Long Beach State Dirtbags walk to win over Columbia

LONG BEACH >> Patience is a virtue, and it helped the Long Beach State Dirtbags draw a season-high 13 walks in an 8-3 win over Columbia on Friday night at Blair Field.

“There were a lot of free opportunities, obviously,” Long Beach State head coach Troy Buckley said—it was the first time his team has drawn 10+ walks since recording 12 against Utah Valley on Feb. 22 of last year. “But there comes a point where you still have to think hit even though the ball isn’t consistently in the strike zone, and I didn’t think we did that enough.”

The Dirtbags (13-5) got another strong start from Darren McCaughan, the Los Alamitos High grad, who moved to 4-0 on the year. The righty celebrated his birthday by scattering four hits in six-plus innings of work while striking out six, which ties a season high. McCaughan hasn’t allowed more than one run in his four starts.

“I didn’t feel tired,” McCaughan said after five days rest. His mom threw out the first pitch. “It’s a great way to spend a birthday.”

Leadoff hitter Garrett Hampson had two RBIs to give Long Beach State an early lead, and catcher David Banuelos smashed a 3-run home run in the seventh inning for insurance runs.

Freshman Jacob Hughey came out of the bullpen and struck out four batters in the final two innings.

The Dirtbags opened the scoring with four runs in the second inning. Walks and an error loaded the bases, and freshman Brooks Stotler brought home the first run with a walk. After a Columbia pitching change, shortstop Garrett Hampson worked the count full and drove a 2-RBI double into the opposite field gap. Alex Muzzi would also plate Stotler with a sacrifice bunt. Stotler would be replaced by fellow freshman Domenic Coacchio and he would plate Dominguez with his first hit as a Dirtbag in the fifth inning.

Columbia got on the board in the seventh inning when Logan Boyher leadoff with his first home run of the season off of the left field foul pole. After McCaughan gave up a walk and a flair single, his throwing error plated another run and ended his night. Junior Josh Advocate came out of the bullpen and allowed a sacrifice fly RBI that cut the lead to 5-3.

A walk and an error put two runners on for Long Beach State catcher Davis Banuelos to crush the first pitch he saw over the left field fence to erase the 3-run inning for the Lions. Banuelos went 2-for-3 with three runs batted in, giving him his first career multi-hit game and matching his career high in RBIs.

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“The hit by Banuelos was huge,” Buckley said. “It was a big hit. We were aggressive, first pitch, runner in scoring position, it was a nice job.”

These two teams will be back at Blair Field at 2 p.m. on Saturday and 1 p.m. on Sunday.