Dirtbags Earn Gritty Win Against No. 20 Cal

Long Beach State manufactured runs in Dirtbag fashion to take the win against the Cal Berkley Bears, 7-4, Friday night.  The victory gave the Dirtbags the opening game of what will be a weekend series at Blair Field. 

Good defense and key situational pitching was what gave Beach the win against the No. 20 team in the nation.  "That's a very good offensive team we just beat," Dirtbag head coach, Troy Buckley said.  "We made some pitches when we had to and eliminated our mistakes."

The 49ers got off quickly to a 1-0 lead in the first inning with runners on first and third.  Designated hitter Ino Patron got caught in a pickle between first and second base, giving an opportunity for Johnny Bekakis to score from third.  "It was not a double steal, just pure ball and dirt.  It was just a well executed opportunity on our guys." said coach Buckley.

The Dirtbags got the best of the Bears in the third inning, in which Beach batted through the entire lineup.  They took advantage of every given opportunity the Bears gave them scoring three runs on four walks, a couple wild pitches, and a two RBI single by Ino Patron with two outs.  Coach Buckley stressed the importance of seizing opportunities by saying they're (LBSU) just trying to win innings.

California did make the game a little interesting in the sixth inning when right fielder Danny Oh blasted a towering homerun to right field getting the score to 6-5 in favor of Long Beach.  Fortunately for the Dirtbags that was as close as the game got the rest of the night.

Long Beach State starting pitcher Shawn Stuart pitched a solid 5.2 innings with three strikeouts on only three hits allowed.  Stuart was replaced by Kyle Friedrichs after the Oh homerun and tamed the Bears on 2.2 innings pitched, while striking out four.  "Kyle was huge, and Stewart grinded," commented coach Buckley about his pitchers.  "We're a collective group that's got to pick each other up, and that's what we did tonight."  Dirtbag's third baseman Juan Avila also had a great game as well going 3-for-4 (two doubles) with a run scored.  Click here for the official box score.

Long Beach (3-2) continues the weekend series against California (3-1) Saturday at 5:30 p.m.  Then Sunday at 1:00 p.m.  Both games will be played at Blair Field in Long Beach.