Dirtbags Send Anteaters Home Starving of Wins

The Dirtbags captured the weekend series winning two of the three games versus conference rival UC Irvine despite being no-hitted by starting pitcher Andrew Thurman Friday night at Blair Field. 

Junior shortstop Matt Duffy drove in the winning run in a 4-3 contest on Saturday, while Senior center fielder Brennan Metzger doubled three times to help his team to a 5-4 victory on Sunday.  Metzger is now tied in fourth place on LBSU's all-time career doubles record.

Irvine's Andrew Thurman's performance on Friday night cannot be over shadowed.  Thurman was impressive, allowing only two walks and no hits while facing a good Long Beach State lineup.  This is the second time in the last year that Long Beach has been no-hit.  Ironically it was Matt Summers of Irvine who accomplished the same feat last year.

Dirtbag's Head Coach, Troy Buckley acknowledged his team's effort over the weekend despite the drought of hits on Friday.  "The team showed a lot of resiliency and focus," said Buckley.  "It's difficult to keep your spirits high and put the past behind you when you failed to get a hit the previous night."

The Dirtbags (18-19) now share the lead with Cal State Fullerton in the Big West Conference standings with a 9-3 record.  If Long Beach can stay on the right track and are able to pile up more weekend series victories than the regular season finale against Fullerton (May 25-27) should determine who wins the Big West.

Long Beach now heads to Los Angeles to play USC on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m.  The Dirtbags will then begin a three-game-series against the Matadors of Cal State Northridge beginning Friday at 6:30 p.m.

Dirtbags Sweep Conference Foes

The Long Beach Dirtbags complete their first series sweep of the season by defeating UC Santa Barbara 4-3 Sunday afternoon.  With the victory, Long Beach improves their winning streak to six games.

The Dirtbags narrowly escaped Sunday with a win thanks to the strong pitching performance by senior starting pitcher Shawn Stuart who threw seven strong innings allowing only one run on four hits while striking out seven Gauchos.

"We've (Long Beach) been in a ton of close games," said Head Coach Troy Buckley.  "The team has shown a lot of composure and have been able to stay in the moment and forget about what happened previously or what might happen next."

It was a pitcher's duel most of the game until Long Beach posted the first two runs of the game in the bottom of the fifth.  A see and eye single from freshman Richard Pritagano brought home Brennan Metzger, followed by a sacrifice fly by Johnny Bekakis to bring in Jeff McNeil giving the Dirtbags the first runs of the game.

Long Beach's Shawn Stuart (pictured right) held hitters at bay once again Sunday.  Santa Barbara was only able to score one run off the senior, which came from a double off the left field wall from the bat of third baseman Ryan Palermo.  "Stewart had another well-pitched performance," Coach Troy Buckley praised about his starter.  "He got us into that seventh inning, and was the difference maker in the game."

Landon Hunt of the Dirtbags threw the eighth inning in relief for Stuart.  Kyle Friedrichs then closed the game out in the ninth but not without some late-game drama. 

With a two run lead going into the ninth inning the Gauchos were able to score a run and put the tying run at third, but Friedrichs proved he was closer material by getting the next two hitters out, earning him his fifth save of the season.

"Kyle didn't have a lot of luck today," said Coach Buckley.  "He gave up a couple infield singles and then a pinch hitter that we didn't know much about stepped in and delivered, but he held his composure and knew what the situation was even when it got a little hairy."

With the three game sweep of Santa Barbara the Dirtbags improve their overall record to 16-17 and more importantly a 7-2 record against Big West opponents.  "When you accomplish a sweep in your conference that's a big deal.  No matter who you play it's hard to beat someone three times, especially in two days,"  Coach Buckley remarked about his team's play.

The Dirtbags will travel to Loyola Marymount on Tuesday, then return to Blair Field to face-off against UC Irvine for the black and blue weekend series beginning at 6:30 p.m. April 20.

Mid-Season Review

The Dirtbags' season is already half-way over but despite thier losing record (12-17) they are beginning to pick up some momentum in the wins column by winning out in three striaght weekend series.

Looking at their upcoming schedule the Dirtbags play six of their next seven games at home after playing 13 of their last 14 games on the road.  During that span, Long Beach posted a respectable 7-7 record with games played against rival Cal State Fullerton, Wichita State, and UCR.

The Dirtbags's current record may not fair in favor of Long Beach, but their play is more impressive than what their record shows.  Ten of the Dirtbag's 17 loses have been decided by only one run with three of the 10 loses decided in extra innings.

Long Beach has a collecively young team and the early struggles could be attributed to their lack of experience playing together as a whole.  The Dirtbags could use more production in clutch hitting situations and the relief pitching needs to improve in the late innings of close games.  But despite the late game collapses, the starting pitching has stepped up in a huge way.

Senior starting pitcher Shaun Stewart has played remarkble so far this season.  Stuart tied Steve Whitaker for the fourth-longest consecutive scoreless innings streak in Long Beach State history on Saturday night, reaching 27.2 innings before allowing a pair of runs in the seventh inning against UCR.

Other notable studs in the Dirtbag lineup include Sophomore Ino Patron (pictured right) who leads the team with a .330 batting average and a team high 33 hits this season.  Junior shortstop Matt Duffy has also played exceptional as of late.  After tripling in Saturday's contest, Duffy has now hit safetly in 12 straight games and looks to continue that streak starting Tuesday night on the road against San Diego State.

The Dirtbags will finally return home this weekend beginning April 13  at 6:30 p.m. to play a three game series against conferance foe UC Santa Barbara, followed by a Tuesday night matchup against Loyola Marymount at 3 p.m. in Los Angeles.