FULLERTON — Much like in Game 1, Long Beach State had a hard time finding success at the plate in Game 2 of a doubleheader with UC Santa Barbara at Goodwin Field.
The Dirtbags had eight hits in the contest but fell at the hands of the Gauchos, 14-4, to drop the three-game series on Saturday.
The final game is Sunday at 1 p.m. The series was moved due to the Jesusita fires in Santa Barbara.
Jake Thompson (4-6) took the loss for the Dirtbags as he gave up five runs and seven hits in just three innings pitched.
Mario Hollands (5-5) picked up the win for UCSB as he surrendered three runs on six hits in seven innings on the mound.
Steve Tinoco and Devin Lohman led the Dirtbags (24-22, 10-7 Big West Conference) on the offensive side as they both went 2-for-4, and Tinoco also had an RBI.
“We hit some balls hard, but not enough,” head coach Mike Weathers said. “We couldn’t put anything together, so I credit most of it to their pitching. We didn’t do anything different today than we have been doing.”
Both teams were held scoreless in their first at-bats, but UCSB (25-19, 8-9 Big West) took the early lead in the second inning on a triple that to center field by Shane Carlson that allowed Matt Valaika to score from first base. Bryce Tafelski then flew out to center field to score Carlson from third base to give the Gauchos a 2-0 lead.
The Dirtbags found themselves down five runs at the end of the third inning. The inning was highlighted by Valaika when the UCSB second baseman smashed a two-run home run over the fence in left field.
“Jake [Thompson] was up in the zone all day … those three innings were probably the first bad outing he’s had,” Weathers said.
UCSB put three more runs on the board in the bottom of the fifth inning when Mark Haddow laced a double to right field that allowed two runs to come across the plate.
LBSU pushed its first run of the day across when Tinoco singled to left field to allow Tre Dennis to score from second base. UCSB led the game 9-1 through six innings.
The Dirtbags scored two more runs in the top of the seventh inning as Taylor Krick roped a double to right-center field that scored TJ Mittelstaedt. Dennis was then able to reach first base with an infield single that let Krick score from third to cut the UCSB lead to 9-3.
Mittelstaedt flied out to left field to bring in Lohman to score from third base to cut the UCSB lead to five runs in the top of the eighth inning.
UCSB added its last five runs of the game in the bottom of the eighth inning as it went through the entire order in the frame.
GAME NOTES: Center fielder Jordan Casas left the game in the bottom of the second inning when he sprained an ankle while running down a fly ball. Weathers said that Casas reinjured the same ankle that caused him to miss time earlier in the season.
Gardner blanks Dirtbags in Game 1
Joe Gardner lost his first game of the season at Goodwin Field last week.
Back eight days later to face Long Beach State, the UC Santa Barbara ace made sure it didn’t happen again.
After giving up six runs in the first three innings to Cal State Fullerton on May 1, he was dominant in Saturday’s 3-0 complete-game shutout over the Dirtbags.
LBSU, which is fighting for a third straight postseason berth, managed just two hits and four base runners off of Gardner (7-1).
Steve Tinoco hit a two-out double to the wall in right-center field in the second inning and went to third on a soft single to left by Jonathan Jones, but Taylor Krick struck out to end the threat.
Gardner no-hit the Dirtbags the rest of the way, yielding just a walk and one hit batsman. He walked one and struck out five. LBSU didn’t have a baserunner in the final four innings.
Adam Wilk (7-2) also went the distance (eight innings) for The Beach but earned the loss despite the complete-game, three-run effort. He gave up seven hits, walked three and struck out three Gauchos.
Eric Oliver was 2-for-3, with a pair of runs scored and an RBI for Santa Barbara.
UCSB scored two runs on three hits in the second and one run in the third.
It was the third time this season the Dirtbags have been shut out but first time in almost two months (March 13, Washington State).