SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (Interstat) — The UC Santa Barbara Gauchos used a dominant bullpen performance and timely power to defeat the Southern California Trojans 5-1 in a nonconference baseball game Tuesday night at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium.

The victory avenged a one-run loss to the Trojans just a week prior and improved the Gauchos’ record to 20-10. Southern California, which entered the game ranked among the nation’s leaders with a 27-6 mark, saw its season-high three-game losing streak continue, falling to 27-7.

The most important part of the game was the collective effort of the UC Santa Barbara bullpen, which stifled the Trojan offense over the final seven innings. After starter Calvin Proskey was pulled following one scoreless inning, five Gaucho relievers combined to allow just one unearned run on four hits over eight frames, striking out eight.

The top star was reliever Van Froling, who earned the win with three shutout innings of one-hit ball, striking out three. This outing was a sharp rebound from his previous appearance against Southern California on March 31, where he took the loss after allowing a run in one inning of work. He was followed by scoreless outings from Raymond Olivas and Cole Tryba, who navigated late traffic to preserve the lead.

UC Santa Barbara’s offense provided just enough support, outhitting the Trojans 10-5. The Gauchos erased an early 1-0 deficit in the third inning when catcher Nate Vargas led off with a solo home run to right field. Later in the inning, Nick Husovsky’s RBI groundout scored Ryan Severns, who had reached on an error, giving the Gauchos a 2-1 lead.

They extended the advantage in the fourth on a solo homer from shortstop Corey Nunez. The Gauchos added insurance runs in the sixth on a sacrifice fly by Rowan Kelly and in the eighth on an RBI single from Liam Barrett, who finished with two hits.

Southern California’s lone run was unearned, scoring in the fourth inning. Adan Lopez doubled, advanced to third on a throwing error by the pitcher and came home on a sacrifice fly by Kade Takeuchi. The Trojans threatened in the eighth, putting runners on the corners with one out, but Tryba entered and struck out Ian Cadena and Adan Lopez to end the inning.

Trojan starter Gavin Lauridsen pitched a scoreless first inning before giving way to a parade of relievers. Chase Herrell took the loss, allowing two runs, one earned, over three innings. Sax Matson provided two scoreless innings of relief for Southern California.

The result defied the pregame projection from Interstat, whose simulator had forecast a 6-5 Southern California victory, though its ELO rating system gave UC Santa Barbara a 55% probability to win.

UC Santa Barbara will begin a three-game home series against UC San Diego on Friday. Southern California returns home to start a three-game set against Iowa on Friday.