LOS ANGELES — Tuesday night’s game between Long Beach State and USC took the phrase “back and forth” to a whole new level. After two blown leads and 11 innings, the Dirtbags lost to USC 4-3.
The game was lost as USC’s Frankie Rios delivered the walk-off single in the bottom of the 11th inning.
Freshman starter John Castro put LBSU in a great position to beat USC after throwing seven scoreless innings. Castro looked like a veteran in his first collegiate start, showing great command of his fastball, curveball and changeup.
The Dirtbags opened the scoring in the second inning, after sophomore Brooks Stotler hit a single with two outs to drive in junior designated hitter Luke Rasmussen.
In the fifth inning, the Dirtbags got to USC’s junior starting pitcher Mason Perryman again once junior shortstop Markus Montelongo was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning.
Montelongo came around to score from first base after senior first baseman Daniel Jackson crushed a double over the left fielder David Edson’s head to take a 2-0 lead.
Castro got better as the game went on as he was able to utilize his curveball in any count to keep the USC hitters off balance and prevent them from getting any sort of rally going.
Castro’s final line was 7IP, 6H, 0R, 6K, 0BB. The freshman starter certainly made his case to potentially become a part of the weekend rotation in the future.
In the bottom of the eighth, Buckley brought in another freshman in Connor Riley, who gave up a leadoff single but retired the next two Trojan hitters.
That brought USC’s sophomore center fielder Lars Nootbaar who was 2-for-3 at that point. With a runner on second, LBSU brought in freshman left-handed pitcher Zak Baayoun for the favorable lefty vs. lefty matchup.
Nootbaar crushed a homerun over the right field fence to tie the game at 2.
“I don’t know if it matter righty or lefty against [Nootbaar] right now with how well he is seeing the ball,” USC coach Dan Hubbs said.
The Dirtbags answered the game-tying blow with a one out double from junior right fielder Brock Lundquist in the top of the ninth. Lundquist made a heads-up baserunning play, taking third base on a pitch in the dirt from USC freshman relief pitcher Austin Manning.
The next batter was Rasmussen, who hit a deep fly ball to center field and brought home the big go-ahead run.
Senior Josh Advocate was brought in to end the eighth inning and remained on the mound for the bottom of the ninth. Advocate surrendered a leadoff single and a two-out walk, which gave the Trojans the tying run on third and the winning run on first.
The Trojans tied the game again after LBSU catcher David Banuelos attempted to throw out the runner stealing second — but the throw sailed into center field after no one covered the bag.
Advocate ended the bottom of the ninth with a strikeout and the fans on hand at Dedeaux Field were treated to some free baseball as the game headed into extra innings.
In the bottom of the eleventh, junior defensive replacement Joey Sanchez dropped an easy pop-up into center field to lead off the inning. From there, sophomore pitcher Chris Rivera had to intentionally walk two batters to load the bases and set up a force out at home plate.
Rivera struck out two Trojans, but gave up the walk off single to USC junior shortstop Frankie Rios.
LBSU top offensive performer was Stotler, who finished 2 for 4 with one RBI.
After losing two straight games the Dirtbags will look to get back in the win column when they host Fordham at Blair Field for a weekend series starting Friday night.