Baseball, Men's Sports, Sports

Long Beach State struggles in loss to UCLA

The No. 9 Long Beach State Dirtbags were reminded why they have not enjoyed playing against UCLA this season as the Dirtbags were bested 5-1 on Tuesday night at Blair Field.

Just one week after a 2-1 extra inning loss to the Bruins in Los Angeles, more offensive struggles with runners in scoring position left a home crowd of 1,809 unhappy. LBSU finished 0 for 9 with RISP after going 1 for 11 in the loss April 18.

“I was hoping to see a better adjustment from last weekend,” head coach Troy Buckley said. “We have to keep improving on our hitting with two outs and with runners in scoring position.”

Junior starting pitcher AJ Jones threw just 20 pitches before exiting the game in the top of the second with pain in his right shoulder, a lingering injury that dates back to last year.

“He’s had it last year, he’s had it this year, so he knows what’s going on,” Buckley said. “I don’t know what his timeline is, but he’ll be out for a while.”

LBSU had another player injured in the game as well, when junior left fielder Lucas Tancas was hit in the face with a fastball in the bottom of the seventh. Tancas remained in the dugout after the injury and only had some swelling in his lips.

The Dirtbags (25-14, 10-2) got the scoring started in the bottom of the first when senior first baseman Daniel Jackson connected on a 3-2 fastball from UCLA starter Justin Hooper, sending it over the left field wall for a solo home run. Jackson was penciled in for the second spot of the batting order by Buckley and gave LBSU an early 1-0 lead with his second long ball of the season.

“We’re just trying to play our best baseball going down the stretch here and hopefully into playoffs,” Jackson said. “I’m getting pitches to hit and I’m not missing them.”

UCLA answered the home run by scoring two runs in the top of the second. Both were charged to Jones and the big inning led to the junior’s early exit from the game

Freshman John Castro took over on the mound for LBSU and was greeted rather rudely by UCLA’s junior first baseman Sean Bouchard. Castro watched a hanging breaking ball leave the ball park on a 1-2 count as the seventh home run of the season for Bouchard put the Bruins up 3-1.

Hooper settled in nicely for the Bruins after the Jackson home run. The 6-foot-7 left hander held LBSU scoreless for the next five innings and struck out five batters.

The Dirtbags had two errors in the game, an uncharacteristic stat for a team that hasn’t made more than one defensive miscue since April 7.

Pitching coach Dan Ricabal had plenty of action in the ballgame as he made seven pitching changes. None of the Dirtbags pitchers saw more than 2 1/3 innings on the mound on a night that UCLA had 10 hits.
LBSU will have to get back on track in the next two days before a long road trip to UC Davis (12-20, 5-7) April 28-30.

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