Pitching dominated the Easter weekend series for the Dirtbags, who won two of three against No. 17 Santa Barbara.
The Gauchos came into the series boasting one of the best offenses in the country. Their .307 batting average was 17th in the nation, and Joey Epperson came into the series with a .441 batting average, which was the best in college baseball.
The Dirtbags were not fazed as they took the field on Thursday. Starter Andrew Rohrbach went eight innings, only allowing six hits and one run in the game.
The Dirtbags led 2-0 going into the ninth, but Rohrbach allowed a double and was immediately pulled for closer Kyle Friedrichs. An error by freshman Garrett Hampson and a single gave the Gauchos two runs to tie the game.
In the bottom of the inning, Michael Hill led off with a single. Eric Hutting laced a double down the left field line to score Hill and give the Dirtbags their third walk off win of the season.
“He dropped down on me on the 1-0 and he threw a fastball,” Hutting said. “He dropped down again on the next pitch so I just made sure I was on time and was lucky enough to get it down the line”.
“Fryeday” night’s contest belonged to Dirtbags starter and Long Beach native Josh Frye. The Millikan High product came into the game with a streak of 16 consecutive scoreless innings, and hurled his best game of the season. In his first home start for the Dirtbags, he only needed 91 pitches to throw a complete-game shutout.
“I obviously want to keep it going as long as I can,” Frye said of his now 25-scoreless inning streak. “I just want to give my team a chance to win.”
All the offense the Dirtbags needed came in the first inning, when Hampson doubled and was driven in by Ino Patron. Hampson and Patron each had three hits in Friday’s 1-0 victory.
“[Hampson] takes really good at-bats,” head coach Troy Buckley said. “He may go 0-3 one night, but you know what you’re gonna get the next night. You’re gonna get good at-bats, he’s gonna make adjustments.”
Saturday’s game was dominated by Gaucho freshman Shane Bieber, who went eight strong innings and only allowed one run and four hits.
Dirtbag starter Nick Sabo allowed two runs in his four innings of work to take the loss. He, Ty Provencher and Logan Lombana shut the Gauchos down after the fourth, but the offense couldn’t get anything going off Bieber.
“We lost,” Buckley said. “We didn’t have them beat us. That was a little disappointing. But as far as a positive weekend, to get ourselves back on track against a quality team. That’s important.”
Runs came at a premium all series. The two teams combined for nine runs in the three games.
“Both teams pitched really well,” Buckley said. “It was quality execution rather than poor hitting.”
The Dirtbags travel to San Diego to face USD on Monday. First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m. They return home Friday for a three game series against No. 4 Cal Poly.