SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – Despite trailing by as many as six runs on Sunday afternoon, UC Riverside (16-22, 5-7) would close out its final game at UC Santa Barbara (20-18-1, 6-6) with 10 unanswered runs, storming back to take a 14-10 win following 11 action-filled innings.

Back-to-back crunch time home runs – the first, a three-run shot to right field from Anthony Lepre, and the second, a solo blast to left from Matt Hardy – gave UCR a commanding four-run advantage heading into the bottom of the 11th.

While three different Gauchos would get on base as the home side searched for its own stunning rally, the Highlander defense would get out unscathed for the fifth consecutive inning to end the game.

Lepre's late-game heroics saw him bring in runs from Colby Schultz and Ian Nowak, as Lepre fired off his second home run of the weekend. That increased his team-leading RBI total to 28 for the year. He now has an RBI in four straight outings and at least one hit in eight straight, both of which are his longest runs of the season.

Meanwhile, Matt Hardy tied a season-high with three hits, the last of which awarded him his first home run of the month and his fourth of the year. He has now recorded multiple RBI in nine different contests this season, second only to Lepre (10). Hardy also set a season-high with a team-leading three runs.

UCR's game-clinching fireworks wouldn't have been possible if not for a timely 6-0 run several innings earlier. Trailing 10-4 in the top of the seventh, Hardy would get the comeback started, recording his first run of the day off the bat of Connor Cannon. AJ Sawyer followed up with an RBI single to left field, bringing Nathan Webb home and cutting the deficit to 10-6 heading into the eighth.

Hardy would open the scoring in the top of the eighth with an RBI single of his own, scoring a run for Schultz. With his team still facing an uphill battle trailing by three runs, Cannon – whose RBI just one inning prior ended an 11-game drought – would deliver, smashing a three-run double down the left field line to knot things up at 10-10.

The combination of senior right-handers Johnny Breidenthal and Max Compton would shut out what had been a potent UCSB offense over the final five innings, seeing the Gauchos remain stuck at 11 hits the rest of the way. Breidenthal (1-0) earned his first win of the season in the process.

UC Riverside finished with 17 hits of its own, reaching that mark for the fifth time this season. Cannon's three hits tied a season-high, ending a run of five games without one.

Tony Gudino did much of the Highlanders' heavy-lifting early on, tallying a season-best three RBI over the first four innings  alone. That included a solo homer in the fourth to put UCR up 4-3. Ian Nowak and Lepre also finished with two hits each.

The win ends a three-game losing streak for the Highlanders, who narrowly avoided what would have been their first weekend sweep of the season, receiving end or otherwise.

Next up for the Highlanders will be a date down south as they look to even the season-series with non-conference foe San Diego State this Tuesday at 6:00 p.m. at Tony Gwynn Stadium.