By After exploding for a four-run fifth inning, the Long Beach State baseball team picked up its sixth win in the last seven outings with a 6-4 win over Loyola Marymount on Tuesday at Blair Field.
The No. 24 Dirtbags (11-5) saw their five-game winning streak end on Sunday with a 6-3 loss to Oklahoma, but LBSU got back to its winning ways against the Lions (6-11). After LMU took a 3-2 lead in the top of the fifth, the Dirtbags did some more bouncing back and put the game away for good in the bottom half of the inning.
“[This team] is kind of gritty,” head coach Troy Buckley said. “We’re not real glamorous, we’re not real flashy. It’s not pretty all the time. I think [we’ve] kind of embraced just grinding.”
First, pinch-hitter David Banuelos led off with a single, then sophomore centerfielder Tristan Mercadel picked up his second hit of the game on a double off the right field wall to put runners on second and third with no outs. Junior shortstop Garrett Hampson capitalized on the opportunity and crushed a two-RBI double to put LBSU back on top 4-3.
Junior right fielder Alex Muzzi brought in Hampson with an RBI single to make the score 5-3. Sophomore left fielder Brock Lundquist extended his hitting streak to 12 games to put two on with sophomore designated hitter Luke Rasmussen on the plate. Rasmussen grounded to third, but an error on the throw to first base allowed Muzzi to score from second, giving LBSU a 6-3 lead.
LMU sophomore Jamey Smart cut the Dirtbag lead to two with a solo home run to right field, but LBSU held on in the ninth for the 6-4 win. Freshman closer Chris Rivera threw a 1-2-3 inning to earn his seventh save of the season.
“I thought it was a slow, methodical, poorly played game by us and a well played game by [LBSU],” LMU head coach Jason Gill said.
The Lions jumped on the scoreboard first. With two outs and sophomore outfielder Sean Watkins on third, freshman first baseman Steven Chavez hit an RBI double down the first base line to put the Lions on top 1-0 in the top of the second inning.
The Dirtbags answered in the bottom of the fourth. With Mercadel at second, freshman second baseman Jarren Duran hit a two-out RBI single to tie the score at one. Then in the bottom of the fifth, Rasmussen hit a solo home run over the center field fence, his second of the season, to put the Dirtbags on top 2-1.
It didn’t take long for LMU to regain the lead. In the top of the fifth inning, with a runner on first, junior centerfielder Austin Miller tripped a triple to the right-center field wall to tie the score 2-2. Then with Erdman on second, junior catcher Cassidy Brown hit his 11th RBI of the season on a two-out double to center field to give the Lions a 3-2 lead.
But like a game of cat and mouse, the Dirtbags answered right back and won the game with the definitive four-run fifth.
Hampson, Mercadel and Lundquist finished the night with two hits each. Junior right-hander Dave Smith had another quality start on Tuesday, pitching six innings and allowing just three earned runs on eight hits to help the Dirtbags snap a four-game losing streak against LMU. LBSU’s last win against LMU came on April 30, 2013.
The Dirtbags return to Blair Field on Thursday to host the first of a four-game series against Columbia University. First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m.
