SANTA BARBARA — This wasn’t the way UC Davis wanted its softball season to end. But despite suffering a sweep at the hands of UC Santa Barbara, the 2011 campaign still featured several highlights for the Aggies.

UCD (22-28, 7-14 Big West) battled through a competitive nonconference schedule, complete with seven games against ranked opponents, to finish with a 15-14 record in those games. It’s the highest nonconference win percentage the program has had since reclassifying to Division I.

UCD also boasted some top individual performers, with Alex Holmes leading the nation in triples for nearly the entire season.

But in Saturday’s season finale, Gaucho Krista Cobb threw a four-hit shutout to earn her third win of the series, as UCSB  took a 2-0 win over UCD at Campus Diamond.

Cobb helped the Gauchos (27-26, 11-10) take the series sweep by striking out four and walking just two, while the Aggies continued to struggle on offense. Holmes turned in a solid effort in the circle for UCD, allowing just five hits and one earned run in her final game as an Aggie.

UCD had hits from four separate players and stranded four on base — all of them in scoring position.

The Aggies threatened in the top of the first with a Megan Guzman single and stolen base, but the next two batters were retired in order to end the inning.

Santa Barbara got on the board in the bottom of the second, using a hit and an error to score an unearned run, then added another run in the fifth inning.

Meanwhile, UCD had opportunities in the sixth and seventh, but couldn’t find the scoreboard. A Holmes double in the sixth inning went for naught and the Aggies wasted Kelly Schulze’s lead-off single in the top of the seventh.

Holmes dropped to 16-20 despite allowing just five hits and one earned run for UCD, which finished the season tied for sixth place in the Big West standings behind conference champion Pacific.

On Friday, Cobb threw all 17 frames and earned a pair of extra-inning wins over the Aggies, 4-3 in a game that went nine innings, and 3-2 in a nightcap that went eight.

In the first contest, Katie McWhirter had the game-winning hit in the bottom of the ninth, as the Gauchos strung together four hits in the inning. UCSB won the second contest on an eighth-inning error.

J.J. Wagoner paced the UCD offense, tallying four hits and three runs scored on the day. Guzman and Kylie Fan each had multi-hit games in Game 1, while Elizabeth Santana posted a hit and an RBI in both games.

In game one, the Aggies battled back from an early three-run deficit to extend the game into extra innings, where the Gauchos came away with the winning run.

Down 3-2 in the top of the sixth, UCD evened the score when Schulze doubled and Kelly Harman delivered a clutch RBI single. Holmes struck out seven, but took the loss.

In Game 2, Wagoner scored on an error in the fifth inning to tie the scores, but two Aggie miscues in the eighth spelled their demise. UCD finished with a combined nine errors in the doubleheader.

Jessica Thweatt (6-7) took the loss for the Aggies in the nightcap, despite giving up just two earned runs.

UCD baseball

Scott Heylman and David Popkins each recorded two hits for the Aggies and Anthony Kupbens threw a complete game, but Cal Poly took a 4-2 win on Saturday, claiming the Big West Conference series at Baggett Stadium in San Luis Obispo.

UCD — which also lost 4-2 on Friday — fell to 16-28 overall and 8-9 in conference play.

With the bases loaded in the first inning and only one out, Eric Johnson hit into a fielder’s choice that allowed Heylman to score to make it 1-0. But Cal Poly immediately equalized when Bobby Crocker led off the Mustangs’ half of the first with a home run to left field.

Kupbens (5-6) limited Cal Poly to only two hits until the fifth inning when Mitch Haniger and Matt Jensen connected for back-to-back singles to start the inning. By the time the inning was over, the Mustangs led 4-1.

The Aggies, however, scored only one more run. It came in the ninth inning as Johnson led off with a base hit, stole second, and moved to third on a groundout by Justin Andrade. Pinch hitter C.J. Blom’s single into center field brought Johnson home, but it wasn’t enough.

Heylman was 2-for-4 with a double, while Popkins also went 2-for-4. Johnson was 1-for-3 with an RBI for UCD, which struck out 13 times in the game.

On Friday, Scott Lyman gave up only three earned runs on four hits and struck out six in seven innings, but the Aggies could not overcome a three-run fifth inning by Cal Poly in the opener.

Lyman started strong, holding the Mustangs scoreless through the first four innings.

But in the fifth, Cal Poly loaded the bases with one out and Lyman walked Denver Chavez and hit Mike Miller with a pitch to allow two runs to score. A sacrifice fly by D.J. Gentile brought home the third run of the inning before Lyman got the third out.

UCD scored a run of its own in the top of the sixth as Justin Andrade led off with a single to right center field, then moved to second on a base hit by Popkins. Andrade scored on an RBI base hit by Scott Kalush to bring the score to 3-1. But the Aggies would get no closer.

UCD and Cal Poly close the series with a contest at 1 p.m. on Sunday.

UCD track and field

Titles from Ray Green in the triple jump and Thomas Phillips in the 400-meter hurdles helped lead the Aggie men to second place, while Chidinma Onyewuenyi captured the shot put to help pace the UCD women to third at the Big West track and field championships on Saturday at UC Irvine.

The Aggie men scored 93 points on Saturday to roar from third place into a late lead before finishing a program-best tying second with 156 points. The women were third for the second straight year — also tying their best-ever Big West showing — by tallying 72 points on the meet’s second day and finishing with 105 overall.

UCD’s men were helped by seven runner-up finishes, including two from senior Jonathan Sees — in the 1,500- and 5,000-meter runs — while senior Ugo Eke was second in the 400 and sophomore Melanise Chapman matched that in the 100 to help spark the women’s team.

“It was our most successful conference performance our teams have had since our transition to Division I,” said Byron Talley, UCD’s interim director of track and field. “We didn’t hand over the men’s title easily. Both teams competed very well.”

Green won the long jump on Friday (with a 24-2.25) and was battling for the lead in Saturday’s triple jump with Manny Neizer of Long Beach State, who already had a mark of 49 feet, 2.25 inches going into the final round. Green, however, took the title by going 49-9 to score 10 points and add another individual title.

The Aggies’ second individual track title on Saturday came from Phillips, who edged standout teammate Alex Wilright to win the 400 hurdles. Phillips, who captured the open 400 last year and was the hurdles winner at the Cal-Nevada Championships this season, won in 51.11 seconds, while Wilright was just behind in 51.54.

It was those types of performances that helped UCD score throughout its lineup on Saturday, which also included career-best performances by Ethan Ostrom in the pole vault and Brock Bennett in the javelin that netted runner-up placings.

Ostrom, who earlier this season became just the third Aggie to ever clear the 17-foot mark, did so again on Saturday by going 17-1. Bennett went 205-00 in the javelin, bettering his previous best by a foot and solidifying his No. 5 all-time placing.

Four other runner-up finishes ignited the Aggies on the track, including Karl Moran in the 400 (48.21), putting him No. 8 on the program’s all-time list. UCD’s final second-place performance came from its 4×400 relay team of Moran, Wilright, Green and Phillips, which barely missed a school record with its time of 3:10.35.

Freshman Nathan Strum had a career-best time of 1:50.19 in the 800 for another top-three Aggie finish.

The women showed similar consistency throughout their lineup as they maintained the third-place position they held going into the day. Onyewuenyi provided their best finish, winning the shot put by seven inches. Her mark of 50-3.5 marked the fourth time she’s gone past the 50-foot plateau this year.

Eke scored 14 points for UCD on Saturday, opening with eight points in the 400 (54.21 ). She came back later in the meet to finish third in the 200 in 24.59, scoring six more points.

Chapman added eight points with her runner-up finish in the 100, crossing in 11.85, her second-fastest wind-legal time of the season. Chapman, who was fourth in the 200 as well, also ran the second leg on the -Aggies’ third-place 4×100 relay (46.86) while both she and Eke were on the third-place 4×400 squad.

Alycia Cridebring scored six points in the 1,500 with her time of 4:29.08, Caitlin Fitzgerald added five more by finishing fifth in the 5,000 (16:54.80) and Hannah Royall was fifth in the hammer throw, tallying four points.

On Friday, senior Calvin Thigpen delivered a career-best time to win an exciting 10,000-meter run. Also on Day 1, Lauren Radke’s runner-up placing in the pole vault scored eight points for the Aggie women.

Thigpen was timed in 30 minutes, 14.59 seconds, and led two Aggies in the top four with teammate Axel Stanovsky taking fourth in 30:16.37.

Senior Eddie Orgon added eight more points for UCD, placing second in the shot put with a mark of 54-2.75.

After the successful performance at the Big West championships, the Aggies will now turn their attention to the NCAA West Regional at the University of Oregon. Fields for that meet will be announced next week.

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