With his first swing of the night, pinch hitter Joey Terdoslavich broke a tie in the bottom of the eighth with an RBI-single that turned out to be the game-winning hit.
The Dirtbags’ late-game heroics were enough to defeat San Diego State, 4-3, on Tuesday night at Blair Field in front of 850 spectators.
“He’s our best shot against that kind of pitcher,” Long Beach State head coach Mike Weathers said. “He has to do that and I hope I see more of it. Just because he doesn’t have a good average doesn’t mean he’s not capable of delivering in that situation.”
The play of the night came in the top of the ninth when LBSU closer David Brown picked off SDSU’s Brandon Decker, who represented the tying run, at second base for the second out of the inning.
Beach starting pitcher Eddie Magallon went 2.0 innings, giving up a hit and one unearned run off the error from freshman Matt Duffy in the first inning. Magallon was pulled in favor of right-hander Troy Watson before the start of the third inning.
Cory Vaughn put SDSU (5-7) ahead in the top of the fifth inning with an RBI-double to right-center that scored Jomel Torres from second base. Vaughn finished the game 2-for-3 with two RBIs and a walk.
The Dirtbags responded in the bottom of the fifth inning to take a 3-2 lead off a massive two-run double from Devin Lohman. The junior hit a shot off the top of the left field wall that cleared the bases to bring in Joel Thys and Jonathan Jones.
In a flashback to last week’s game against USC, Lohman recorded the last out of the fifth inning when he was caught trying to steal third base with senior T.J. Mittelstaedt up at the plate.
LBSU threw away a golden opportunity to add to its lead in the bottom of the seventh with runners on first and second and no outs. Sophomore Brennan Metzger took off from second base and was thrown out at third by Aztec catcher Matt Parker for the first out of the inning. The Dirtbags failed to score and the speedy Jones was left standing on second.
SDSU capitalized off the Dirtbags’ mistakes all night.
In the top of the eighth, Vaughn struck out, but reached base on a wild pitch from relief pitcher Nate Underwood. Two batters later, Underwood gave up an RBI-single to Parker that drove in Vaughn to tie the game, 3-3.
Underwood (1-0) received credit for the win, striking out three batters in three innings of work.
“I thought Underwood was the key to the night,” Weathers said. “He underwent a coming of age for a young freshman.”
Right hander Steven Moranda started for the Aztecs and tossed 5.1 innings, giving up three earned runs and six hits while striking out four. Ryan Wynveen (0-1) was charged with the loss.
LBSU next hosts a three-game series against Wichita State, starting Friday night at 6:30 p.m.