Long Beach State University Athletics
Dirtbags Continue Road Stretch With The Defending Champs
3/24/2014 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 24, 2014
Tuesday, Mar. 25
Time: 6 p.m.
Location: Los Angeles, Calif.
Stadium: Jackie Robinson Stadium
TV: Pac-12 Networks
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ROAD SWING CONTINUES WITH MIDWEEK GAME AT UCLA
The defending national champions are next up on the Long Beach State Dirtbags' nine-game road swing. Tuesday's game will be the fifth of the nine-game trip and the second Tuesday in a row with a trip up to LA. UCLA is fresh off a Pac-12 series win over Washington State and is currently 14-8 overall.
DIRTBAGS ON TV
Tuesday's game at UCLA will be broadcast live on the Pac-12 Networks. It will be Long Beach State's lone appearance on the network this season. Ted Robinson will have the call on play-by-play and former major leaguer Aubrey Huff will join him as the analyst.
PAC-12 SLAYERS
UCLA will be the fourth Pac-12 team that the Dirtbags will take on this year, following Arizona State, USC and Arizona. The Dirtbags have posted a record of 4-0 against those three Pac-12 schools with convincing wins over the both Arizona and Arizona State. The Dirtbags shutout ASU 11-0 for its first win of the year and then handed USC its first loss of the season five days later with a 2-1 win. LBSU swept a two-game midweek series at Arizona to run its record against the conference to 4-0. In those four games, the Dirtbags are averaging nearly seven runs per game while the pitching staff owns a 1.75 ERA.
DIRTBAGS HIT HALFWAY POINT OF LONG ROAD SWING
Long Beach State entered into its longest road swing of the season with a 10-8 record and having won seven of the previous nine games. The trip began with a narrow loss at LMU and a series loss at No. 9 Cal State Fullerton for a 1-3 record so far on the trip. Overall, the Dirtbags are 4-6 away from Blair Field but have outscored their opponents 42-41 in those 10 games.
TWICE AS NICE FOR HAMPSON
Freshman Garrett Hampson has caught on quickly to the college game and leads the team with a .337 batting average this year. He also hit safely in 10 consecutive games for the Dirtbags longest hit streak thus far in the season and has recorded at least one hit in 13 of the last 15 games. Last week, Hampson hit a pair of doubles against LMU and duplicated the feat on Saturday at Cal State Fullerton to key the 3-2 comeback win. With the four double week, Hampson leads the team in doubles and ranks third in the Big West.
BATTERS SIGH AGAINST FRYE
Senior Josh Frye has come out of the bullpen seven times this year and has allowed runs in just one of those appearances. Take away Frye's lost outing against Arizona, when he allowed two runs and last just one third of an inning, and Frye has tossed 11.1 shutout innings. He was charged with a pair of runs against Arizona in a game that the Dirtbags led 11-2 when Frye entered the game but has been near flawless since then. He has allowed just two hits, struck out six and walked just one in his last 8.1 innings pitched, which spans his last four appearances. He threw a career-high 3.1 innings on Sunday and shutdown a Cal State Fullerton offense that had rattled off six runs in the three innings prior to his entrance.
BULLPEN LOCKDOWN
Long Beach State's bullpen has been spectacular over the last week, combining for 18 consecutive scoreless innings over the last five games. The bullpen's efficiency in holding opponents at bay is a big reason the Dirtbags have played in several one-run games in the last two weeks. The bullpen has not just held opponents scoreless, Dirtbag relievers have allowed just five hits in the last 18 innings to keep the Dirtbags in all five games and set up the dramatic victory over Indiana on Mar. 16.
STILL AS CLOSE AS IT GETS
The Dirtbags have seen enough of the dramatic endings in the last week to last a whole season. Six of their last seven games have been decided by just one run. First, LBSU took two of three from Indiana with a couple of walkoff wins in the ninth inning. Next, the Dirtbags dropped a 4-3 contest at LMU. After falling 5-1 on Friday night at Cal State Fullerton, the Dirtbags claimed a 3-2 win but fell 6-5 after a ninth-inning rally nearly brought them all the way back from a 6-0 hole.
PRIGATANO AND PATRON EXTEND HIT STREAKS
The No. 3 and No. 4 hitters in the Dirtbag lineup have been rolling through the past few weeks. Ino Patron and Richard Prigatano each had one hit in all four games last week to extend their respective hit streak. Patron has hit safely in each of the last nine games and Prigatano has at least one hit in each of the last eight. Patron has been dependable at the plate after not recording a hit in the Vanderbilt series to open the season. The senior has at least one hit 17 of the last 19 games while Prigatano has hit safely in 11 of the last 13.
YES, WE'RE REALLY CALLED THAT
The OFFICIAL nickname of the Long Beach State baseball program is the Dirtbags.
