NORTHRIDGE, Calif. — The Long Beach State baseball team failed to get any offense going against Cal State Northridge on Monday, dropping their series finale 4-2 at Matador Field.
LBSU (19-12, 3-3) had plenty of opportunities to score runs but couldn’t take advantage. The Dirtbags went 0 for 13 with runners in scoring position and left nine runners on base.
The lack of scoring was a complete turnaround after the Dirtbags scored 18 runs across two games against CSUN on Sunday. For the seventh time this season, the Dirtbags failed to sweep their opponent.
“Yesterday was yesterday, and certainly that was a nice day to be able to what we did,” Dirtbags head coach Troy Buckley said. “Today it wasn’t a very good game. Overall I think certainly you win two out of three, that’s fine. Honestly I thought we should have taken care of all three games and we didn’t.”
The Matadors (22-10, 1-5) took care of business against senior pitcher Tanner Brown to pick up their first conference win of the season. Brown lasted only three innings and gave up six hits, three runs, one earned, and struck out one.
CSUN was able to take an early lead after Brown gave up a 2-run double to junior infielder Fred Smith in the second inning. That lead was extended by Smith after a sacrifice hit that allowed redshirt senior infielder Nolan Flashman to score, making a 3-0 lead for the Matadors.
LBSU avoided being shut out for the first time this season in the eighth inning after junior shortstop Garrett Hampson led off with a single to left field. Freshman second baseman Jarren Duran reached first on an error and sophomore designated hitter Luke Rasmussen did his job, hitting a sacrifice fly that allowed Hampson to score and cut the lead to 3-1.
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The Matadors pushed the lead to 4-1 in the bottom of the eighth inning after freshman pitcher Chris Rivera gave up a solo home run to Flashman.
Senior third baseman Zack Domingues and David Banuelos kick-started a rally in the ninth with back-to-back singles. A throwing error by CSUN allowed Domingues to score on a fielder’s choice cutting the lead to 4-2. That would be it for the Dirtbags’ rally attempt.
“I think they were satisfied with just winning the series,” Buckley said. “You aren’t going to be able to win the Big West doing that. That’s what our goal is.”
The Dirtbags will now prepare to renew the Black and Blue rivalry against UC Irvine. Last year the Dirtbags dropped their series against UCI 2-1 from April 10-12, 2015. They were shut out twice and were outscored 16-4.
“[UC Irvine] are a good team,” Buckley said. “They know how to play, how to execute. They’re not going to beat themselves. We’ve played them for a long time and they’re well coached. We’re going to have to be at our best and do what we need to do in order to give us a chance to win.”
LBSU will try to keep pace with the rest of the Big West starting Friday against the Anteaters at 6 p.m. at Blair Field.