Just one week after being named Big West Conference Pitcher of the Week, Long Beach State junior Andrew Gagnon was bested by his counterpart and No. 15-ranked Oregon, 5-0, Friday night at Blair Field.
Ducks starting pitcher Tyler Anderson (1-0), a potential first-round pick in the Major League Baseball first-year player draft in June, went eight shutout innings while striking out 14 and walking three.
Gagnon (1-2), meanwhile, gave up only one earned run in five innings yet continuously found himself in trouble, giving up five walks. The Dirtbags’ right-hander allowed two or more runners on base in every inning, but the first inning.
“They got [Gagnon’s] pitch count up and he didn’t do a very good job of keeping the ball down,” LBSU head coach Troy Buckley said. “[Gagnon] made some pitches when he needed to, but [Oregon] made him work.”
Anderson mowed down the Dirtbags, allowing only six hits while giving up no runs.
“[Anderson] pitched good,” Buckley said. “I thought [Anderson’s] changeup allowed him to do some things. He got ahead with the fastball and we chased a lot of pitches.”
The closest the Dirtbags (3-6) came to scoring was in the fifth inning when LBSU first baseman Ino Patron singled to start off the inning. Shortstop Kirk Singer followed with a single to left field, and both players advanced one base due to a bad throw.
Anderson followed that up by striking out three out of the four next Dirtbags batters. The only non-strikeout was an intentional walk to LBSU center fielder Brennan Metzger.
The Ducks (5-4) scored four of their five runs in the eighth inning when the Dirtbags committed two errors. With the bases loaded, LBSU right fielder Johnny Bekakis misplayed a ball hit by Aaron Jones that allowed all three runners to score. Dirtbags third baseman Matt Duffy then fumbled the next hit ball to allow Jones to trot across the plate and push the score to 5-0.
Overall, the Dirtbags committed three errors with the other coming in the fourth inning on a Jeff McNeil miscue.
“The miscues you have to stop so you can give yourself a chance to win [the ballgame], we didn’t stop,” Buckley said.
Patron led the Dirtbags’ offense, going 2-for-2 with a walk.
LBSU will square off against the Oregon in the second game of the series Saturday night at Blair Field. The start time is set for 5:30pm.
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