Three is the key

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Box score

The last time Josh Corrales took the Blair Field mound, it was two Sundays ago and his last chance to pitch in front of his ailing father.

Four days later, his father passed away so it was with a heavy heart Corrales took the hill again Sunday.

After getting the final out against Cal State Northridge for the save, Corrales (1-1) entered the game in the seventh inning with the Dirtbags trailing, 2-1. He recorded six outs without giving up a hit and got the win for LBSU when TJ Mittelstaedt laced a two-out, two-run triple into the right field corner in the bottom of the seventh to carry the Dirtbags to a 3-2 win over UC Davis.

“His and my love were baseball,” Corrales said. “Playing baseball made us both happy. It’s just tough him not being here, playing baseball just kind of gets me away from it.”

It was an emotional weekend for the whole Dirtbags team. They donned red “DH 6” armbands for East Long Beach PONY ballplayer Dallas Humphreys. The 11-year old is battling leukemia and is a family friend of Saturday’s winning pitcher Jake Thompson.

With a lot more than baseball on their minds, the Dirtbags (23-20, 10-5 Big West) took care of business by sweeping the Aggies. They have won 12 of their last 15 home games at Blair Field and are a season-high three games over .500.

Sunday, they got on the board first in the fourth inning when Derek Legg doubled home Mittelstaedt from second. Mittelstaedt walked and stole second before Legg drove a ball into the left-center gap for the first run of the game.

UC Davis (7-35, 1-14 Big West) took its first lead of the series in the top of the sixth. Michael Aldrete led off the frame with a double, went to third on a sacrifice and scored on a single from Scott Heylman to tie the game at 1.

After another single and a strikeout, Ryan Scoma drove in Heylman with a single to give Davis a 2-1 lead.

But Mittelstaedt would come through in a big way to give the Dirtbags the sweep. After Kellen Hoime was hit by a pitch, he went to second on a groundout and Brennan Metzger walked to give LBSU two runners on with one out.

Devin Lohman hit a long fly ball to the warning track but it was caught and that set the table for Mittelstaedt to be the hero.

With Aggies starter Scott Lyman (0-3) still in the game, Mittelstaedt drove a slicing liner down into the right field corner and by the time the dust cleared, the Dirtbags had the lead for good.

“I was pretty sure he was going to throw a fastball,” Mittelstaedt said. “He had already had a couple of wild pitches and [I knew he] didn’t want to bring the go-ahead runner into scoring position so I was sitting on a fastball and I got it.”

It was the first start of the year for Lyman, who took the loss. He kept the Dirtbags at bay for 6 2/3 innings before LBSU finally broke through on the triple.

“For a guy that didn’t have any power or much RBIs his first couple of years, he’s been a big key in the middle of the lineup,” head coach Mike Weathers said of Mittlestaedt. “Huge RBI, he just has power and he’s driving ball to the fence here at Blair Field which is not easy to do. His bat speed has picked up. He’s a strong little guy.”

Charlie Ruiz retired three Davis hitters in the ninth for his second save in as many days and his 11th on the season.

With the initials “DH” inscribed in chalk in the dirt behind home plate, Thompson attacked UC Davis hitters Saturday night with the same fervor Humphreys fights his leukemia.

Thompson (4-5) went 7 2/3 strong innings in a 5-2 win in front of an electric crowd of 1,776 that started pouring in early to donate bone marrow and to get their hands on an Evan Longoria bobblehead. A proposal in the middle of the fourth inning only added to the excitement.

“I felt I had a little more drive,” Thompson said of pitching for Dallas. “So in the back of my head I had something to go to. I wrote his initials on my hat and on my glove, so I would look at that and it would give me a little extra push.”

In the series opener, Dirtbags ace Adam Wilk (7-1) kept Davis hitters at bay and Mittelstaedt again provided the offense in a 16-3 rout. The right fielder went 3-for-4 with four RBIs and a two-run homer to right-center field.

LBSU is back in action Tuesday night at Blair Field against the Pepperdine Waves. The Dirtbags travel to UCSB for a three-game series next weekend.