The Long Beach State baseball team lost a chance at its first sweep of the season, only notching two hits in the series finale loss to UC Irvine 7-2 on Sunday at Blair Field.
The loss is Dirtbags’ second straight series finale loss and the fifth in a sweep opportunity this season. On Sunday, the Dirtbags (21-13, 5-4) got out to a 1-0 lead in the second inning after junior first baseman Daniel Jackson hit a solo home run to left field, but weren’t able to hold on.
“[With] the other team there’s a lot of urgency not to get swept,” Dirtbags head coach Troy Buckley said. “So the attention to detail becomes a lot from a human nature standpoint. You’re a lot more aware. Everybody is paying attention to details and they know exactly what they’re doing out there.”
Starting pitcher Tanner Brown pitched four shutout innings until the fifth inning when he gave up a single to senior outfielder Wyatt Castro. Brown then gave up a RBI triple to junior catcher Alex Guenette that tied the game at 1.The right-hander finished the game with 5.1 innings pitched giving up seven hits and four runs.
The Anteaters (20-12, 4-5) took a 2-1 lead when junior shortstop John Brontsema hit an RBI groundout that allowed Guenette to score.
LBSU made a pitching change in the sixth after Brown gave up back-to-back singles to the Anteaters’ senior first baseman Mitchell Holland and sophomore second baseman Cole Kreuter. Junior Austin McGeorge wasn’t able to close the door on UCI’s scoring opportunity as they scored three runs in the sixth on four hits to take a 5-1 lead.
“The bullpen was uncharacteristically not very good for us,” Buckley said. “Especially McGeorge. To come up and give up three runs, that doesn’t usually happen.”
UCI scored a run each in the seventh and ninth inning to close the game. The Dirtbags scored one in the ninth after senior Zack Domingues grounded out that allowed sophomore designated hitter Luke Rasmussen to score to bring the deficit to 7-2.
The loss comes on the heels of the Dirtbags winning on Friday in a comeback, extra-inning 3-2 victory and Saturday in an 8-3 win as the Dirtbags hit two home runs.
In game one the Dirtbags trailed 2-0 in the eighth inning before tying it and eventually winning in the 12th inning after Eric Hutting delivered a walk-off single. On Saturday, LBSU never trailed after taking a 3-0 lead after the third. LBSU cruised to a 7-2 lead in the fourth and never looked back on their way to the 8-3 win.
The Dirtbags know that these close out games are going to be important as they head to the back half of the conference schedule.
“I think today we came out with great energy and great intent,” senior catcher Eric Hutting said. “They just played better baseball than we did.”
The Dirtbags will play a Tuesday night game at USC and then will kickoff another conference series at UC Riverside on Friday.
“It’s huge for us [to sweep teams],” Hutting said. “Conference games are always huge and every game is important. We just have to play better baseball on a consistent basis and be able to close out series when we have the chance to sweep.”