Darren McCaughan, Brock Lundquist deliver series win for Dirtbags

LONG BEACH >> Starting pitcher Darren McCaughan and designated hitter Brock Lundquist carried the Long Beach State Dirtbags to a 3-1 series-clinching victory over Arizona State on Sunday at Blair Field.

McCaughan, a Los Alamitos High alum, faced the minimum number of Sun Devil batters though seven iings while allowing just two hits and one run. Meanwhile, Lundquist busted out of a slump with two run-scoring hits, including the eventual game-wiing triple in the bottom of the seventh iing. The sophomore cleanup hitter was only hitting .130 with a team-high 10 strikeouts coming into Sunday’s game.

“(Lundquist) has been sitting there, and the table has been full,” Dirtbags head coach Troy Buckley said. “Hopefully this will get him going.”

A double play in the third iing and pickoff at first in the fifth iing helped McCaughan put Arizona State (5-3) down in order until the top the of eighth iing. He added six strikeouts.

“(Arizona State) is a good team and I had to stay focused and not take a single pitch off,” McCaughan said. “I threw a lot of 2-seam fastballs to keep the ball down in the zone. I have a great defense. They have confidence in me, and I have confidence in them to make the plays.”

New Long Beach State third baseman Zach Dominguez and All-American shortstop Garrett Hampson made a handful of great plays on hard-hit ground balls. The Dirtbags (5-2) only have one fielding error this season.

Long Beach State put a ruer on in each of the first five iings and finally broke through in the fifth. Hampson went to the opposite field for a one-out single before stealing second base and taking third on a throwing error. Lundquist battled to a full count with one out and plated Hampson with a sacrifice fly, also to the opposite field.

After Joey Sanchez led off the bottom of the seventh iing with a single, Hampson reached on a bunt single and Lundquist drove both of them home with a triple to left field to make it 3-0. Leadoff hitter Hampson has scored eight runs in the last four games. Freshman second baseman Jarren Duran also had two hits.

“When guys are on base, I’m doing whatever I can to put the ball in play,” Lundquist said. “I sat back on (the off-speed pitches) and was able to do that today.”

McCaughan only made 79 pitches through seven iings, but a double chased him in the eighth. Austin McGeorge came on in relief with two ruers in scoring position. He gave up an RBI single, but Sanchez cut the ruer down at third to limit the damage.

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“(ASU) is a good team and we’ve gotten two really good pitching performances against them,” Buckley added after Chris Mathewson, who will eventually be the Friday night starts, and McCaughan had quality starts this weekend. “And we’ve got guys who haven’t thrown yet, which is a good problem to have. We’re going to take the next 2-3 weeks to figure this rotation out.”

Long Beach State will host USC at Blair Field on Tuesday. First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m.

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