Long Beach State Dirtbag offense alive and well against Cal Poly

LONG BEACH >> They say you should never look a gift horse in the mouth, so the Long Beach State Dirtbags did exactly that on Friday night when they hosted the Big West-leading Cal Poly Mustangs in the first of three imperative conference games at Blair Field.

Three throwing errors and poor relief pitching by Cal Poly gave the Dirtbags (24-16, 7-6 Big West) a chance to score 14 unanswered runs on their way to a 14-3 win. LBSU scored seven insurance runs off of Mustang relievers in the seventh iing.

The Dirtbags had a season-high 21 hits and they’ve scored double-digit runs in three of their last four games for the first time since 2010. During that stretch in 2010 they scored a record 42 runs, and this year they’ve scored 41. The heart of the LBSU lineup did most of the damage on Friday as first baseman Daniel Jackson, left fielder Brock Lundquist and designated hitter Luke Rasmussen combined for nine hits, six runs scored and four RBIs.

Cal Poly (25-15, 7-3) actually jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first iing. However, Long Beach State pulled even by loading the bases in the bottom of the second iing when Rasmussen hit a one-out single, third baseman Zach Dominguez was hit by a pitch and catcher David Banuelos singled through the right side. Cal Poly starter Kyle Smith walked Joey Sanchez to drive in a run, and then shortstop Garrett Hampson came up with a single back up the box to drive in two more runs and tie the game 3-3.

Meanwhile, Dirtbags starter Chris Mathewson settled in after the rocky start. The sophomore worked 5 2/3 iings and only gave up four hits after the first iing. Mathewson struck out eight and walked five before giving way to reliever Austin McGeorge in the sixth iing with two ruers on base. The first of his three strikeouts ended a threat. He now has 61 strikeouts in 23 appearances this season. Long Beach State is 18-2 when leading after five iings.

Jackson led off the bottom of the fifth iing with a single to left field, his fourth hit of the day. Then after a bunt single from Lundquist, the throw to first was wild and both ruers got into scoring position with no outs. Rasmussen promptly drove in Jackson with a clean single on the second pitch he saw, also his third hit of the day. Then a wild pickoff attempt at third base went up the left field line and allowed Jackson to give the Dirtbags a 6-3 lead.

Long Beach State added three insurance runs with well-placed hits in the bottom of the seventh iing. Jackson and Lundquist with back-to-back infield singles, and Rasmussen’s double into right field scored Jackson. After a wild pitch scored Lundquist, Dominguez drove in Rasmussen with a bloop single to center field to make it 9-3 and the rout was on.

The teams will be back in action at 2 p.m. today. The series finale is at 1 p.m. on Sunday at Blair Field.

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