Long Beach State University Athletics
Dirtbags start Big West play this weekend at Pacific
3/29/2011 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 29, 2011
Long Beach, Calif. -
Complete Baseball Release in PDF Format 
Leading Off
Long Beach State starts Big West conference action this weekend, as well as concluding the team's longest road trip of the year while heading to Pacific for three games beginning on Friday. The series finishes a seven-game road trip for the Dirtbags as league play begins. First pitch on Friday is scheduled for 6 p.m., followed by a second 6 p.m. start on Saturday and a 1 p.m. start time to finish the series on Sunday. As always all Long Beach State games can be followed via Gametracker or live audio at www.longbeachstate.com.
Close Calls
Long Beach State finished the week with another 2-2 split, winning on the road at LMU before heading to No. 12 Stanford for the team's next-to-last non-conference series. The Dirtbags took game one behind a strong performance from ace Andrew Gagnon, who had eight strikeouts over 6.0 innings while Eddie Magallon converted his fifth save in a 6-3 win. After a 6-1 loss on Saturday, the Dirtbags stormed out to a 4-0 lead while chasing Cardinal starter Dean McArdle out of the game, but faltered behind three errors and Stanford was able to take the win and the series in a 6-5 defeat. Catcher Mike Marjama had six hits for Long Beach State over the week, as did Michael Hill, starting four time as the freshman returned to the lineup.
Scouting Pacific
Pacific came in with high expectations in 2011 but has stumbled this far to a 6-14 record, primarily on lack of hitting. Matthew Cavutto leads the squad with a .366 average, but is the only consistent bat in a lineup that is hitting .254 as a team. The Tigers have had success in pitching behind Jake Hummel however. Last week's Big West Pitcher of the week has struke out 31 over 44 innings pitcher, compiling a 3-2 record with a 2.25 ERA. He leads the league in innings pitched, and is fifth in the conference in ERA, just in front of Long Beach State's Andrew Gagnon. As a team, the Tigers have just one series win on the year, taking a road series at USC two games to one.
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 six Top 25 opponents, Gagnon has allowed just ten earned runs all season over 38.2 innings of work., posting a 2.33 ERA that is among the league leaders 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. Then last week, Gagnon delivered again, striking out a season high eight to lead the Dirtbags past No. 12 Stanford.
Walk It Out
8-3 in one run games. 3-0 in extra innings. 3-0 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 in the team's three walkoff victories this 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. Finally, last weekend, the Dirtbags battled through 10 1-1 innings before a Matt Hibbert double gave the team a chance, and Ino Patron singled to score the senior and keep the Dirtbags perfect in extras this season.
