HATTIESBURG, Mississippi.(KEYT) -The bats were never going to stay quiet for long in Southern Mississippi, as the UC Santa Barbara and No. 20 Southern Miss Baseball teams combined for four homers and 14 total runs in the second game of their three-game series. Despite taking an early lead thanks to Noah Karliner's continued clutch hitting and Nick Husovsky's first yard call in Blue and Gold, the Gauchos ultimately fell to the hosting Golden Eagles, 8-6, setting up a showdown for the series win in Sunday's finale.

HOW IT HAPPENED
The first two innings of the game looked nearly identical to the first two innings of Friday's contest, with the pitchers in control. Nathan Aceves, making his first weekend start for the Gauchos, kicked off his day with a kick change for a strikeout and set the Southern Miss side down in order in the first. He opened the second with another K and stranded runners at the corners to end the frame before the bats burst into life in the third.

The top of the Santa Barbara order played some small ball to load the bags, with Rowan Kelly walking, Cade Goldstein legging out an infield bunt single and Husovsky getting plunked. Jonathan Mendez's comebacker bounced off the pitcher's glove and to the second baseman for an out, though it drove in the first run of the game. Then, it was Xavier Esquer with the first big hit of the day, splitting the game in left center for a a two-RBI double. He would come around to score on Karliner's two-out RBI single, another run-scoring hit with two outs for the Cal State Dominguez Hills transfer; he has three two-out hits on the season already.

The Golden Eagles got two runs back in their half of the third with a hit batter, two singles and an errant throw, but Santa Barbara restored their four-run cushion immediately in the fourth. Goldstein's two-out single passed the torch to Husovsky, who wrapped his first Gaucho home run just inside the left field foul pole to make it 6-2.

Southern Miss hit a homer of their own in the bottom of the fourth, a solo shot to make it 6-3, before both pitchers managed to restore order and put up zeroes in the fifth. Aceves worked into the sixth, retiring the first batter of the inning before he was removed, though his reliever allowed a single and a two-run homer as the Golden Eagles brought Santa Barbara's lead down to one. The lead was gone thanks to three straight singles to start the seventh, with AJ Krodel having to wriggle out of a second-and-third, one-out jam to escape with the game tied. He got some help from a great defensive play by Mendez at short, making a strong home to cut down the lead runner for the second out. There was no escape in the eighth though, as a two-run homer provided the decisive runs for the hosts.

UP NEXT
With the series now tied at one game apiece, the winner of Sunday's game will get to claim the bragging rights. Dos Pueblos High School alum Kellan Montgomery will get the start for Santa Barbara in the rubber match, taking on McCarty English. With rain expected overnight and into the morning, first pitch is now set for 1 p.m. Pacific Time from Pete Taylor Park in Hattiesburg. The game will be streamed live on ESPN+ with a free, audio-only stream and live stats available at ucsbgauchos.com.

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) The Santa Barbara International Film Festival announced the winning films from this year.

The awards breakfast was announced by El Encanto in Santa Barbara with both Jury and Filmmakers in attendance.

The winning films include:

The Audience Choice Award sponsored by The Santa Barbara Independent

STEAL THIS STORY, PLEASE - Directed by Tia Lessin and Carl Deal

Panavision Spirit Award for Independent Cinema

A MOSQUITO IN THE EAR - Directed by Nicola Rinciari

The Jeffrey C. Barbakow Award for Best International Feature Film

ADAM'S SAKE - Directed by Laura Wandel

The Best Documentary Award

GASLIT - Directed by Katie Camosy

The Nueva Vision Award for Spain/Latin America Cinema

VERSAILLES - Directed by Andrés Clariond Rangel

The Best Animated Short Film Award

PAPILLON - Directed by Florence Miailhe

The Best Documentary Short Film Award

A SHORT DOCUMENTARY ABOUT A GIANT PENCIL - Directed by Daniel Straub

The Best Live-Action Short Film Award

AGNÈS - Directed by Nora Arnezeder

All three of the short award recipients are now eligible for the Academy Awards.

The Social Justice Award sponsored by the Fund for Santa Barbara

STEAL THIS STORY, PLEASE - Directed by Tia Lessin and Carl Deal

The ADL Stand Up Award sponsored by ADL Santa Barbara/Tri-Counties

BOOKENDS - Directed by Mike Doyle

The ASC Award for Cinematography sponsored by The American Society of Cinematographers

LOST LAND - Directed by Akio Fujimoto, Cinematography by Yoshio Kitagawa

The post Santa Barbara International Film Festival award winning films announced appeared first on News Channel 3-12.

UC SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) - Zoe Borter scored a game-high 18 points and Maddie Naro added 10 points as UCSB defeated rival Cal Poly 63-54 to complete a season sweep.

UCSB led 36-22 at the half but could never pull away from a struggling Mustangs team that has now dropped 11 straight games to fall to 1-14 in the Big West.

Olivia Bradley scored 9 points and grabbed 6 rebounds for UCSB who improved to 9-6 in the Big West and 17-7 overall.

The post Gauchos hold off Mustangs to sweep season series appeared first on News Channel 3-12.

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) - Charlotte Raisin was not going to lose her final home game in high school.

The USC-bound superstar scored a game-high 8 goals and had 7 steals as San Marcos beat Corona del Mar 17-11 in a CIF-Southern Section Open Division crossover game.

(Raisin played her best defensive game of the season in the win. Entenza Design).

With the victory the #5 seed Royals advance to the semifinals and will play #1 seed Mater Dei on Wednesday at Woollett Aquatics Center in Irvine.

After trailing 2-0, the Royals scored six unanswered goals to lead 6-2 with over 5 minutes left in the second quarter.

Raisin scored twice in that run as did rising sophomore star Jade Pattison. Fellow sophomores McKenna Stuart and Ella Grube also added a goal as the Royals took control of the game.

From there Raisin added three more goals and the Royals led 9-4 at halftime.

(San Marcos played solid defense with Harvard-bound senior Bethany King making six blocks. Entenza Design).

(Jade Pattison added two more second half goals to give her four in the game. Entenza Design).

Stuart finished with two goals while Michigan-bound senior Sophie Yonker and junior Shea Estabrook also scored goals after halftime.

Raisin finished off the game in style with a steal and she swam 3/4 of the length of the pool and fired in her 8th and final goal.

The post Raisin leads San Marcos into CIF-SS Open Division semifinals in girls water polo appeared first on News Channel 3-12.

VENTURA, Calif. (KEYT) – Two 21-year-old Oxnard men died from a car crash on Highway 101 north of Ventura just before 2:30 a.m. Saturday, according to the Ventura CHP.

CHP officers then found an overturned Chevy Colorado truck and the two people ejected from the car.

First responders took two people from the scene to a local hospital for treatment after pronouncing the 21-year-old driver of the car dead at the scene, according to the Ventura County Fire Department.

Highway 101 going southbound remained open despite the crash and the cause of the crash is still under investigation, according to the Ventura CHP.

The post Two Oxnard men dead from car crash early Saturday appeared first on News Channel 3-12.