The Long Beach State box score looked like an impossible game of Sudoku with all the cooked number the Dirtbags put up. At the end of the night it all added up to 17 runs on 17 hits and a win over the USD Toreros at Blair Field.

It was the Dirtbags’ (4-7) first time celebrating a win at Blair and first time they have won back-to-back games this season thanks to their 17-3 win last night. The No. 20 ranked (Baseball America) Toreros have now lost four of five, three of those losses to their rival and Tony Gwynn-coached San Diego State Aztecs.

Sophomore Jeff Lease (1-0) got the win for the Dirtbags going five strong innings allowing one run on four hits and struck out six. But the story of the day was the Long Beach State bats that made it possible for Lease and the bullpen to pitch with a comfortable lead after the Beach struck 16 of their runs in the first five innings.

It was a big night for junior transfer Tre Dennis who broke out of an early season slump with a 3-for-4 night, reaching base in all six of his at-bats and has four RBIs. Steve Tinoco sparked four and six run rallies in the second and third giving him an impressive seven consecutive at-bat hit streak. Tinoco went 5-for-5 Sunday at South Carolina in the Dirtbags 10-7 win, where he tied a Dirtbag record with three-home runs in the game.

“Sometimes he has the tendency to (take too many pitches),” Dirtbags head coach Mike Weathers said about Tinoco. “But I think he’s been way better on his aggressiveness. His swings were really on the ball but everyone was on tonight.  It was just one of those nights.”

Coach wasn’t kidding. Eight of the nine starters in the lineup had hits, led by Dennis, sophomore Jonathan Jones and freshman Kellen Hoime, who had three hits apiece. Tinoco and Rylan Sandoval added a pair.

Tinoco led-off the second with a triple down the right-field line and scored easily on a sac fly from classmate Taylor Krick. The Dirtbags would then do some two-out damage with Jones singling in freshman Matt Avery, who reached on a strikeout that got by the catcher and moved to third on a single by Hoime. After a pitching change, Dennis brought in Jones and Hoime with a double.

Long Beach State struck for six runs on five hits and took advantage of two USD errors in the third inning with the big hit coming off the bat of Avery. Avery showed off his sweet left-handed swing with a bases-loaded double to the left-center gap scoring Tinoco, Sandoval and Krick.

It’s hard to believe the Toreros had the lead just three hitters into the game when Junior Kevin Muno scored on a single by classmate, Steve Catwood, giving the Toreros a 1-0 lead. Sophomore Victor Sanchez went 2-for-4 with two doubles for USD. Sanchez hit two home runs off the Beach at Blair last April in the regular season meeting between the schools. Both his doubles were struck well, hitting off the centerfield wall. This time around the Dirtbags were the ones sending them over the fence.

Krick blasted his second home run of the season, deep over the left-center wall in the fourth to spark back-to-back three-run innings.  Dennis turned on an inside-fastball and sent it to the park out in right to close out the scoring for Long Beach State in the seventh, it was Dennis’ first home run in a Dirtbags uniform. Both players were hit-by-pitches in prior at-bats before homering in retaliation.

“I was pressing a little bit,” said Dennis speaking on his 1-for-12 start to the season. “I’ve never been in a situation like this before but fortunately my teammates stayed behind me, coaches stayed behind me and hopefully we can keep what we have going.”

The Dirtbags were aggressive early, swinging early in the count and taking advantage of pitches up in the zone from USD pitchers (the Toreros used seven in the night) like a big kid takes advantage of a swinging piñata.  Something Tinoco says will be critical to the team’s success in the future.

“As a team, we have to stay aggressive,” he said. “Staying aggressive and having fun. We got to keep swinging the bats like we know we can.”

The Dirtbags have will look to keep the bats going when they host Washington State (3-8) for a weekend series starting on Friday at 6:30pm