Another big weekend from freshman right-hander Chris Mathewson propelled the Long Beach State baseball team to a 2-1 series win over Cal State Fullerton at Blair Field.
Mathewson led the way for the Dirtbags (12-8, 2-1) Sunday in their 6-1 victory over the Titans (11-11, 1-2). He shut out Fullerton through the first five innings before a fielding error by sophomore shortstop Garrett Hampson in the sixth led to CSUF’s lone run.
“It was just about not letting [the error] get to me,” Mathewson said. “The coaches told me to slow down and just stay relaxed.”
Mathewson collected seven strikeouts through seven innings without allowing an earned run. He picked off a batter in the third and consistently escaped trouble with strikeouts that ended Fullerton’s threats of scoring.
The Dirtbags took an early 4-0 lead in the first by capitalizing off the Titans’ mistakes. A combination of multiple throwing errors and LBSU’s base running allowed the Dirtbags to score a pair of runs. Three Titan players stared at a pop fly that hit the dirt and allowed another runner in.
Hampson again led the offense for the Dirtbags. He went 3-4 and scored two runs, and said he simply attacked the plate and never let up.
“I was aggressive early and looking for the fastball,” Hampson said. “We’ve been getting beat by that pitch so I’ve been focusing on being on time.”
Mathewson came up huge Friday night in the first of back-to back extra inning games. He drove in the winning run in the 4-3 victory, making it the second time this season he has pinch-hit in a crucial spot to give the Dirtbags the go-ahead run.
“The guy likes [big] moments,” Buckley said. “It was a hell of an at-bat against a really good senior pitcher who’s been around awhile.”
The game lasted a grueling five hours and stretched to 12 innings. Senior right-hander Kyle Friedrichs struggled when he gave up his first home run and hit multiple batters for the first time this season.
At one point, Friedrichs and Titans’ junior right-hander Thomas Eshelman combined to retire 21 of 24 batters. Neither team scored from the fourth to the 11th inning as a total of 24 men were left on base in the game.
“The most positive thing about our bullpen is that they were able to pitch in and out of traffic all night,” Buckley said.
On Saturday night, the Titans pulled out the 2-1 win over the Dirtbags in extra innings. Both teams struggled offensively and combined to leave 20 men on base. The Dirtbags had a chance to win it in the ninth but left the winning run on third.
Junior righty Ty Provencher entered the game in the 10th but quickly got himself into trouble. He hit a batter, gave up a single and a walk to load the bases with one out. Provencher walked another batter to force in the go-ahead run. The Dirtbags had a chance to tie it back up but stranded runners at third and second to end the game.
The Dirtbags will continue conference play at UC Santa Barbara Friday night at 3 p.m. for the start of a three-game series against the Gauchos.