Reports From LBSU
Branden Pinder hurled a complete game shutout and TJ Mittelstaedt tied a season-high with five hits as Long Beach State salvaged a split on the day with a 11-0 win in game two after a 10-8 loss in the opener on Saturday against UC Davis.
Pinder’s effort was the first complete game of his career, and he became the final member of the starting rotation to pick up a complete game. He did the group one better by tossing the first scoreless nine of the season in the 11-0 victory.
Also helping Pinder were a pair of double plays as well as a big offensive effort by the team, as the Dirtbags were one off a season high with 18 hits, including five from Mittelstaedt, three from Devin Lohman and three from Joey Terdoslavich.
The Dirtbags got going right off the bat in the second game. Lohman doubled to start the contest and scored on an RBI groundout by Jonathan Jones. After hits from Terdoslavich and Brennan Metzger, Steve Tinocodrove in both runners to give the Dirtbags a 3-0 lead.
Long Beach State continued to pile up offense, scoring three more runs in the fourth inning on four hits, and another three runs in the seventh.
The game two effort was a welcome respite from a poor first game. The Dirtbags were retired in order to start the first inning, and UC Davis was the team to score in the first inning, putting two runs across after Justin Schafer and Daniel Cepin started the game with back-to-back singles.
The damage was really done in the second inning however, as starter Jake Thompson lost the strike zone after allowing a hit to Seth Batty. Thompson then walked three straight batters to bring a run home and took the earliest exit of the season for a starter. Eddie Magallon came on in relief, and while his 4.2 innings helped keep the Dirtbags in the game, six runs would come home in that second inning to spot UC Davis an 8-0 lead.
Long Beach State started to climb back into the game in the late innings. Trailing 10-2 after six inning, the Dirtbags scored three runs in the seventh inning on five hits, and added three more in the ninth, but Matthew Lewis came into the game and earned his second save of the season by getting the last two outs in a 10-8 loss.
Long Beach State returns home for a midweek game on Tuesday, April 13 hosting LMU before returning to Big West play with a three-game series on the road at UC Riverside. First pitch on Tuesday is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.