Entering his 16th season with CardinalSports.com, Matt Willinger provides commentary and daily updates on the University of Louisville football & men's basketball teams.
Get to Know the UCSB Gauchos
>The UC Santa Barbara baseball team, champions of the Nashville Regional hosted by Vanderbilt, will face off against the Louisville Cardinals in Super Regional action starting at 12noon this Saturday.
>This is the 10th NCAA Tournament that UCSB has appeared in, but the first time that the Gauchos have advanced to a super regional. In addition, the Gauchos' three wins in this postseason are as many as they've had in their past seven trips to the regionals combined.
>The Gauchos are a a No. 2 seed and bring a 40-18-1 record with them to Jim Patterson Stadium.
>Four Gauchos were named to the All-Tournament team. Austin Bush, who was named Tournament MVP after hitting a home run in each game last weekend. The All-Tournament team also included Clay Fisher (7-15, five XBH, seven RBIs), Andrew Calica (6-13, four runs), and Justin Kelly (4.0 shutout IP, 10 K, one win, one save).
>The opener in the best-of-three series will be televised by ESPN2, while the second game of the series will be played at 12noon Sunday and will be televised on ESPN2 or ESPNU. The third game, if necessary, will be played on Monday with time and television carrier to be announced.
UC Santa Barbara clinched its first ever berth into the Super Regionals after routing four-seed Xavier 14-5 in Monday's Nashville Regional title game.
The Gauchos, who went an undefeated 3-0 at Vanderbilt, are slated to face off against Louisville (50-12) in a best-of-three series this weekend with a trip to Omaha and the College World Series at stake.
UCSB, which beat Xavier for the second time in as many days, also won its 40th game of the season.
The Gauchos opened the Nashville Regional with a dramatic 14-inning 3-2 win over Washington on Friday capped off by an Austin Bush home run.
"This is definitely a highlight in my coaching career. They're playing up to their potential and playing as a team. They've turned themselves into a good baseball team that has achieved. It's been a fantastic weekend, we made the big plays and made the big pitches and got the big hits, so I'm really happy for them." - UCSB head coach Andrew Checketts
