Kirtley’s walk-off, Sundstrom’s slam help Gauchos sweep Spartans Sports

then the next batter reached on catcher’s interference, as his bat hit Parker’s glove hand hard enough to leave the Gaucho catcher wincing. Parker gutted his way through the next atbat, a strikeout from Schrier, but had to leave the game. With John Newman, Jr. serving as the designated hitter, Kirtley had to replace Parker behind the plate. Jessada Brown took Kirtley’s place in left. A two-out, basesloaded walk gave the Spartans their first lead of the series before the inning was over. In the bottom of the fourth, the new catcher Kirtley worked a walk, then moved around to third on a Mortensen single. In his first plate appearance of the season, Brown walked to load the bases, then Sundstrom crushed his ninth home run of the year well over the fence in left field for his first career grand slam. A ground-rule double from Darby made it 6-2 Gauchos before the frame ended. With a comfortable lead, Schrier was back on the mound and shut down the Spartans, allowing just one more baserunner as he worked through the seventh inning, earning himself the win, striking out seven batters in doing so.

In the bottom of the seventh, the Gauchos doubled their run total, putting the game beyond all doubt. Two walks and a single loaded the bases for Mortensen, who doubled to right center field, driving in two runs. A bad relay throw on the play let Kirtley score from third to make it 9-2, with Mortensen advancing to third behind him. UCSB re-loaded the bases, then got two more runs with some help from the Spartan defense. Oakley’s ground ball could have become a double play, but San Jose State’s shortstop air-mailed the throw to first, watching it sail out of play, allowing a second run to cross the plate, and putting Oakley on second. The Santa