By After the Friday night fireworks that Long Beach State fans enjoyed after a 8-0 victory in game one, the Dirtbags’ offense had another explosion of offense in their 11-4 win over UC Riverside on Saturday.
LBSU (19-11, 4-1) scored eight runs in the bottom of the second inning that was highlighted by a solo home run from junior first baseman Lucas Tancas, his fourth of the year. Tancas drove in two more runs later in the inning on a double and finished the game as the Dirtbags’ top performer (3 for 4, 4 RBIs).
“I had a good approach going into my first at-bat and I just stuck with it all game,” Tancas said. “I’m making a conscious effort to be on time for fastballs and adjusting accordingly.”
Tancas improved his batting average to .330 and now has 16 RBIs this year.
“He’s certainly solidified the middle of the order,” head coach Troy Buckley said. “He gives quality at bats, he can run and he’s not a huge strikeout guy. He adds length to our lineup which is great.”
The Dirtbags got another solid start from junior pitcher John Sheaks who has blossomed into a reliable arm on Saturdays. Sheaks spun seven innings while only allowing one hit and one earned run while striking out five.
“I feel a lot more comfortable after the first few shaky starts I’ve had this year,” Sheaks said. “I just knew that I had to pound the strike zone and get outs today.”
Sheaks has now won three straight starts and removed any doubt that he can handle following junior ace Darren McCaughan in the second game of the Dirtbags’ weekend series.
“Sheaks is getting a lot more ground balls now and has been really good for us the last few outings,” Buckley said. “He’s made a commitment to the changes we wanted him to make before the Fullerton series and he’s just pitching now.”
Buckley and pitching coach Dan Ricabal sat down with Sheaks before the Cal State Fullerton series earlier this year and made a few tweaks to his mechanics and delivery. Much like McCaughan, Sheaks has lowered his arm angle and is working on throwing across his body more than he has been used to in his career.
“We went back and looked at my mechanics, broke them down and wound up trying something that new to me but it has been working out so far,” Sheaks said.
Sophomore second baseman Jarren Duran was 1 for 4 with 2 RBIs and junior Ramsey Romano had another good game going 2 for 4 with a run scored and an RBI.
LBSU will send senior starting pitcher Dave Smith (2-1, 0.84 ERA) to the bump in game three on Sunday to face junior Ryan Lillie (0-3, 3.80 ERA) at Blair Field at 1 p.m.
