Long Beach State Dirtbags give UCSB Big West opening win

LONG BEACH >> Sometimes mistakes are more important than highlight plays, and that was the case on Friday night at Blair Field, where Long Beach State miscues gave visiting UC Santa Barbara the opportunities to edge the Dirtbags, 4-3.

It was the Big West Conference-opening series for both teams. The No. 17 Dirtbags (16-9, 0-1 Big West) will send Darren McCaughan to the mound Saturday at 2 p.m. and the No. 18 Gauchos (19-5, 1-0) will counter with Noah Davis. Both right-handers are undefeated this season.

The Dirtbags finished Friday’s game with 10 hits, and had the bases loaded in the ninth iing, but left eight ruers on base.

“We gave them a lot, and you can’t do that with good teams in conference,” Long Beach State coach Troy Buckley said. “We could’ve done five or six things to win, and we didn’t. It’s disappointing because we lost, we didn’t get beat.”

Long Beach State starter Chris Mathewson used 111 pitches to get though 7 1/3 iings while giving up five hits and three walks. The sophomore threw a first-pitch strike to 25 of the 30 batters he faced and struck out nine batters, eight with his devastating breaking ball.

However, his departure in the seventh iing with the score tied 3-3 spelled disaster for the Dirtbags.

A one-out walk ended Mathewson’s night, and then three wild pitches from reliever Lucas Jacobsen allowed pinch-ruer Devon Gradford to come all the way around to score the go-ahead run as UCSB led 4-3.

The Dirtbags loaded the bases in the ninth iing Daniel Jackson singled, Zack Rivera walked and Garett Hampson was hit by a pitch. But UCSB closer Kyle Nelson got a groundout to end the game.

UCSB starter Shane Bieber pitched 7 2/3 iings after settling down. He gave up four hits and two runs in the first iing when Hampson set the table for the Dirtbags to take the lead. The junior reached on a bunt single, and his delayed steal of second drew a wild throw, so he took third with one out.

Brock Lundquist drove in Hampson with a sacrifice fly, and after Luke Rasmussen and Alex Muzzi reached on two-out singles, Jackson drove home a second run before Muzzi was caught in a rundown to end the iing.

UCSB quickly erased the deficit when designated hitter Austin Bush homered over the right field wall to lead off the second iing, and Josh Adams scored on a wild pitch after a double and sacrifice bunt.

Gauchos leadoff hitter Andrew Calica broke a 2-2 tie in the fifth iing with the second UCSB home run over the right-field fence. Just like Bush’s homer, it came on a three-ball count after Mathewson narrowly missed with the breaking ball. Both pitches were fastballs up in the zone.

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Hampson pulled the Dirtbags even in the seventh iing after Zack Domingues led off with a bunt single. He reached third on a sacrifice bunt and a groundout before Hampson pushed a 1-1 pitch into right field to bring him home.

Long Beach State put a ruer on base in all but one iing.