It only took 18 pitches for Long Beach State to destroy what ace Drew Gagnon had built in eight innings.
Gagnon matched Pacific’s Marcus Pointer pitch-for-pitch, but the Dirtbags’ bullpen couldn’t close it out in a 2-1 loss to the Tigers in both teams’ first Big West Conference game of the season.
Pacific (17-7, 1-0 Big West) came into Thursday’s contest tied with Cal State Northridge for first place in the Big West and ranked near the top of the conference in many of the offensive statistical categories.
The Tigers didn’t show that offense until the eighth inning when LBSU closer David Brown surrendered a two-RBI single to Brett Christopher to seal the victory.
“The game finds a way to come back and bite you,” Dirtbags’ head coach Mike Weathers said. “And it sure did when a closer has somebody 0-2 and can’t close it out.”
Gagnon had the Dirtbags (11-12, 0-1 Big West) looking like they were the top Big West team, as he repeatedly worked out of rough spots during the game.
The sophomore’s biggest scare came in the top of the eighth inning when the Tigers loaded the bases with their No. 5 hitter, J.B. Brown, at the plate. Weathers left Gagnon in the game despite having a reliever warming up in the bullpen.
Gagnon was able to get Brown to fly out after a long battle to work his way out of the jam.
“I thought Drew threw really well to shutout a team that’s leading our league in hitting,” Weathers said.
Pacific finished with nine hits, but could only push across the two runs despite leading the Big West with a .346 batting average.
Weathers mentioned that losses during Big West play can become magnified due to limited opportunities.
“We’ve been talking about it for a couple days,” Weathers said. “To me, a conference loss is like two losses. It’s just hard to get that one back and then get one more on top of that.
“Our conference is so equal this year that I think any losses are going to be tough. … I don’t think anybody’s going to run away, but when you have a chance to win that game, it’s a big disappointment.”
The Dirtbags picked up their lone run on a smash up the middle by Steve Tinoco that drove in Devin Lohman from second base in the bottom of the fourth inning.
The RBI-single helped Tinoco push his current hitting streak to nine games and tied him with Joey Terdoslavich for the longest LBSU hitting streak this season.
Pointer moved to 6-0 on the season with the win, while David Brown (2-2) took the loss.
The Dirtbags will look to even the series on Friday at 6:30 p.m. at Blair Field.