The Dirtbags went into Goodwin Field looking to make up ground in the Big West Conference, but they left buried in the conference standings after a sweep at the hands of first-place Cal State Fullerton.
Long Beach State (21-24, 9-9 Big West) fell to sixth in the Big West while No. 4 CSUF (39-7, 15-3 Big West) continued to prove it’s the team to beat with a three-game sweep that featured good pitching, powerful hitting and reliable defense.
“That’s a good club,” head coach Troy Buckley said of the Titans. “You have to play really complete baseball to beat them, and when you don’t, they’re going to make you pay for it.”
The series started with a 3-2 loss in front of over 3,000 fans. The Dirtbags and Titans both relied on their starting pitchers to earn them the win, but CSUF’s Thomas Eshelman ultimately outdueled LBSU’s Shane Carle.
Eshelman, who allowed just one hit in a start agains the Dirtbags earlier in the year, gave up a pair of runs on seven hits but earned the win in a seven-inning performance. Buckley said that despite the team’s improvement against Eshelman, it was hardly enough to make up for the loss.
“There are no moral victories,” Buckley said. “I don’t think [Eshelman] was as sharp this time as he was last time. This is a long year for a freshman … but he did enough to help his team win.”
Saturday’s matchup featured even better pitching. The Dirtbags’ Jake Stassi matched the Titans’ Justin Garza pitch for pitch in front of ESPNU cameras until the eighth, when CSUF scored an unearned run to take a 2-1 lead. Stassi earned the loss despite giving up one earned run in seven innings against one of the more stacked lineups in college baseball.
“That was one of the best pitching performances I’ve been a part of, and I’ve seen a lot of good arms,” said Buckley, who has coached numerous major league pitchers, including Jered Weaver and Jason Vargas. “He was able to work both sides of the plate and get multiple pitches over for strikes … that was one hell of a performance.”
LBSU went into Sunday’s game looking to avoid a season sweep at the hands of the Titans. The prospects of accomplishing that goal looked promising at first, as the Dirtbags led 2-1 through four innings. CSUF then scored seven unanswered runs, though, thanks in part to a towering home run to right field by senior first baseman Carlos Lopez.
The Dirtbags eventually got a couple runs back, but the late-inning scores proved irrelevant, as LBSU ultimately lost 9-4.
“I think the pitching was not very competitive,” Buckley said. “It kind of reverted back to games in the past where it was kind of a bad dream in that [we gave up a lot of] free opportunities, walks and errors and things like that.”
The Dirtbags are now six games back of the Titans in the conference standings and left without much of a chance to make the postseason. Buckley said that the change in circumstances would lead to more playing time for some of the younger players on the team.
“I owe it to the team and the program to make sure we put our most experienced and best players that give us a chance to win while we’re in the race,” he said. “Now that we’re out of the race, if you will, the ability for other guys to get some opportunities will occur.”
However, Buckley said those opportunities wouldn’t be handed out easily.
“It’s not a Salvation Army or Red Cross or this philanthropic endeavor where I’m throwing things out there like ‘hey, go ahead, get three at-bats,’” he said. “There’s a reason why they’ll get those shots.”
The Dirtbags will next play on Tuesday night at Pepperdine. They will then return home for a conference series against Hawaii.