Wednesday night at Blair Field was no ordinary home game for the Long Beach State Dirtbags, who faced KT Wiz, a professional baseball team from Suwon, South Korea for an exhibition game.
The visiting team showcased pitchers with slow windups, hitters with softball-style slap hitting technique and lots of red baseball gloves and bats.
“Tonight was a good opportunity for our guys,” head coach Troy Buckley said. “Regardless of what country they come from, playing good teams is always going to benefit our guys.”
KT Wiz won the game 8-4 against the Dirtbags, who had 11 hits but had three errors.
“I thought they threw strikes, played catch, and ran the bases very well,” said Buckley. “It was good to play [KT Wiz] and get some new guys on the field and see what they could do.”
This was the first time the Dirtbags have played an exhibition game against the Wiz – who were founded in 2013 and stand as the newest team in Korean Baseball Organization. LBSU has played two games about professional Korean teams in the last three years, the most recent being against the NC Dinos in 2015.
The Wiz have been training and playing exhibition games in the U.S. for the last two weeks and will fly back to Korea on March 9.
KT Wiz’s starting pitcher was right-hander Kwon Ju, who will be a part of the Chinese national team in this year’s World Baseball Classic.
“Most of our players dream of playing in the MLB,” KT Wiz Travel Secretary Patrick Choi said. “They have been very impressed by the fields they have trained on and by the competition they have played.”
The Wiz have traveled from Tucson to southern California, playing games against college and professional opponents.
“The college baseball atmosphere at Long Beach is very good,” Choi said. “Tonight’s game was special to our players.”
“I thought they threw strikes, played catch and ran the bases very well,” said Buckley. “It was good to play [KT Wiz] and get some new guys on the field and see what they could do.”
Buckley gave the usual starting nine players a night off on the bench to enjoy the display of Asian-style baseball.
“They do everything the right way,” junior pitcher Darren McCaughan said. “They were nothing special but they came out here and played fundamentally sound baseball.”
KT Wiz had a big inning in the top of the fourth, scoring five runs on five hits and one error against freshman pitcher Dylan Spacke.
LBSU scored two runs in the bottom of the fifth on a two-run single by freshman catcher Ryan Mendoza that came with bases loaded and no outs. Though it won’t count towards his official stats, Mendoza recorded his first hit and RBI’s in the season.
Freshman pitcher Tyler Lawson had the performance of the night, coming in for the Dirtbags and throwing four quality innings: 4.0 IP, 0R, 2H, 4K.
“I was excited to make my first outing as a Dirtbag tonight,” Lawson said. “They battled up there against me. I had to keep fighting deep in counts and they made me earn every out I got out there tonight.”
At the plate, junior shortstop Laine Huffman was three for five out of the lead off spot and scored a run. Senior right fielder Tristan Mercadel collected two hits in three at bats against the Wiz professional pitchers.
The Dirtbags(4-4) will travel to North Carolina to play the No. 13 ranked Tar Heels (7-0) in a three-game series Feb. 3-5. McCaughan will take the mound against the Heels’ junior ace J.B. Bukaskaus.
“It’s just another game to me,” McCaughan said. “I’m just going to do whatever I can to put my team in the best position to win and hopefully we put a few good games together.”
The Dirtbags will most likely stay with the same rotation they used against Fordham, with McCaughan in game one, junior starting pitcher John Sheaks in game two and freshman Matt Fields in game three.
“We have to go out and compete and play well,” Buckley said. “ That team is very talented and it will be a great opportunity for us to get on the road, compete against a great program, and see if we can continue to get better.”
First pitch of game one from Chapel Hill, N.C. is scheduled for 12 p.m. on Friday.