Well, it wasn’t pretty, but the Long Beach State baseball team couldn’t have asked for a better start to conference play in its Big West opener on Friday.
That’s because the Dirtbags lit up the University of Pacific for 20 runs on 23 hits in a shutout victory at Klein Family Field in Stockton, Calif.
LBSU’s 20 runs were the most scored since the Dirtbags put up 21 on Feb. 3, 2001 in a 21-9 win at Arizona. The game was also tied for the fifth-largest win margin in school history, equaling a 21-1 win over Cal State Fullerton in 1966.
Andrew Gagnon (4-3) and Jake Stassi combined for a three-hit shutout, while second baseman Matt Duffy led the offensive explosion with five hits and seven RBI — one shy of the school record in both categories as the Dirtbags (13-11, 1-0 Big West Conference) dominated in every facet of their 20-0 victory.
The Tigers (7-15, 0-1 Big West) marked the first unranked opponent that LBSU has faced in 24 games this season and it clearly showed in the early going as the Dirtbags jumped on them in the first inning.
Pacific starter Kyle Crawford (1-1) got the first two outs of the game, but Duffy kick started a rally that never appeared to stop on Friday. His two out single put a runner on, and after a double by Mike Marjama — the first of six on the day for LBSU — Duffy scored.
Ino Patron followed with another double, while Jeff Yamaguchi piled on the last of four straight hits as the Dirtbags finished the first inning with a 3-0 lead.
In the second, Juan Avila started off the inning with a hit, and after two solid bunts scored a run and put two more runners on for Duffy, he ripped a double to drive in two more. Duffy then scored again on a Patron single as the Dirtbags led 7-0 after two innings.
The Dirtbags’ hit parade continued into the third inning after Crawford was pulled out of the game in the biggest inning of the year for the Dirtbags, which tallied eight more runs.
John Prato Matthews got a strikeout to start the inning, but it was all downhill from there. Kirk Singer and Avila hit back-to-back singles, but after a fielder’s choice, LBSU was down to one more out for the inning.
However, the Dirtbags followed with a single, a hit batter, and five straight hits. During the barrage, Singer became the first LBSU player in two years to record two hits in an inning.
LBSU scored five more runs over 3.1 innings of work from Pacific’s Andrew Wild, who worked some tough innings, but also walked six and hit two batters to lead to additional damage from the Dirtbags.
Meanwhile, the Dirtbags also put together one of their best pitching performances of the year. Gagnon had another stellar performance as he tied a season-high with eight strikeouts over seven innings, allowing just three hits.
He eventually turned the ball over to the freshman left-hander Stassi, who pitched two hitless frames, striking out two as the pair combined for LBSU’s first shutout of the year.
LBSU will continue its series against Pacific at Klein Family Field on Saturday at 6 p.m.
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