Home runs lift Long Beach State Dirtbags over UC Irvine

LONG BEACH >> On Saturday afteoon at Blair Field, great hitting conditions helped No. 18 Long Beach State swing its way to an 8-3 victory over visiting UC Irvine, the Dirtbags’ second consecutive win in the three-game Big West Conference series.

“The ultimate deal is to win the series,” Long Beach State coach Troy Buckley said. “I’ve seen us play better, but it’s always nice to put ourselves in a position for a series sweep.”

The Dirtbags (21-12, 5-3 Big West) had a chance to bust the game wide open in the second iing, but the Anteaters escaped the bases-loaded jam. UC Irvine wasn’t as fortunate in the third iing. After a double by designated hitter Luke Rasmussen, sophomore Brock Lundquist crushed a hanging curveball to center field for his first home run of the year, putting Long Beach State up 3-0.

“My approach was to work the left side of the field,” Lundquist said. “I got a really good pitch I could hit and I just wanted to hit the ball hard.”

The Dirtbags did a great job of getting deep into the count and putting good swings on good hitters’ pitches. In the fourth iing, catcher David Banuelos led off with a solo home run to left field and that sparked a four-run iing.

“Our plan at the plate was good today,” Buckley said. “Our offense did a good job of getting the balls up in the strike zone and we were able to put up some crooked numbers.”

The run support from the offense really seemed to help starting pitcher Darren McCaughan find his groove. The reigning Big West Pitcher of the Week went a strong eight iings, giving up three eaed runs while striking out seven. He got into some trouble in the early part of the game, but really settled down in the fourth. At point, he retired seven hitters in a row.

“I kind of started off slow today,” McCaughan said. “But I sped things up in the fourth and tried to get the ball down. From there, I just wanted to see how many balls I can get to Garrett (Hampson) and let my defense play.”

It was a much-needed start from the sophomore right-hander with the bullpen limited after working hard in a 12-iing 3-2 win on Friday night.

“We needed a good outing and McCaughan has been our most consistent guy,” said Buckley. “He’s a really fierce competitor and he grinded out there for us today. He wasn’t great out front, but he bobbed and he weaved and he did a good job for us.”

The series finale is scheduled for 1 p.m. today at Blair Field.

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