LOS ANGELES (Interstat) — Kellan Montgomery threw five innings of no-hit baseball and UC Santa Barbara scored all its runs in the first inning Sunday evening to beat Cal State Northridge 4-2 at Matador Field in a Big West Conference matchup.

Montgomery, the Gauchos’ starting pitcher, allowed one earned run on no hits while striking out two over five innings. He improved to an undetermined record as UC Santa Barbara won its third straight game to move to 34-15 overall. The Gauchos had won the first two games of the series 5-4 on Saturday and 8-4 on Friday.

Cal State Northridge fell to 24-26.

The critical sequence came in the top of the first inning, when UC Santa Barbara sent 10 batters to the plate and produced four runs on three hits, two walks and a fielding error.

Liam Barrett walked leading off and Corey Nunez also walked. Nate Vargas reached on a fielding error by first baseman Cameron Calvillo, loading the bases. Rowan Kelly singled to center field to drive in Barrett, giving the Gauchos a 1-0 lead.

Gage McCown replaced Calix Armijo on the mound for the Matadors after the single. William Vasseur then singled up the middle, driving in two runs as Vargas and Nunez scored, the first unearned. Nick Husovsky followed with a single up the middle that plated Kelly from third base, making it 4-0.

Charles Rogers relieved McCown and struck out the next two batters before a fly out ended the inning. The Gauchos did not score again.

Ryan Ellis, who relieved Rogers to start the second inning, pitched five innings of relief for Cal State Northridge, allowing four hits and no earned runs while striking out three.

The Matadors mounted their only rally in the bottom of the sixth. Kyle Panganiban tripled to right-center field off Montgomery. Cole Tryba relieved Montgomery and promptly walked Matthew Thomas. Matthew Pena singled through the right side to score Panganiban and cut the deficit to 4-1. Mateo Rickman singled to right field, scoring Thomas and pulling the Matadors within 4-2. But Pena was thrown out at third base on the play, and Tryba struck out Will Linberg and got Trent Abel to ground out to end the inning.

Tryba finished with four innings of relief, allowing one earned run on no hits while striking out six.

The Gauchos’ bullpen held the Matadors scoreless over the final three innings. Tryba worked the seventh and eighth, and the Gauchos closed out the game with a scoreless ninth.

Vasseur, the UC Santa Barbara second baseman, went 3 for 5 with two runs batted in and one run scored. Kelly also had two hits and an RBI.

For Cal State Northridge, Pena drove in a run and Rickman drove in the other. Panganiban had a triple and scored a run.

The Matadors used eight pitchers. After Armijo started, McCown faced one batter and allowed two hits and two runs. Rogers pitched one inning, striking out two. Ellis then went five innings, allowing only four hits and recording three strikeouts. Cody Carson pitched a scoreless seventh. Kody King faced one batter without recording an out. Zach Johnson pitched a scoreless eighth. Logan Miller pitched a scoreless ninth with one strikeout.

UC Santa Barbara had eight hits in the game, while Cal State Northridge had seven.

The Gauchos next host California Baptist on Monday, then begin a three-game series against UC Riverside starting Thursday. Cal State Northridge travels to Hawaii for a single game on Sunday, May 17.

Interstat’s game simulator had projected a final score of UC Santa Barbara 6, Cal State Northridge 2, and Interstat’s ELO system gave the Gauchos a 73.00 percent probability to win the game.