Long Beach State ran into a buzz saw when it faced Stanford on Friday night in the opening game of a three-game series.
The Dirtbags (20-22) and Cardinal both went into the contest at Blair Field having lost three of their last five games. Stanford starting pitcher Brett Mooneyham made the most of his opportunity in the late-season nonconference tilt.
Mooneyham dazzled as he struck out nine Dirtbag hitters in six innings of work to lead the Cardinal (24-17) to a 3-2 win over LBSU.
The sophomore came into the game with just a 1-5 overall record and a 5.30 earned run average, but used an array of pitches to fool LBSU hitters to earn the victory.
“We got ourselves in a hole early with our defense,” LBSU head coach Mike Weathers said. “We couldn’t overcome it and then uncharacteristically, we struck out 12 times. He kept us off balance more than most pitchers have recently, but I still thought we had good pitches to hit.”
Drew Gagnon once again matched his opposition pitch-for-pitch, but early fielding trouble by his teammates proved too much for the sophomore to overcome. With the loss, the right-hander saw his record drop to 5-5 despite having an ERA of 2.82 to lead all Dirtbag starting pitchers going into Friday’s start.
“Obviously, the couple of errors hurt us in the beginning, but that’s part of the game and you really can’t do anything about that,” Gagnon said. “I did my job and [Mooneyham] did his job. You just have to tip your hat.”
Stanford took its eventual 3-2 game-winning lead in the fifth inning after stringing together three consecutive base hits, capped by Jonathan Kaskow’s RBI single.
The trouble started early for the Dirtbags as infielder Kirk Singer had two errors in the first inning that led to two runs for Stanford.
LBSU came up with a double play to end the first inning, but it would not come without a cost. Shortstop Devin Lohman, who started the double play, appeared to have an injury as he made his way to the dugout.
When Lohman’s at-bat came up in the bottom of the first inning, however, the senior came out of the dugout then turned around and went back in frustration. Derek Legg was inserted into the Lohman’s spot due to the injury. Lohman had a 16-game hitting streak going into Friday’s contest.
Legg proved to be a worthy replacement as he drove in the Dirtbags’ second run of the game in the third inning.
TJ Mittelstaedt led the Dirtbags at the plate by going 1-for-3 with one RBI to go along with Legg’s RBI.
The Dirtbags will look to even the series on Saturday as they take on the Cardinal at 2 p.m. at Blair Field. Jake Thompson (5-2, 5.22 ERA) will take the mound for LBSU while Jordan Pries (3-2, 3.58 ERA) is the probable starter for Stanford.
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