Senior first baseman Daniel Jackson lifted the Long Beach State Dirtbags to a win on Friday night in game one of the annual non-conference series against Cal State Fullerton.
His 2-RBI single gave LBSU (11-9) the lead in the bottom of the eighth inning. LBSU went on to win the game 6-4.
“It feels good to come through for my team,” Jackson said. “I just tried to relax up there and trust my process.”
One key component the Dirtbags have been missing from their 2017 team is the offensive production from senior first baseman Daniel Jackson. After leading LBSU in almost every offensive category last season, the senior captain has had a slow start to his final campaign as a Dirtbag.
“I was trying to do too much at the plate and I was putting pressure on myself because the team wasn’t scoring a lot of runs,” Jackson said.
Jackson will look to continue to string quality at bats together and gain more confidence as LBSU nears Big West play.
Junior pitcher Darren McCaughan started the game against the Titans and turned in a respectable outing, allowing eight hits, four earned runs, and four strikeouts over 7.0 innings pitched.
McCaughan also allowed two solo home runs to the Titans in a ballpark that is not known for yielding a lot of long balls.
Freshman relief pitcher Connor Riley came in and earned his first win of the season after a scoreless top of the eighth including a strikeout.
Senior Josh Advocate was brought in after the Jackson gave the Dirtbags a 5-4 lead and junior shortstop Laine Huffman added an RBI single as well. Advocate struck out the side to pick up his second save of the season and commence the post game fireworks for the home crowd of 2,319.
Juniors Lucas Tancas (3 for 3, 2 R) and Luke Rasmussen (1 for 4, HR, 2 RBI) also contributed to the victory.
The Dirtbags will look to junior starting pitcher John Sheaks (1-1, 5.01 ERA) to put them in position to win the series against Fullerton on Saturday. First pitch is scheduled at 2 p.m. from Blair Field.