1:05pm | Playing in the home park of the San Francisco Giants earlier today, the Dirtbags got a big-league type performance from Andrew Gagnon, who allowed one run over eight innings, striking out six and walking one to earn his second win in 2011.

Gagnon was matched against Owls starter Anthony Kubitz, who struck out seven over six innings pitched. In what was a classic Friday battle between aces, Long Beach State and Rice answered each other pitch-for-pitch over the course of five scoreless innings, where only one batter between the teams reached third base.

Long Beach State got on the board in the sixth inning, as Jeff McNeil reached on an infield single, and Brennan Metzger hit his team-high fourth double to put two runners on with no outs. An RBI single by Matt Duffy brought home one run, and then Metzger came around to score on a single by Ino Patron to give the Dirtbags a 2-0 lead.

Rice answered back in the top of the eighth, as Shane Holscher reached on a single and then stole second during a strikeout by Derek Hamilton. A single by Keenan Cook then brought home Holscher, but Gagnon responded with a groundout to first base to end the threat.

Eddie Magallon pitched a scoreless ninth inning to record his second save as Long Beach State took a fourth straight win.

AT&T Park will be the field for two more games this weekend for Long Beach State. The Dirtbags play San Francisco at 3 p.m. Saturday before closing the weekend by playing No. 20 Cal at 4 p.m. Sunday.