The Long Beach State baseball team scored three runs without the benefit of a base hit Monday and plated the winning run on a stolen base by Mike Marjama — plus an extra base on a wild pitch — to beat Hawaii, 4-3, at Blair Field.
The Dirtbags (6-6) got going quickly on Monday, taking a 3-0 lead through two innings. Brennan Metzger and Matt Hibbert led off the game with back-to-back singles, and then on a double steal, an overthrow by Rainbows catcher David Peterson scored Metzger to put the Dirtbags on the board. An RBI groundout by Matt Duffy then scored Hibbert to give LBSU a 2-0 lead.
Back-to-back singles got the Dirtbags started again in the bottom of the second against Hawaii starter Jarrett Arakawa, who then walked Metzger with two outs, and plunked Hibbert to bring home a third run in the game. Arakawa would settle down at that point, allowing no more runs over five total innings to keep the Rainbows in it.
Hawaii (5-7) would eventually tie the game at 3. The Rainbows started by scoring a pair of runs in the fifth inning off of Ryan Strufing, with the damage coming off of an RBI single by Sean Montplaisir after Strufing walked the leadoff batter. Strufing had six strikeouts over 4 2/3 innings, and allowed just two runs.
Kyle Friedrichs finished out the fifth inning, but had a run score in the sixth on an RBI triple by Pi’ikea Kitamura, tying the game. That would be the only hit allowed by Friedrichs (2-1) in 3 1/3 innings, though, as the Dirtbags headed to their half of the eighth tied at 3.
Marjama got on base by beating out an infield single, and after being pushed over to second base, set off to steal third on a throw that got away from Peterson behind the plate. Marjama was able to come all the way around from second to score the winning run.
Brent Harrison (0-1) was charged with the loss despite allowing just one run on one hit while striking out three in three innings.
Josh Frye loaded the bases in the ninth inning, due in part to a dropped fly ball in the infield during a gusty night at Blair. Frye was able to induce a groundout to shortstop Kirk Singer to end the game, collecting his first save of the season and becoming the third different Long Beach State pitcher to finish off a tight game this season.
LBSU takes its first true road trip this weekend, playing three games at the AT&T Tournament hosted by California and played at AT&T Park in San Francisco, home of the San Francisco Giants. The Dirtbags play No. 18-ranked Rice on Friday, followed by San Francisco on Saturday and close the tournament with a Sunday game against the host Bears.
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