After suffering 10-4 and 12-2 losses to No. 2 Vanderbilt on the road, the Dirtbags looked as if they wouldn’t have much to be happy about after their opening series.
Long Beach State found some offense of its own in the series finale, however, and it upset the Commodores 13-9 and gave itself something to celebrate on the flight home.
The Dirtbags (1-2) didn’t have any time to ease into the season, as they were immediately faced with the challenge of keeping pace with Vanderbilt (2-1) and its four preseason All-Americans. LBSU was able to get its first win of the season against a top team in a tough road environment.
“This was not the sisters of the poor,” head coach Troy Buckley said. “For the guys to come back and win, it’s big for them.”
LBSU was never behind in the series finale on Sunday, but it did have to come back mentally from the lopsided losses it experienced on Friday and Saturday.
On Friday night, Dirtbags’ designated hitter Zach Miller got LBSU an early lead with an RBI groundout in the top of the second. The Commodores, however, took advantage of a pair of LBSU errors and put five unearned runs on the board an inning later.
The LBSU defense collected itself and played the remainder of the game error free, but the Vanderbilt bats didn’t slow down, and Dirtbags starting pitcher Jon Maciel was tagged for five more runs before being taken out midway through the bottom of the fifth. The Commodores would go on to win 10-4 after an LBSU rally in the top of the eighth came up short.
Saturday’s game was more of the same on paper, as the Dirtbags went ahead 1-0 early on before four errors and 10 walks spotted Vanderbilt a dozen runs. Starting pitcher Shane Carle threw four shutout innings for The Beach before giving up three runs (just one of which was earned) in the fifth.
The Dirtbags eventually lost by 10 despite out-hitting the Commodores 8-5.
“We gave them a lot of free opportunities,” Buckley said. “There were a lot of walks and errors … we weren’t as competitive through nine innings as I would have liked.”
In Sunday’s finale, however, the Dirtbags led from start to finish and didn’t commit a single error, and four LBSU pitchers combined for just five walks.
The Dirtbags put up four runs in the first inning and followed it up with two scores in the second and another three in the third. Vanderbilt starting pitcher T.J. Pecoraro only lasted 1.2 innings before surrendering the ball and the mound to the Commodore bullpen.
“We strung together a lot more hits,” Buckley said. “Our offense looks much better than last year.”
Leading the offense on Sunday was junior second baseman Jeff McNeil, who went 3-for-5 with three RBI and two runs. Sophomore right fielder Richard Prigatano and freshman catcher Eric Hutting also drove in three apiece.
“Hutting had a good weekend for a freshman,” Buckley said of the catcher, who hit .333 and added three walks to his trio of RBI.
Relief pitcher Ryan Millison picked up the first win of the year for the Dirtbags. McNeil led LBSU offensively over the weekend with a .400 batting average. The Commodores were led by senior center fielder Connor Harrell, who hit a pair of home runs, drove in seven runs and scored five times over the three games.
The Dirtbags’ schedule won’t get any easier, as LBSU will host defending national champion Arizona on Tuesday. The first pitch is set for 6 p.m. at Blair Field.