The current crop of Dirtbags couldn’t channel the magic from the 1989 Long Beach State squad, which was in attendance at Blair Field.
LBSU dropped another pitcher’s duel, 3-1, at the hands of the visiting Cal State Northridge Matadors on Saturday.
Pitching and miscues led the way for both teams in the contest, but the Matadors were able to utilize their offense when they needed to.
Paul Tremlin (5-1) picked up the win for CSUN (16-21, 4-7 Big West Conference) as he pitched three scoreless innings and allowed just one hit. Richard Cates and Chris Hannick both went 2-for-3 in the game to lead the Matadors on the offensive side.
Freshman Andrew Gagnon (2-5) received the loss for the Dirtbags (16-18, 3-5 Big West) as he pitched 5 2/3 innings. Gagnon allowed two runs and seven hits during his time on the mound.
“For the first five innings I took every at-bat one at a time,” Gagnon said. “A couple hits happened, and I let them go … errors happened and I wanted to come back and fight again. When I got into that fifth inning and I got [called for a balk] … then I started rushing from there.”
LBSU broke out the black-and-gold Dirtbag uniforms to commemorate the inaugural Dirtbag team from 1989.
The top of the Dirtbag order did their best to honor the former players as Jordan Casas went 2-for-2 with a walk to lead LBSU. Jonathan Jones went 1-for-4, and added the Dirtbag’s lone RBI on the day.
Head coach Mike Weathers moved some players in the lineup for Saturday’s game, and it had some success.
“We’re in tough times because it’s do or die almost every game,” Weathers said. “You gotta take something from [the losses] … it’s just unfortunate that it’s 40 games into the season and we’re still talking about guys scoring on balks.”
Gagnon hit the leadoff batter, Cates, to start the second inning then balked to move him to second base. A throwing error on a pick-off attempt put Cates at third base with only one out, but the Dirtbags would find a way to get out of the inning.
Steve Tinoco had a ball grounded to him at first base, but he chose to throw home to retire a sliding Cates at the plate. Another groundout would end the CSUN threat.
LBSU tried to put together a two-out rally in the third inning after a double by Kirk Singer and a Casas infield single, but the Dirtbags flied out to end the inning.
The Dirtbags scored the first run of the game in the fifth inning as the “small ball” approach — back-to-back sacrifices — brought Rylan Sandoval home from third base to give LBSU a 1-0 lead.
CSUN got its offense going in the top of the sixth with three consecutive base hits to start the inning. Gagnon then balked to bring in Cates from third base to tie the game, 1-1. Hannick moved to third base and scored on a Justin DeMarco line-drive single to give the Matadors their first lead of the series, 2-1.
CSUN would score another run in the eighth inning after Hannick was brought around to score on a strikeout and wild pitch — the 25th wild pitch by the Dirtbag pitching staff this season. The Matadors would take a 3-1 lead into the bottom half of the inning.
Jones, who was playing left field in this contest, led off the eighth inning with a single to left, but TJ Mittelstaedt ground into a double play in the next at-bat. Tinoco then struck out to end the inning for the Dirtbags.
The Dirtbags will go for the series win on Sunday at Blair Field. First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m.