The Long Beach State baseball team might as well have shot itself in the foot Saturday in its series finale against No. 12-ranked Stanford.
After blowing a four-run lead, the Dirtbags evened up the score only to lose the game on an errant throw, 6-5, at Sunken Diamond in Palo Alto, Calif.
Tied at 5, with two outs and a runner on third in the bottom of the sixth inning, Stanford center fielder Jake Stewart hit a routine ground ball toward LBSU third baseman Michael Hill. Hill then gloved the ball before his off-target throw sailed past the reach of first baseman Ino Patron, while Stewart scored what would be game-winning run.
The error marked Hill’s second of the contest, with the first coming in the third inning as he bobbled a grounder by Brian Ragira with two outs and runners on second and third base. The error ultimately gave Stanford its 5-4 lead.
The Dirtbags (12-11) threatened in the seventh with one out and runners on the corners, but ended up leaving them stranded after pinch hitter Juan Avila struck out and Kirk Singer flied to left.
From there, Stanford (10-6) was able to hold on for the win as closer Chris Reed pitched lights out while LBSU’s final six batters went down in order.
Despite producing 11 hits to Stanford’s 9, LBSU was unable to capitalize and left a total of nine runners stranded on base.
Dirtbags starting pitcher Shawn Stuart (2-2) was charged with the loss after throwing six innings and giving up six runs on nine hits.
Stanford reliever A.J. Vanegas (2-0) earned the victory as he surrendered one run on three hits in four 1/3 innings of work. Cardinal starter Dean McArdle pitched 2/3 of an inning after conceding four runs and six hits.
The Dirtbags couldn’t have asked for a better start in the first inning as they jumped all over McArdle.
Metzger’s leadoff double was followed by a sacrifice bunt from Matt Hibbert, while Patron doubled to get LBSU on the board, 1-0.
Back-to-back singles from Mike Marjama and Matt Duffy brought home Patron to keep the rally going before Hill and Singer both added RBI singles to take a commanding 4-0 advantage.
LBSU survived a near meltdown in the second, giving up just one run after Stuart loaded up the bases with no outs.
But the Cardinal made sure not to make the same mistake twice. A one-out walk to Stewart was followed by two singles, loading the bases again before a two-run single from Stephen Piscotty cut the deficit to one.
Stanford then scored two more runs on consecutive LBSU errors to take a 5-4 edge. Stuart’s attempt to gun down Piscotty at home plate was the first of two more costly errors that Stanford translated into runs.
The Dirtbags tied the game up in the top of the sixth inning. A.J. Vanegas, who had pitched 4.1 innings in relief, gave a double to Singer to start the inning. Singer then scored on an RBI single by Metzger to even the contest at 5.
A double play eventually got the Cardinal out of the jam before it responded for the go-ahead run in the sixth inning for the victory.
The Dirtbags will return to action next weekend for the start of Big West Conference in a three-game series on the road against Pacific. First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Friday.
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