Apparently the Dirtbags have no problem with Pac-10 teams whose mascots are bears.
After taking No. 15 UCLA easily 14-1 on Tuesday night, Long Beach State returned to Blair Field Friday and Saturday, beating California 4-1 and 8-3. The No. 20 Dirtbags are now 8-4.
On Friday, Vance Worley won the pitching duel over Cal’s Tyson Ross to give him his first win of the season. Worley pitched seven innings of five hit ball, giving up one earned run and matching his career-high in strikeouts with six.
Coming up big in the clutch again was Danny Espinosa. Espinosa drove in all four of the Dirtbags’ runs and finished 2-for-4 with two doubles and four RBI.
“I feel like I’m driving the ball better into all fields, not just to one part of the field,” Espinosa said.
Small ball was the name of the game on Saturday. LBSU used infield hits, sacrifice bunts and even base stealing in the win.
The Dirtbags’ starting lineup was drastically shuffled. Brian Capon got his first start as catcher, Steve Tinoco was taken out of his usual left field position and used instead as a designated hitter, and center fielder Robert Perry moved over to the left while Chris Nelson started in center.
The role of first base went to infielder AJ Pinocchio. The Dirtbags’ usual starting first baseman Brandon Godfrey was out all weekend after dropping a weight on his foot last week, so Weathers decided to give Pinocchio a shot after seeing Shane Peterson struggle on Friday night.
“I thought this was a good time to give AJ a chance,” Weathers said. “Coming up here, it’s going to be tough to put him in a high pressure situation against Fullerton or Riverside if he’s never played first. So he did OK.”
LBSU’s Jason Corder, a former Golden Bear, had a great game against his former club, going 3-for-4 with one RBI. Although he said he was mad he didn’t get to start on Friday against Cal, playing against his old club drove him to play harder on Saturday.
“It definitely [motivated me more], but two victories [against them] is what feels the best out of everything,” Corder said.
Closer Bryan Shaw and middle reliever Andrew Liebel effectively shut down the Bears on both nights. Weathers said Liebel may soon be taking on a much bigger role.
“He was auditioning to start, regardless of whether or not he was in a short role or a long role,” Weathers said. “He’s one of those guys that is a potential starter for us, depending on what we can do for our bullpen.”
