The Long Beach State baseball team put together its second best offensive game of the season, but it wasn’t enough to avoid its first series sweep of the season Sunday in a 17-9 loss to No. 6-ranked Arizona State at Packard Stadium in Tempe, Ariz.
Dirtbags’ designated hitter Johnny Bekakis went 3-for-5 with three RBIs.
Sun Devils’ outfielder Andy Workman went 4-for-5 with two home runs and seven RBIs.
LBSU’s starting pitcher Ryan Strufing (3-2) was credited with the loss as he threw four innings and gave up eight runs — five earned — on eight hits.
ASU’s starter Jake Barrett (7-3) earned the win for the Sun Devils as he pitched five innings and surrendered just two runs — one earned — on seven hits.
Jeff McNeil led off the game with a base hit for the Dirtbags (23-22), and after moving to second a sacrifice, scored on a double by Mike Marjama to give the Dirtbags a 1-0 edge.
The Dirtbags held the Sun Devils (35-11) off until the second inning when they took the lead after scoring a pair of runs on four hits following three consecutive singles to start.
LBSU battled back, though, scoring a run on a sacrifice fly by Johnny Bekakis after Matt Duffy singled to start the inning and moved to third on a failed pickoff and a balk.
Tied at 2, Strufing got the first two outs of the inning, but then it went all downhill for the Dirtbags.
Strufing plunked Xorge Carrillo, and an error by shortstop Michael Hill put another runner on base. The Sun Devils scored three unearned runs to take a 5-2 lead at that point.
Joey DeMichele led off the bottom of the fifth with a solo home run, and with two runners on, Workman hit his first of two home runs, giving ASU a 9-2 lead at that point.
ASU added two more runs on Workman’s second home run in the sixth inning, and capitalized on two more LBSU errors in the eighth inning en route to six more runs.
The Dirtbags cut into the lead in the top of the ninth. ASU reliever Josh Moody loaded the bases with no outs and then gave up back-to-back doubles to Matt Hibbert and Bekakis brought in four runs. LBSU added two more off of Trevor Williams, but the Sun Devils eventually closed the door on the six-run rally.
The Dirtbags will return to nonconference action to face another Pac-10 opponent to play host to No. 13 UCLA on Tuesday. First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.
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