Long Beach State University Athletics
Dirtbags travel to Pepperdine, host No. 23 Oregon State
3/14/2011 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 14, 2011
Long Beach, Calif. -
Complete Baseball Release in PDF Format 
Leading Off
The Dirtbags are off for their first road weekday game, their fourth game in a row away from Blair Field as Long Beach State heads to Malibu for a 3 p.m. start against Pepperdine. After that game, the Dirtbags get another ranked foe in No. 23 Oregon State as the team faces a fifth weekend in a row against ranked opponents. The 49ers are back in Blair Field to face the Beavers, with start times reverting back to normal with a 6:30 p.m. Friday night start, followed by a 5:30 p.m. Saturday start and a 1 p.m. Sunday matinee. As always all Long Beach State games can be followed via Gametracker or live audio at www.longbeachstate.com.
We're Going Streaking!
Long Beach State notched their longest win streak since the 2009 season, winning five straight games with three wins last week before seeing the streak snapped against No. 15 California in the final game of the Cal Baseball Classic. The Dirtbags started the weekend at AT&T Park in San Francisco by winning another pitchers duel on Friday, this one coming 2-1 over Rice as Gagnon outlasted the Owl's Austin Kubitza. Then on Saturday, Long Beach State extended its winning streak to five by taking a 4-0 lead, then pushing one more across after the Dons came all the way back to grab the victory 5-4 on a pair of Brennan Metzger runs, one early and one late.
Gagnon. Fridays.
Junior starting pitcher Andrew Gagnon has anchored the Friday night pitching role starting last year, and is having similar success this season. Despite pitching against four Top 20 opponents, Gagnon has allowed just four earned runs all season over 27.2 innings of work., posting a 1.30 ERA that is second-best in the Big West. In the season opener against Cal State Fullerton, Gagnon surrendered just two runs but ended up taking the loss to the Titans in a 2-1 defeat. The next week, however, Gagnon turned the result around, striking out seven batters while issuing no walks and scattering four hits against No. 17 Arizona in a 2-1 win. Gagnon then took another tough loss Friday against Oregon, allowing one run but taking the loss after the Dirtbags failed to score, but rallied with a "Giant" performance at AT&T Park, earning a second Big West Pitcher of the Week award after striking out six Owls over 8.0 innings in a 2-1 victory over No. 18 Rice.
Scouting Pepperdine
Long Beach State plays a team with a losing record for just the third time in 2011 Tuesday when the team travels to Pepperdine for the first half of a weekday home-and-home series. The Waves have struggled in their weekend series, getting swept by a pair of ranked foes in Fresno State and Louisville as well as dropping two of three at East Carolina, but have been better on Tuesdays, winning their last two midweek games against a pair of Big West opponents in UC Santa Barbara and UC Riverside. Matt Maurer is slated to get the start, coming in with a 2-1 record and a 5.14 ERA. Junior outfielder Tyler Brubaker leads the team offensively, hitting .400 over 10 games played.
Walk It Out
7-2 in one run games. 1-0 in extra innings. 2-0 in walk off games. The 2011 Dirtbags are showing toughness in the closest games, living up to the team's nickname. The most stirring examples came on two walkoff victories earlier in the season. Trailing 2-0 after the first inning against USC, the Dirtbags rallied to take the lead, and then tied 4-4 in the bottom of the ninth, an RBI single by Johnny Bekakis gave the Dirtbags the win to open the week. Then in wild finish on Saturday, The Dirtbags trailed Oregon 6-1 in the bottom of the ninth, but scored five runs to force extra innings, and finally grabbed the win on an RBI single by Jeff Yamaguchi to move ahead 7-6.
This and That
Just when you thought the Dirtbags might get a break from their non-stop parade of ranked teams into Blair Field this season, Oregon State entered the rankings at No. 23 this past week ... Long Beach State has played just four unranked teams in 2011, going 3-1 against them ... Long Beach State plays just one team from east of California over the whole season, coming on March 11 in a 2-1 win over Rice ... For a program with 18 major-leaguers in 2010, the comfort level starts in college, as the Dirtbags are now 4-2 in games played in Major League stadiums.
