SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (Interstat) — Steele Murdock authored a historic performance on the mound and Trevian Martinez delivered a decisive three-run double in the eighth inning as the UC San Diego Tritons edged the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos 4-3 in a Big West Conference opener Friday night at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium.

The game’s defining moment, and its most crucial sequence, arrived in the top of the eighth. After being held to just one hit over seven innings by Gauchos starters Jackson Flora and Cole Tryba, the Tritons’ offense erupted. With one out, Anthony Potestio singled and Gabriel Camacho reached on a fielder’s choice. A walk to Jaden Allen loaded the bases for pinch-hitter Dylan Bicknell, who was hit by a pitch to force in a run, cutting the Gauchos’ lead to 2-1.

Martinez then stepped in and ripped a double to left-center field off Tryba, clearing the bases and turning the one-run deficit into a 4-1 Tritons advantage. The three-run blow provided the necessary cushion to withstand a late Gauchos rally.

That rally was necessary only because Murdock, UC San Diego’s starting pitcher, was utterly dominant for eight innings. The right-hander struck out a career-high 17 batters, did not allow a hit until the ninth inning, and surrendered just one earned run. He faced the minimum through four innings, with his only blemish being a solo home run by Nate Vargas in the fifth. Murdock’s 17-strikeout outing marked a dramatic turnaround from his previous start on April 2, when he allowed five earned runs in 5 1/3 innings against Hawaii.

Flora was nearly as brilliant for UC Santa Barbara, tossing five scoreless innings with one hit allowed and six strikeouts. The Gauchos took a 1-0 lead on Vargas’s homer and added another run in the sixth without a hit, capitalizing on a hit-by-pitch, a balk and an RBI groundout.

The 1-0 score held until the Tritons’ breakthrough in the eighth. UC San Diego managed only five hits in the game, with Martinez’s double accounting for three of their four RBIs.

UC Santa Barbara mounted a serious threat in the bottom of the ninth against reliever Julian Cazares. Rowan Kelly and Liam Barrett led off with singles, and a pinch-hit single by Jonathan Mendez loaded the bases with no outs. Devon King entered from the bullpen and induced a double-play grounder from Cole Kosciusko, which scored one run. Vargas followed with an RBI double to left-center, bringing the tying run to the plate. King then secured the victory by getting Corey Nunez to fly out to left field.

With the win, UC San Diego improved to 15-14 overall and 1-0 in the Big West. UC Santa Barbara fell to 20-11 and 0-1 in conference play. The result defied the pregame projections from Interstat, whose ELO system gave the Gauchos a 74 percent probability to win, and whose simulator predicted a 6-5 UC Santa Barbara victory.

The two teams continue their three-game series Saturday afternoon.