauchos.

Late Insurance
The Gaucho offense came back for a second win starting in the seventh against UCI reliever Michael Frias. He walked and hit a man to set the table, and after a run came home on a wild pitch, Thomas Rowan emerged again singling hard to left to score a run. The final blow was dealt by McClain O'Connor whose hard shot to CF landed in front of Filia as it short-hopped him allowing two more runs to come home and the rout was on.

Final Score: No. 19 UC Santa Barbara 10, No. 16 UC Irvine 1
Mikey Filia had two hits for the offense while Jake Palmer scored the team's run off Mike Peabody's bat. Brandon Lewis added a ninth-inning single to extend his streaks to 17 with a hit and 26 straight on base. Rowan delivered again for UCSB with three hits scoring twice and driving in two. Martinez had the three-run HR, and Eric Yang added the 10th and final run on a solo HR. 

Pitchers of Record
Tanner Brubaker matched his shortest outing of the season lasting just 5.1 innings. Four of the five runs he allowed were earned as he dropped to 4-2. Jack Dashwood kept a spotless record now at 5-0. For the programs, this game evened the all-time series now at 57-57

Next Up
The series is decided, the first loss of 2019 for the Anteaters, but a big game still remains on Sunday starting at 1:00 p.m. with 6-0 Trenton Denholm squaring off with 3-0 Rodney Boone for a win that will have some bearing on the Big West race for a title