Long Beach State starting pitcher Andrew Gagnon cruised through first two innings Friday night against UC Davis when he retired the first seven batters he faced.
However, the junior ace couldn’t sustain his early success as the Aggies routed the Dirtbags, 8-1, in the first game of a three-game series at Blair Field.
Gagnon (4-4), who registered his shortest outing of the season, went just three 2/3 innings and allowed six runs — four of which were earned — off three hits and three walks.
“[Gagnon] didn’t have a good night,” Dirtbags head coach Troy Buckley said. “Unfortunately, we didn’t help our cause. We gave [UC Davis] eight [runs], seven walks and one hit-by-pitch.”
LBSU’s (15-13, 2-2 Big West Conference) troubles began in the third inning as Aggies left fielder Seth Batty looped a single right in front of a charging center fielder, Brennan Metzger, to give UC Davis (6-18, 1-3 Big West) its first hit of the game.
Second baseman Justin Andrade followed up by reaching base on an Ino Patron error and with two men aboard, Davis center fielder Brett Morgan bunted over both runners to second and third on a sacrifice. Scott Heylman then slapped a Gagnon pitch into right field for a two-run single that gave the Aggies a 2-1 lead.
Heylman wasn’t done for the Aggies offense, though, as he drove in six out of the eight runs they scored.
The Aggies shortstop’s first RBIs came off of the single in the third inning and he followed it up with a bases-clearing triple in the fourth after Gagnon was replaced by Kyle Friedrichs. He then added more on an RBI single in the sixth inning.
As for the Dirtbags, their only run of the game came in the first inning.
Metzger started things off with single to left field off Aggies starter Scott Lyman (1-3). While left fielder Jeff McNeil was at bat, Metzger then stole second and advanced to third on a throwing error by Davis catcher Alex Dreyfuss.
After McNeil reached on an infield single, Patron hit a soft grounder to first to drive Metzger home, but that would be the only run support LBSU’s pitching staff would receive.
“We just didn’t execute when we had a chance. [Davis] didn’t swing the bat a lot, they took more pitches than they actually swung at … and the next thing you know, [our pitchers] were behind in the count.”
Lyman kept the Dirtbags at bay for seven more innings as he threw eight innings and gave up just one run on five hits, while striking out three and walking two.
“We couldn’t muster anything off that guy after the first inning,” Buckley said.
David Popkins, who started the game as Davis’ designated hitter, came in to close out the game for the Aggies in the ninth inning as he retired the side.
Dirtbags catcher Mike Marjama produced two of the team’s five hits — both singles.
The Dirtbags will continue their three-game series against the Aggies on Saturday at 5:30 p.m. The game also marks Troy Tulowitzki Bobblehead Day at Blair Field, with the first 1500 fans receiving a miniature of the Colorado Rockies All-Star.
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