Dillon Tate wasn’t just as good as advertised. He was even better.
Rated the top collegiate pitching prospect in the country, the UC Santa Barbara right-hander showed that form Friday night at Les Murakami Stadium, tossing seven hitless innings in the eighth-ranked Gauchos’ 5-0 shutout of Hawaii.
Tate (6-3), who missed last week’s start with a minor arm injury, left after striking out Marcus Doi to end the seventh inning.
He threw 93 pitches and allowed two walks with six strikeouts but didn’t get a chance to complete the first no-hitter against Hawaii since 2010.
"We felt like he was healthy, but we had him on a pitch count and I was concerned about how sharp he would be," said UCSB coach Andrew Checketts, who brought in reliever Kyle Nelson in the eighth inning. "Nobody’s stupid. Everyone knows he has a pro career ahead of him, so he has to be smart with it and we have to be smart with it."
There was a small groan let out by the crowd of 2,068 when Tate didn’t walk out to the mound to start the eighth. Nelson allowed a two-out chopper by JJ Kitaoka that bounced over third baseman Peter Maris’ head for Hawaii’s first hit and Alan Baldwin singled to lead off the ninth.
The Rainbow Warriors (14-25, 5-8 Big West) need to win the next two games against the Gauchos (30-9, 7-3) to avoid losing their first series to UCSB since joining the conference in 2013.
"We’re glad (Tate) is not throwing again (Saturday) or Sunday," Hawaii coach Mike Trapasso said. "UC Santa Barbara played like a top-10 team tonight and it was all about Dillon Tate. They were better tonight."
Hawaii’s only legit scoring chance came in the fourth inning when Tate got a little wild. An error by Robby Nesovic at first, a hit batter and a wild pitch gave Hawaii two at-bats to tie the game trailing 2-0 with runners on second and third.
Cleanup hitter Alex Sawelson was ahead in the count 2-1, but Tate broke off a nasty changeup and an even tougher slider in the dirt to get the strikeout swinging.
"That’s a spot that I have to get it done," Sawelson said. "A guy like that, when you get a chance less than two outs, runners at second and third, I’ve got to do anything to get (the ball) in play."
Eric Ramirez jumped on the first fastball from Tate on the next pitch, but his liner was caught in center by Andrew Calica to end the inning.
Tate, who touched 98 Friday night, faced three over the minimum for seven innings and fared better than he initially expected after straining his arm lifting weights two weeks ago.
"I was a little worried at first too, but Coach (Checketts) was the one who told me I would be OK and I trusted him," Tate said. "I felt fine. I stayed on my plan with the pitch count and trusted what the coaching staff was doing and I just want to get wins for my team because we want to go to the postseason."
Maris went 3-for-4 with a double and scored a run and Woody Woodward singled and scored twice for UCSB off Hawaii starter L.J. Brewster (5-4).
Brewster fared well against the middle of the Gauchos order, but was beaten by the guys at the bottom.
All five UCSB runs were scored with two outs in four different innings.
Clay Fisher, batting eighth in the Gauchos lineup, singled to score Woodward, who drew a one-out walk in the second inning.
Catcher Campbell Wear, the No. 9 hitter, singled to right in the third to drive in Woodward again for a 2-0 lead.
Maris led off the fifth inning with a double and was on third with one out when Brewster struck out Nesovic swinging.
Cameron Newell didn’t have to swing to score Maris as Brewster’s 2-0 curveball bounced in the dirt and got away from catcher Chayce Ka‘aua, allowing the run to score.
Ka‘aua ended the inning throwing out Newell trying to steal second.
Brewster’s night ended after 113 pitches when he struck out Maris looking for the second out in the seventh. Lawrence Chew, pitching for the first time since March 22, hit the first batter he faced and walked Nesovic to load the bases. Newell hit a grounder to first that Ramirez initially bobbled, but Chew was late covering the base and Ramirez hurried a late throw for an error to score two more runs.
