Dirtbags Take Series with UCSB

Saturday, May 10

Long Beach, Calif.

6:00 PM

Long Beach State University

30-17, 0

UC Santa Barbara

30-19, 0

UC Santa Barbara

Long Beach State

Danny Espinosa had three hits in the win.

5/10/2008 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

May 10, 2008

Box Score

LONG BEACH-- Shane Peterson redeemed himself after allowing the Gauchos to tie the game in the sixth from the mound, driving in the go-ahead run in a two-run seventh inning as No. 26-ranked Long Beach State (30-17, 11-6 Big West) won its series over visiting UC Santa Barbara (30-19, 9-8 Big West) 10-8.

With CS Fullerton losing to Cal Poly (11-4) and UC Riverside losing to UC Davis (6-5), the Dirtbags are now tied with the Highlanders in the conference standings, a game and a half back of CSF.

The designated hitter's double, followed by Danny Espinosa's third hit of the night, gave the Dirtbags a 10-8 lead in the seventh off of Patrick McIntyre (0-1). Jason Tweedy drove in two runs early for The Beach, as LBSU led 8-5, prior to the Gauchos coming back with three runs in the sixth.

David Roberts (3-1) pitched 1.1 scoreless innings of relief for the win, before Nick Vincent pitched the next two perfect innings for his second save.

Tweedy's two-out single in the fifth made it 6-5, after his double in a four-run fourth helped LBSU tie it at 5-5. The Dirtbags scored three times in the inning to make it 8-5 as the team batted around for the second-straight inning.

Peterson gave up back-to-back singles in relief to make it 8-8 in the sixth as the Gauchos came back after both starters could not get out of the fourth in a 5-5 game.

The Dirtbags struck back against starter Mario Hollands, scoring four times in the fourth to tie it at 5-5, as LBSU sent eight men to the plate in the inning, before recording an out, against reliever Mike Martin. Martin had hit Jonathan Jones with the bases loaded to tie it at 5-5.

The wild fourth also saw Gaucho Coach Bob Brontsema ejected from the game, a pitch prior to Tweedy's double, which made it 5-4. Brontsema objected to a no-called check swing on a 2-2 pitch and was ejected by home plate umpire Dennis Smythe.

Vance Worley could not get out of the fourth inning, as the Gauchos took a 5-1 lead off of nine hits. Worley, who began the year 3-0, has a 6.28 ERA over his last seven starts. A two-run, two-out triple by Brian Gump made it 5-1 in the fourth chased Worley from the game. Gump drove in four runs in the contest.

The finale of the three-game series will be on Sunday at 1 p.m. with LHP Chuck Huggins (7-2, 4.04) opposing Jake Thompson (2-4, 4.20).