A poor offensive performance by the Dirtbags seemed to plague them as they would go on to get shutout 3-0 by Dartmouth on Bohl Diamond at Blair Field on Wednesday night.
The Big Green would put the first run on the board by way of a sacrifice fly to center field by senior catcher Nathan Cmeyla making it a 1-0 lead.
From then on, the Dirtbags would be kept silent as they only recorded four hits along with one error committed on defense, which would prove costly.
Freshman starting pitcher Josh Donegan was impressive on the mound for the Dirtbags as he went six strong innings while giving up five hits and one unearned run.
“Obviously you can’t win when you can’t score,” head coach Bryan Peters said.
The Dirtbags’ defense would occasionally prove to be a bright light in this loss as in the top half of the fourth junior right fielder Connor Charpiot made a diving play to his left to take away potential extra bases from Cmeyla.
Later in the inning, after a double by junior first baseman Max Zajec, junior left fielder Jackson Hower hit a short dribbler to sophomore third baseman Armando Briseno who made a great play throwing the lead runner Zajec out at third trying to advance on the play.
In the top of the sixth, Junior center fielder Alex Champagne fielded a single from freshman second baseman Ethan Brown and threw it to the cut-off man, senior second baseman Nick Marinconz, who threw a strike to sophomore catcher Jack Collins who tagged Freeman at home.
The Dirtbags’ defense would commit a throwing error when senior center fielder Tyler Robinson hit a hot shot to the Dirtbags’ freshman pitcher Cristien Banda who bobbled the ball, allowing Robinson to get on base.
Following that play, Banda was substituted for junior pitcher Grant Cherry.
Junior third baseman Elliot Krewson would ground out to second, which in turn would advance Robinson once more, leaving him at third with two outs.
Cherry would then throw a wild pitch past Collins which allowed Robinson to score easily, making it a 2-0 Dartmouth lead in the top half of the eighth.
The dagger would come from a solo shot by Freeman making it a 3-0 game heading into the ninth.
Long Beach State would not score in the ninth, giving them their fourth loss of the year and moving their record to 10-4-1.
“Our most important day is tomorrow so that we can get ourselves back,” Peters said. “We pride ourselves in preparation.”
The Dirtbags look to muscle their way into the win column this weekend as they head to Santa Barbara to face the Gauchos in a three-game series starting Friday.