Two near-defensive collapses pushed No. 10 Long Beach State and No. 13 Wichita State late into twelve innings Friday night at Blair Field. The Dirtbags took game one of the three-game series 3-2 in the bottom of the 12th in dramatic fashion when Shane Peterson crushed a fastball to the deep center field warning track, driving in Devin Lohman for LBSU’s second walk-off win of the season.
The Dirtbags advanced to 3-2 on the season, while handing the Shockers their first loss.
“Somebody has got to do it,” Peterson said. “I knew we had a pretty good chance [going into extra innings] because our bullpen was so good , so I knew we could do it as long as we could manufacture a run.”
Peterson finished 3-for-6 with an RBI. Danny Espinosa continued his hot start for the Dirtbags, going 4-for-5 with a run and a double.
Ryan Jones led the Shockers, reaching base safely three times, two singles and once on an error, and one run scored. Connor Gillaspie also went 2-for-5 and had a double and Andy Dirks went 1-for-5 with a run.
The Shockers fell behind early on. The Dirtbags showed promise, putting one run on the board in the third, but struggled to get insurance runs. In the bottom of the sixth, the Dirtbags were poised to break open the game with an offensive burst but managed to drive in just one run in the inning, despite four runners reaching base.
Andrew Liebel proved why he is the Dirtbags’ Friday night ace. In his second appearance in the role, Liebel tied his career-high strikeouts, fanning 11 for the second time in as many starts.
“There’s not much else to say about how outstanding he’s been,” said LBSU head coach Mike Weathers. “We stretched him out to 109 [pitches] and we tried to go 105. We went a little longer than we wanted to, but he didn’t want to come out.”
Liebel tossed seven and 1/3 innings, surrendering just four hits and walking one. Liebel was on track for the win, going scoreless until the Shockers took an unearned run in a disastrous eighth inning, in which two throwing errors by Devin Lohman in one at-bat allowed WSU to score two, tying the game up.
For three straight innings Liebel retired the side. The Shockers threatened in the fourth inning, but got out of the inning with the help of his defense.
“He makes that happen,” Weathers said. “I think the guys like playing behind him.”
But the defense failed to hold up late in the game, as Lohman’s two errors put the tying runs on board, robbing Liebel of what would have been his first win of the season.
“Freshman mistake,” Weathers said. “He got out of control, trying to do something not knowing the situation … Young mistakes – hopefully he learns from them. He’s a good player.”
The series continues Saturday afternoon at Blair Field at 2 p.m. The right-handed matchup will feature WSU’s Aaron Shafer (1-0, 1.50) facing off on the mound against Vance Worley (0-0, 2.57).
