The Dirtbags may not have a shot to win the Big West Conference championship, but that hasn’t kept them from winning.
Long Beach State (24-25, 11-10 Big West) took two of three from visiting Hawaii (12-33, 7-14 Big West) this weekend at Blair Field, inching back to .500 overall in a tough series.
“It was kind of a grinding series,” head coach Troy Buckley said. “We did enough to win, but not necessarily play enough consistent baseball to consistently win. I think winning is nice … but at the same time, it doesn’t mask what the bigger picture is.”
The series started with the best performance by a Dirtbags pitcher this year, as Shane Carle threw a complete game to lead LBSU to a 6-2 win. After giving up a run in the first, Carle settled down and, as Buckley said, “got better as the game went on.”
“It was a really good job by Shane [Carle],” Buckley said. “I think we’re preaching to everybody and especially trying to motivate him to finish strong. People remember how you finish, they don’t remember how you start.”
Now that the Dirtbags are mathematically eliminated in the Big West title race (they trail Cal State Fullerton by six games with six left to play and don’t hold the tiebreaker), there isn’t much to play for in terms of earning a spot in the postseason. But based on Carle’s performance Friday night, it’s safe to say that Buckley’s message is getting through.
“[My goal] is the same, to give us a chance to win and make it as far into the game as I can,” Carle said. “Eight to nine [innings] is the goal.”
Carle struck out seven in the win, which improved him to 3-8 on the season. As is typical on Friday nights, the starting pitching statistics are good, but the record is not. Carle said that coming in and being the Friday starter was a challenge he was glad to accept.
“Obviously it was a challenge,” he said, “but I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
Handed the task of following Carle’s complete game was Jake Stassi, who didn’t have the same success on Saturday. The usually reliable Stassi had an uncharacteristically bad inning, as the Rainbows plated four runs in the second.
Meanwhile, the Dirtbags offense had a hard time getting much of anything going against Hawaii starter Corey MacDonald, who gave up one run and struck out eight in six innings. LBSU was able to score runs in the sixth and seventh, but it couldn’t come back and lost 5-2.
The Dirtbags ended the series with a 3-2 win in a Mother’s Day rubber match. Starting pitcher David Hill led an effective day of pitching for The Beach, giving up one earned run in six innings pitched. He earned the win thanks to a sacrifice fly by Juan Avila in the sixth, which scored Jeff McNeil for the second time in the game.
Buckley said the finale was comparable to “a getaway day in spring training,” in that the players played well enough to win, but nothing incredible happened.
“There wasn’t a lot of ‘wow, that was awesome,” he said. “But I’ll take vanilla if you play good.”
McNeil ended the series with a 3-for-4 day with two runs and two steals. He is batting .667 (10-for-15) over his last five games and now has a batting average of .359 for the season.
“I’m feeling good, feeling really confident,” McNeil said. “I’m seeing [the ball] well, recognizing pitches and putting good swings on it … I got a few [stolen bases] a few hits. Just wreaking havoc on the base paths, it’s what I’m supposed to do.”
McNeil will try to keep his five-game hitting streak going Tuesday night when the Dirtbags host Pepperdine. LBSU will then play its final home games of the season over the weekend when it takes on UC Riverside in a three-game series at Blair Field.