Baseball, Sports

Errors hurt Dirtbags in 9th-inning rally

Box score

It took 12 total pitchers, 27 combined hits and 19 total runs, but a winner was finally decided.

The Long Beach State Dirtbags were defeated by the University of California Golden Bears, 11-8, on Friday night at Blair Field.

“That one is just really frustrating because we felt like we had the game in our control and gave it to them instead of being beaten,” Dirtbag TJ Mittlestaedt said. “We felt like we gave it away tonight.”

Dustin Rasco (0-1) took the loss for LBSU, giving up three runs in the top of the ninth.

Cal left fielder Danny Oh — who went 2-for-5 with two RBIs — singled home an insurance run to push the lead to three.

“I thought both teams didn’t play very well. They just ended up getting a few more runs than we did,” Dirtbags head coach Mike Weathers said. “We had our chance early.”

Moments earlier, the Dirtbags (2-3) committed key errors including two that provided the Bears (4-2) to gain a two-run lead. The team made five errors on the night.

LBSU did have a chance to tie it up in the ninth with two men on and one out. But the offense was unable to maintain the rally with the next batters — Trever Blood and Jonathan Jones — striking out and grounding out, respectively.

“Unfortunately we have a trend of getting [a lot of] errors and striking out a lot,” Weathers said. “In three of our five games we’ve been striking out more than 10 times.

“That’s not characteristic of a good team. You’re wasting outs.”

The Dirtbags’ offense carried over from their win at Loyola Marymount in the early going, scoring all eight of their runs in the first four innings.

With two outs in the fourth, Mittelstaedt roped a double down the line bringing two home.

Mittelstaedt went 3-for-4 on the night with a pair of RBIs. He has reached base in eight of his last nine plate appearances.

“I’m just really working on trying to stay behind the ball and drifiting out to it, and it’s obviously working,” Mittelstaedt said. “The ball looks pretty big right now.”

Moments earlier, Devin Lohman pounded a double off the right field wall, allowing Jordan Casas to score.

But the Golden Bears battled back, scoring three runs in the top of the sixth to tie it at 8.

Because of the offensive explosion early on, the starting pitchers didn’t last long.

Tyler Topp, who started in place of Jake Thompson, got the no-decision. He threw 3 1/3 innings, giving up three runs and seven hits.

Thompson — who pitched seven innings of shutout ball in the home opener — was scheduled to pitch. But due to flu-like symptoms, he was a pregame scratch

Cal starting pitcher Kevin Miller also was awarded a no-decision. He threw just 2 2/3 innings, allowing two earned runs and five walks while striking out three.

The Bears’ Yasser Clor came in for relief for Miller but he didn’t have any more success, giving up the go-ahead run in the bottom of the fourth.

In the third inning, LBSU’s Tre Dennis sliced a ball to the opposite field off Clor, bringing Sandoval around to make it 4-2.

Arguably the most bizarre inning was the bottom of the second when the Dirtbags took a one-run lead.

With two outs and the bases loaded, the Lohman popped a high fly ball to Cal first baseman Mark Canha. But the 6-foot-2 sophomore appeared to misread the ball and it dropped.

Lohman went 2-for-4 on the evening with one RBI.

Earlier in the inning, another defensive lapse happened for the Bears’ as Jones dribbled a ball down the third-base line for an infield single.

The Dirtbags got on the board first with help from Miller, who loaded the bases and walked in Casas from third.

Miller was wild with his pitches in the inning, giving up four free passes.

“When you get a chance with their pitcher walking as many as he did, we just didn’t take advantage of that,” Weathers said. “If we had, maybe the outcome would’ve been different.”

The Bears’ Canha first got his team on the board in the top half of the second after crushing his third home run of the season over the left field wall.

The three-game set continues at Blair Field on Saturday at 2 p.m.

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