Long Beach State University Athletics
Dirtbags travel to USC, host Cal Poly over the weekend
4/26/2011 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 26, 2011
Long Beach, Calif. -
Complete Baseball Release in PDF Format 
Leading Off
Long Beach State plays the second half of a home-and-home series with USC as the Dirtbags travel to Dedeaux Field in Los Angeles for the second half of the series on Tuesday night. The team then returns to Blair Field for a three-game series in Big West action, hosting the Cal Poly Mustangs beginning on Friday at 6:30 p.m., followed by a Saturday start at 5:30 p.m. and a Sunday matinee at 1 p.m. As always, fans away from the ballpark can follow the action via live audio and Gametracker at www.longbeachstate.com.
Patron Leads 'Em Back
Ino Patron had a huge week for the Dirtbags at UCSB, but Long Beach State dropped the series on the road to the Gauchos. Patron gave the Dirtbags a 3-1 lead on the first game of the series on a two-run homer, his first of the year, but five unearned runs cost Andrew Gagnon the complete game victory in a 5-3 loss. The next day, the Gauchos took the series in a 7-2 win, but in the third game, Patron hit two more home runs, including a three-run blast that proved to drive in the winning run in a 6-2 win to even the team's record in Big West play.
Scouting USC
USC comes in under .500 at 18-21, but the Trojans have played better of late, posting an 8-7 mark in Pac-10 play, and have series wins over Oregon, Washington and Stanford. Long Beach State won the first meeting between the teams back on the first day of March, winning on a walkoff single in the bottom of the ninth by freshman Johnny Bekakis, coming in support of Kyle Friedrichs who pitched 4.2 innings on his first and only start and Shawn Stuart, who threw 2.1 innings to finish the game and earn his first win of the season. Shortstop Ricky Oropesa is the Trojans' top hitter, with a .342 average and six home runs so far through 2011 in his junior season.
Gagnon. Fridays.
Junior starting pitcher Andrew Gagnon has anchored the Friday night pitching role since the 2010 season and has had tremendous success in 2011. Gagnon has the Big West's lowest ERA's at 1.93, and has allowed just 14 earned runs over 65.1 innings this season while holding opponents to a league-best .198 batting average. Gagnon started off the season by matching up against six straight ranked opponents, beating Arizona, Rice and Stanford on Friday nights in the process. Gagnon has also been involved in both shutouts of the season for Long Beach State, striking out eight over seven innings against Pacific before striking out 10 Highlanders and allowing just one hit over eight innings in a 1-0 victory over UC Riverside. The junior has allowed 0 earned runs in four starts now this season.
Big West Notables
With 12 games played, additional trends are beginning to emerge from the season. Long Beach State's early struggles with the bat have lifted some, with the team batting average ranking seventh overall for all games, but third in Big West games only. The Dirtbags are led by freshman Ino Patron, whose .400 mark in league games ranks seventh overall, and is just one of seven players to bat over .400 in Big West play. Patron is also second in Big West play with three home runs. In RBI, Patron leads the league with 13 in Big West play, while Matt Duffy is tied for second with 12, just one behind the Dirtbags' freshman. Meanwhile on the mound, Andrew Gagnon's 24 strikeouts are third-most in Big West games, while his .135 batting average against in league is just behind UC Santa Barbara's Nick Capito.
Fresh Faces
With just 12 returning players from the 2010 squad, Long Beach State's team has the newest look of any squad since the original Dirtbag team under Dave Snow in 1989. Freshman Ino Patron leads the Dirtbags in hitting at .331 and is also the team's leader in OBP at .410. Transfer Mike Marjama has not missed a start and is third behind Patron with a .288 batting average and 40 hits on the year. Jeff McNeil is fourth on the team with a .287 batting average, just in front of another freshman in Royce Murai at .273. The Dirtbags have just one returning player hitting over .270 in senior Matt Hibbert.
