For an odd Monday game the Dirtbags punched around a bit with LMU before the visiting Lions, a game and a half back of first in the West Coast Conference, jumped on Long Beach State, a game back of first in the Big West Conference for three runs in the sixth. It was chilly and foggy and a lot of folks left.
They missed another fine 49er finish. LBSU scored four runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to sweep the weekend with Loyola Marymount 7-5 and entertain what was left of the 900 fans. The toughest Lion to tame was Zac Fujimoto who had three hits for LMU, four RBIs, with a triple and a double. For the Beach there was no quit. The Dirtbags took the lead four different times and improved to 24-21 in 2012 before the team heads back into conference play in a weekend with UC Davis.
Trailing 5-3, Long Beach State players broke a lot of rules and sort of ran through some stop signs for a clutch two-out rally. With two Jonathan Kim worked a walk and then Jeff McNeil singled to put two runners on for the Dirtbags. The SID then gives the detail. “After McNeil moved to second on a passed ball, Johnny Bekakis beat out an infield single, and McNeil was able to push all the way around from second to score, allowing Bekakis to advance safely to second on three consecutive close, but safe, calls. With the go-ahead runner in scoring position, Ino Patron then came on as a pinch hitter and singled to give the Dirtbags the lead. With Guerra coming on as a pinch runner, Metzger was plunked to put two runners on, and Guerra came around to score on a passed ball and an error on the throw to second base.
Earlier in the evening LBSU parlayed a Matt Duffy walk and a double by Richard Prigatano. LMU caught up. The Dirtbags then moved back out on top once more, as Jeff Yamaguchi tripled to start the fourth, and scored on a single by Duffy. The Lions again bounced back however, scoring a run on an RBI triple by Fujimoto following a double by Sean Harkin. Other offensive efforts for the Beach included a Juan Avila double that scored Johnny Bekakis. The pitching effort started with Shawn Stuart and finished with work by Edgar Gomez, (he collecting his first collegiate save) and Eddie Magallon who got the win relief (2.1 scoreless innings.) Buck used his post game presser to admit that McNeil ran the stop sign and the win was “more of us just grinding but I think it was good for us to face a tough lefty because I expect that this weekend from Davis.” Working their way out of more jams than Mrs. Smuckers, Buckley might be on to something.
Crowd Chatter
In the shadow of the Big Rec golf course the crowd included all sorts of luminaries including Fullerton Coach Rick Vanderhook who was collecting some intel before that season ending series with the Beach…on the Black and Gold side was former coach Mike Weathers who was in the neighborhood over the weekend for the Century Club golf tournament. A highlight of that event was a deal on Number 5 when the regular entrants could appoint a Long Beach Little League golfer to hit a drive for them and use the kids’ score. There was a kid named Sebastian that was supposed to have the best swing but former Fire Guy Rick DuRee selected an eight year old named Mathew Shaeffer from that golfing citadel Tincher Elementary to hit for him. The kid used a hy-bred three wood and naturally made his first hole in one. I assumed that he had to buy the milk for all the kids in the cafeteria and Mr. DuRee, who has scotch older than eight years, got a real good score and provided the adult beverages.