Dima Mixon sat down with UC Santa Barbara beat writer Mark Patton ahead of opening day to hear all about UCSB. Here's the interview:
Dima: Thank you Mr. Patton for agreeing to sit down with us and discuss the upcoming series between Southern Miss and UCSB! First, how long have you been covering UCSB and are you a native from there?
Patton: Thanks for touching base, so to speak! My dad moved our family to Santa Barbara in 1954 when he became the sports editor of the Santa Barbara News-Press. I was just two weeks old at the time. He covered the Gauchos starting then and became the first “Voice of the Gauchos” as the radio play-by-play announcer for KTMS Radio for all UCSB football and basketball games beginning in 1959. I was 5 when I attended my first UCSB sporting event, which was when defending NCAA basketball champion Cal came to the campus to play the first game in UCSB’s new gym. (They since built a new arena in 1979). My father passed away from cancer at age 45 when I was a senior in high school. I went to USC and graduated with a degree in journalism and, after a stint as a reporter at another newspaper covering the police and court beats, I was hired by my dad’s successor at the Santa Barbara News-Press in December of 1977. I took over the Gaucho beat in the spring of 1983 to cover a baseball team that advanced to the final of the Stanford Regional. I’ve been covering the team ever since. The News-Press went bankrupt and was shuttered in 2023, but I had already moved over to Santa Barbara Noozhawk, an online news service started by former News-Press editors, in August of 2021.
Dima: Baseball is so popular here in the south, how popular is it on the west coast?
Patton: It’s enjoyed a revival in Santa Barbara since Andrew Checketts took over as UCSB’s coach 15 years ago. They sold out the Santa Barbara Regional in 2024, although their stadium doesn’t even seat half of what you’ve got. They recently got a $15 million donation to expand their stadium. The town had a Class A Dodger farm team here for a while, and the Bull Durham director Ron Shelton grew up here. His dad and my dad were actually close friends (Ron’s a bit older than me).
Dima: For Southern Miss fans, they are very knowledgeable of national college baseball and have a generic respect for a program like UCSB. How does UCSB see Southern Miss? Is this one of the more anticipated opening series for the Gauchos in some time?
In talking to coach Checketts, they are looking at this series as a tremendous challenge. He likes to take one long trip to face a nationally ranked team early in the season to test his club. This ranks up there with some of the season-opening trips UCSB took to places like Oregon. They went to Canpbell a few years ago and swept the Camels, and that propelled the Gauchos to a top regional seed in 2024. He mentioned Southern Mississippi’s strong postseason record to me, and how the Golden Eagles play in one of the best mid-major conferences with schools like Coastal Carolina and Troy. When I mentioned how Southern Miss had graduated one of the nation’s top pitchers as well as one of the best power-hitters in the country, he said the Golden Eagles have no problem reloading each year, and that their pitching staff is incredibly deep.
Dima: Everyone here has heard a lot of good things about Jackson Flora, could you maybe detail what makes him so lethal?
Patton: Flora is long at 6-foot-5 and has a whip for an arm. He was clocked at over 100 mph several times last year and he’s a strike thrower, almost to a fault. He also has a very good slider that was lethal against right-handed batters last year.. When he got hit last year, it was usually by lefthanders … He just tried to throw the fastball past them and he threw it down broadway too often. But Checketts is a former All-America pitcher and is known for developing pitching talent. He has Flora throwing a kick-change now that was really effective in fall ball. Checketts turned Shane Bieber from a recruited walkon to the ace of their College World Series team of 2016. Bieber won the Cy Young for Cleveland in 2020 and pitched in the World Series for Toronto last fall. Tyler Bremer, the ace of last year’s staff, was the No. 2 pick of the Angels in last summer’s MLB draft. Several other recent Gauchos are in the majors including Michael McGreevy with St. Louis and Kyle Nelson with Arizona.
Dima: What do the Gauchos have behind Flora in the pen?
Patton: Cole Tryba, a lefthander, was their saves leader last year. He was picked to play in the Cape Cod League All-Star game last summer and had a 1.07 ERA for the Orleans Firebirds. Ray Olivas made a big jump after last year’s freshman season and is expected to be their high-leverage right-thander out of the pen.
Dima: Offensive seems to be the biggest question mark for UCSB coming into the season, would you agree?
Patton: Absolutely. Pitching and infield defense are their strengths. Checketts has three shortstops starting in the infield with Jonathan Mendez at second, Cory Nunez at short and Xavier Esquer (son of the Stanford coach) at third. They are all very talented glove men. Offensively, UCSB suffered last year when its two best power hitters suffered oblique injuries that ruined their seasons. They’ve both since graduated. But Mendez is back after hitting 11 homers and batting .314. He’s projected as the Big West Conference’s No. 3 MLB Draft prospect this year behind Flora and UC Irvine pitcher Ricky Ojeda. The Gauchos’ best hitter this year might be Ball State transfer Nick Husovsky. He made the All-MAC first team twice before coming to UCSB. Back from last year is the Gauchos’ freshman center fielder, Rowan Kelly … He has great bat-to-ball skills and hit .355 last year. Last year’s catcher, Nate Vargas, is also back after hitting .306 with 10 homers, although he might DH while University of San Diego transfer Nico Libed catches. First base and the corner outfield positions are all up for grabs between transfers and last year’s backups.
Dima: What does UCSB have to do to win this series and how do you think it will go?
Patton: The Gauchos, like Southern Miss, have a really deep pitching staff. That should serve both teams well since starters don’t go as deep into the games this early in the season. To win the series, the Gauchos will need to manufacture some runs because the Golden Eagles won’t give up much on the mound. I predict Southern Miss wins the series 2-1, but I figure all three games are going to be close.
