The Long Beach State baseball team (5-9) evened its weekend series with the No. 10-ranked Arizona State Sun Devils (9-4) Saturday with a 7-3 win after dropping the opening game Friday night at Blair Field.
Dirtbags starting pitching Matt Anderson (1-0) scattered eight hits over 6 1/3 innings pitched, giving up only three runs to earn the win. Anderson threw 92 pitches to the ASU over the six plus innings striking out four ASU batters before pitcher Nick Sabo came on in relief of the senior starter.
Meanwhile, the Long Beach offense was able to support Anderson with seven runs by the fifth inning. The Dirtbags scored three runs apiece in the second and third innings before adding one more in the fifth.
“[The win] was a real good character game for the guys,” coach Troy Buckley said. “We took advantage of some opportunities we gave [ASU] a few blows early and I thought we held our composure, which was positive.”
Matt Duffy, who began the season as the number three hitter in the line up, was batting in the eighth slot, and broke out of his mini-slump with a single that scored Brennan Metzger in the second inning for the Dirtbags first run. Metzger reached base on an infield single and advanced to third base after Jeff Yamaguchi executed a perfect sacrifice bunt.
“Duffy is a good hitter although he hasn’t been doing much up to this point [in the season],” Buckley said. “He had good at-bats today and didn’t try to do too much. Hopefully that’ll get him going because we need him.”
Catcher Royce Murai followed up Duffy’s single with a fielder’s choice that scored freshman Richard Prigatano. Duffy then scored to push the Dirtbags lead to 3-0 when Johnny Bekakis reached base for the second time in as many innings sending an Alex Blackford pitch back up the middle for a single.
The Sun Devils threatened in the next half inning putting a man on third, but Anderson induced two straight ground ball outs before the Dirtbags hitters once again put three runs on the board in the bottom half.
Juan Avila led off the inning with a single and scored on a passed ball later in the inning from third base to give Long Beach its fourth run. Two batters later Duffy singled once again to plate two more runs for the Dirtbags; this time Yamaguchi and Metzger scored.
The Sun Devils were able to chase Anderson from the game in the seventh inning with two consecutive singles by Trever Allen and Daniel Stankiewicz. Sabo came in and hit the first batter he saw in Andrew Aplin. Kasey Coffman singled home two runs following the hit batter.
“That’s a tough line-up over there,” Buckley said. “They don’t give [opposing pitching staffs] easy outs.”
Joey DeMichele, who went hitless Friday, singled to center to cut the Dirtbags lead in half, 6-3. DeMichele came into the weekend as the second best hitter in the nation pushed and number nine in Runs Batter In.
After DeMichele’s two run single the Long Beach bullpen held the Sun Devils scoreless for the next three innings.
ASU used six pitchers, including the son of ex-major leaguer Bobby Bonilla, freshman Brandon Bonilla. Sun Devils starter Blackford only lasted two innings before being pulled in the third.