The Long Beach State baseball team won the first game of its three-game series over Cal State Northridge Friday night.
The Dirtbags (20-19, 10-3 Big West Conference) defeated the Matadors 8-2 thanks in large part to freshman right fielder Josh Guerra. Guerra finished 4-for-5 on the game with three RBI and a run scored.
Junior third baseman Juan Avila went 1-for-4 and added three RBI of his own with his first homerun of the season. Senior center fielder Brennan Metzger finished with three hits and two runs scored.
Junior starting pitcher Matt Anderson (4-2) tossed five innings of two-hit, two-run baseball. The 6-foot-1 right hander struck out two, and walked two on the evening.
Senior reliever Matt Johnson picked up his first save of the season in four innings of work. Johnson allowed just one hit while striking out three Matadors.
LBSU were first to crack the scoreboard, scoring two runs in the top of the second inning. Sophomore left fielder Johnny Bekakis doubled to left center which scored Metzger. Bekakis went 2-for-4 on the game with two runs scored. Bekakis scored later that inning on a single up the middle from Guerra, putting the Dirtbags up 2-0.
CSUN (17-21, 4-6 Big West) was able to knot the game up at two in the bottom of the fifth after a double down the left field line from Cal Vogelsang scored Kyle Attl and Ryan Raslowsky, but it was all LBSU from there.
The Dirtbags added six more runs, four of them in the top of the sixth. Guerra led off the inning with a double to left center, then senior catcher Kellen Hoime singled to right field, putting runners on first and third.
Junior short stop Matt Duffy walked to load the bases, which prompted CSUN to pull its starting pitcher Alex Muren. Muren was replaced by Harley Holt, who immediately got sophomore first baseman Ino Patron to fly out, which scored Guerra.
With two runners on, Avila homered to left field to give the Dirtbags a 6-2 stranglehold on the game. LBSU added two runs in the top of the ninth for good measure, taking the dominant 8-2 victory.
Muren (5-6) threw 5 1/3 innings for the Matadors giving up five runs on 10 hits. Vogelsang paced the lackluster CSUN offense going 1-for-3 with two RBI.