Baseball, Men's Sports, Sports

Dirtbags split series with Arizona despite weather

The Dirtbags won a wet, rain-suspended home opener over No. 10 Arizona before falling to the Wildcats in a low-scoring affair Wednesday evening.

Long Beach State (3-2) pulled off the 5-4 upset in Tuesday’s opener despite committing three errors against last year’s national champions. The game was suspended when Blair Field was inundated with rain in the middle of the eighth inning.

“It was like kissing your sister,” LBSU head coach Troy Buckley said of the delay.

Arizona (4-1) got out to an early lead Tuesday night when second baseman Trent Gilbert hit a double to bring in preseason All-American Johnny Field. Starting pitcher Nick Sabo would settle down though and face no more than four batters per inning for the next three frames.

The Dirtbags tied things up in the third when second baseman Jeff McNeil hit a sacrifice fly into left to drive in freshman shortstop Michael Hill, who led off the inning with a triple. Hill was one of three freshmen to play critical roles in the win, as catcher Eric Hutting hit a two-run double and pitcher Logan Lombana pitched two innings in relief without giving up an earned run.

“I want to get as many [freshmen] in the game as I can,” Buckley said, “because at some point we’re going to need all of them.”

In the bottom of the fifth, LBSU took advantage of an Arizona error and strung together a few timely hits to produce a four-run offensive outburst. The inning was highlighted by a towering two-run home run by left fielder Josh Guerra. The blast marked just the second time in two years that the Dirtbags hit a home run at Blair Field.

“I can’t remember the last time we’ve seen a season-opening homer here,” third baseman Ino Patron said. Patron has hit three home runs in his LBSU career but none at Blair Field.

The Wildcats didn’t give up after Guerra’s homer, however, as they sent seven runners to the plate in the fifth and scored a pair of unearned runs. Sabo, who had reached 80 pitches for the game by the end of the inning, was lifted for Lombana, who gave up an unearned run in the top of the sixth.

The Beach got its leadoff hitter on base each in both the sixth and seventh innings, but it failed to score and couldn’t provide its bullpen with any insurance. Arizona missed a few opportunities of its own, however, as it came up empty despite having two runners on base in the top of the eighth.

Rain started coming down in the bottom of the inning, but LBSU was able to get a pair of runners on base before the weather forced the teams to clear the field and bring out the tarp. After 30 minutes of torrential downpour, the umpires announced that the game would continue the next day.

“It wasn’t like we were going to play Pepperdine and move it to a Wednesday,” Buckley said. “Whatever we got in, we were going to halt it and finish it up, so it was kind of a predetermined thing.”

The game picked back up Wednesday afternoon with Hill at the plate and runners on first and second with a 2-1 count and two outs. Hill struck out, but Jon Maciel threw a perfect ninth to earn the save.

Sabo pitched five innings and earned the win, giving up three runs (one earned), six hits and a walk. He struck out a career-high six batters.

The series finale started with both teams scoring in the first inning. Arizona broke a 1-1 tie with back-to-back doubles to lead off the second and added to its lead with a run in the third.

The Dirtbags, meanwhile, had trouble driving in runs. They loaded the bases in the second with one out and failed to score, then couldn’t score despite having runners in scoring position in both the third and fourth innings. LBSU would load the bases and come up empty yet again in the sixth and squander a first-and-third opportunity in the seventh.

LBSU had another great chance to tie the game in the bottom of the eighth, as it had runners on second and third with two outs. Colby Brenner pinch-hit for the Dirtbags against Arizona closer Matthew Troupe, one of the top relievers in the Pac-12 Conference. After a tense 11-pitch at bat that featured five foul balls, Brenner walked to load the bases. Jeff McNeil then came up to bat and got in an early 0-2 hole. He battled back to even the count at 2-2 but whiffed on the fifth pitch and struck out.

“We didn’t get a big hit tonight,” Buckley said. “Over the course of time, hitting with runners in scoring position and getting on base are really the two facets of hitting, but it’ll improve.”

Arizona would go through the bottom of the ninth without any drama, however, as Troupe retired the Dirtbags in order to give the Wildcats the win. Dirtbags starting pitcher Ryan Millison was credited with the loss despite pitching a solid game in which he gave up three earned runs in five innings. Arizona starter Tyler Crawford earned the win.

The Dirtbags will continue their young season with a series against Valparaiso this weekend. The first game of the three-game series is set to start at 6 p.m. at Blair Field on Friday.

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