Weather was the metaphorical predictor in Sunday’s baseball game between Long Beach State and Cal State Fullerton. The sun shined brightly on the Dirtbags’ dugout, but the Titans sat in the shadows of Blair Field.
The sunshine also managed to bring 1,943 fans to the game, which LBSU rallied to win, 8-5, with the help of a five-run sixth inning.
“We battled and we grinded,” Dirtbags head coach Troy Buckley said.
Already behind 4-0, the Dirtbags’ top of the batting order — Brennan Metzger, Jeff McNeil and Matt Duffy — put the Dirtbags on the board after Metzger was hit by a pitch on his right hand.
The Dirtbags’ pitching started “teeter tottering,” Buckley said, in the fifth inning. After putting runners on first and second, reliever Nate Underwood was replaced by left-hander Derek Sesma, who threw a wild first pitch and walked his second hitter to load the bases with just one out.
That’s when things changed.
Buckley brought in right-hander Eddie Magallon, and the Dirtbags would take command after that. Magallon threw nothing but strikes and the inning closed on a fly out by Titans’ Matt Orloff.
Magallon (1-0), who threw two more scoreless innings for the Dirtbags, struck out three batters and allowed three hits in 2 2/3 innings for the victory.
After a Dirtbags run closed the deficit to 4-2, the whole team rallied in the sixth for five runs — three of which were scored by none other than Metzger, McNeil, and Duffy.
The trio drove in five of the eight runs the Dirtbags scored.
“They didn’t chase a lot,” Buckley said about the top of his lineup.
Leading 5-4 with the bases loaded, freshman Jeff Yamaguchi hit a hard grounder that bounced over third baseman Joe Terry to plate two runs and cap the big inning.
The last time the Dirtbags beat the Titans was in 2008.
“It brings us together even more as a team,” said Duffy, who finished 3-for-5 with three RBIs and a run scored.
The Titans started off the scoring in the second inning thanks to a triple by Terry and a sacrifice fly by catcher Casey Watkins — both hit off LBSU starter Matt Johnson.
Johnson had more difficulty in the third, allowing an additional three runs before being replaced by Underwood. Johnson allowed four runs — one earned — on seven hits in 2 2/3 innings.
The Dirtbags tacked on an insurance run in the seventh, and junior Shawn Stuart threw the final 1 2/3 innings for the save.
Christian Coronado (0-1) was the losing pitcher after allowing three runs on 14 pitches in just one-third of an inning.
The Dirtbags and Titans return to Blair Field for the rubber game of the series Monday, as the teams make up the game originally scheduled for Friday night that was rained out. First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.
Fans with tickets to Friday night’s game will receive entry into the Monday night contest with those tickets.
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