On a chilly night at Blair Field, the Dirtbags held on for a 2-1 victory over visiting Fresno State. Eight Dirtbag pitchers combined to hold the Bulldogs to one run on five hits.
Fresno State (28-24) continued the pitching carrousel by throwing seven of its own guys.
The Dirtbags (28-17) scored a run in the second inning when Danny Espinosa came home via a Brandon Godfrey sacrifice fly. Espinosa reached on an error by Bulldog starter Sean Bonesteele.
He stole second and went to third when no one covered the bag and the throw from catcher Danny Grubb skidded into center field.
Fresno shortstop Danny Muno was given an error and Espinosa had to get out of the way of the throw.
“When I slid in I put my hand up thinking I was going to get hit,” Espinosa said with a laugh.
Long Beach tacked on the insurance run in the fourth when Espinosa plated Peterson with a double to left. The Dirtbags went hitless after that, but held on for the victory, despite producing just three hits.
Brett Lorin went three innings and was credited with his third win of the season. He struck out two Fresno State batters and surrendered three hits.
“We wanted Lorin to throw no more than 40 pitches,” Dirtbags head coach Mike Weathers said. “We want him to get back on the bull this weekend.”
The biggest play of the game came when, with runners on the corners and no one out in the top of the third, Muno – the Bulldogs’ leadoff hitter – laid down a bunt and a charging Godfrey shoveled the ball to catcher Kip Masuda in time to tag out Ryan Overland trying to score.
The next batter, Gavin Hedstrom, ended the threat by grounding into a double play.
In the ninth, Nick Vincent retired the first batter before giving way to Dirtbag designated hitter, and the team’s leading hitter, Shane Peterson. It was Peterson’s first appearance on the mound this season.
He plunked Tommy Mendoca before being lifted in favor of closer Bryan Shaw. After a balk and a single by Steve Detwiler brought around Mendoca, Shaw slammed the door by getting Justin Wilson to fly out and fanning Danny Grubb.
Vincent pitched 2 1/3 innings of solid relief for The Beach. Weathers said he “threw Vincent more than he wanted to,” but thought he “found his attitude tonight” and was pleased with his performance.
The Dirtbags hope to carry the momentum from this win into the weekend. With the victory they are just 4-7 in mid-week games – a mark that was not lost on Weathers.
“We haven’t been very good statistically in these games, and we have three more,” Weathers said. “If we could get to 7-7 in the mid-week that could go a long way.”
Espinosa stressed confidence for the series this weekend as well.
“It wasn’t the prettiest win,” said Espinosa, “but we need to beat UCSB this weekend. We are better than them and need to prove it.”
The Dirtbags ran their record at Blair Field to a scorching 18-5 and will host Santa Barbara Friday through Sunday.
Saturday night’s game starts at a special time, 6 p.m., to allow for a post-game fireworks show in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the ballpark.
