Long Beach State University Athletics
Final Roadtrip Takes Dirtbags To Riverside
5/15/2014 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 15, 2014
Friday, May 16
Time: 6 p.m.
Location: Riverside, Calif.
Stadium: Riverside Sports Complex
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Saturday, May 17
Time: 6 p.m.
Location: Riverside, Calif.
Stadium: Riverside Sports Complex
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Sunday, May 19
Time: 6 p.m.
Location: Riverside, Calif.
Stadium: Riverside Sports Complex
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FINAL ROAD TRIP TAKES DIRTBAGS TO RIVERSIDE
Long Beach State heads out of town one last time with a three-game series at UC Riverside this weekend. The Dirtbags are coming into the Friday-Sunday series on a roll as winners in nine of their last 11 games, including the last four games in a row, and are four games over .500. UC Riverside comes in on a bit of a hot streak as well after taking two of three from Cal State Fullerton last weekend. The Highlanders are 23-24 on the year and sit just behind the Dirtbags in the conference standings with a 10-8 Big West record.
SATURDAY AND SUNDAY ON ESPN3/WatchESPN
The final two games of this weekend's series at UC Riverside will be televised live online on ESPN3 and the WatchESPN app for smart phones and tablets. Sam Farber will have the play-by-play duties for both games and will be joined in the booth by color commentator Wes Clements.
HAMPSON HAVING HISTORIC FRESHMAN CAMPAIGN
Freshman Garrett Hampson has been leading the Dirtbags at the plate for most of the year. With four hits this weekend, Hampson pushed his season total to 64 hits during his freshman campaign while starting every game at shortstop. His 64 hits are the most by a freshman since 1999 when Chris Wright recorded 66 hits in his freshman season. Bobby Crosby, also a freshman in 1999, had exactly 60 hits during the 1999 season. Chris Wright went on to set the Dirtbag record for career hits with 260 and Crosby went on to play in the MLB for eight seasons.
DIRTBAGS SUCCESSFUL RETURN TO THE ROAD
Last weekend's sweep of Hawaii was riddled with a few rare accomplishments for the Dirtbags. It was Long Beach State's first road sweep of a three-game series since April of 2009 when LBSU took all three games from Pacific in Stockton, Calif. The middle game of this weekend's series also marked the first time the Dirtbags had 20 hits in a game since 2011. The opponent the last time the Dirtbags had 20 hits was again Pacific. The same game also featured the last time the Dirtbags had a player record two hits in the same inning. Kirk Singer accomplished the feat on April 1, 2011 against Pacific and freshman Garrett Hampson hit two singles in the fifth inning on Saturday.
MANUFACTURING THE NEEDED WINS
Long Beach State has gotten hot in May without the benefit of generating instant offense. The Dirtbags have not hit a home run in nearly two months. Their last home run came Mar. 29 when Johnny Bekakis went yard in the finale at Cal State Northridge. Since then, the Dirtbags are 14-10 overall, 10-5 in the Big West and outscoring their opponents 86-69. LBSU is hitting .249 over the last month and a half with 35 doubles and six triples. The pitching has been outstanding during the stretch with 7 of the 14 wins coming via the shutout. The Dirtbags boast a 2.61 ERA and are limiting opposing teams to a .227 batting average.
PATRON ON FIRE
Senior Ino Patron is heating up at the right time and the Dirtbags are heating up with him. LBSU is four games above .500 for the first time this season and the first time since 2011 after winning nine of its last 11 games, including the last four consecutively. Patron has been the driving force behind the offense, hitting a scorching .405 over that stretch to up his batting average to .300. He has five runs batted in and a pair of doubles in the last 11 games while also scoring five times. He is one of seven Dirtbags to have four RBI in the hot stretch with Michael Hill's seven leading the team.
HILL HEADING FOR THREE
Senior Michael Hill was one of three Dirtbags to hit a triple over the weekend, joining Colby Brenner and Richard Prigatano. Brenner became the fourth Dirtbag to hit multiple triples this year and Hill became just the seventh Dirtbag to hit seven triples in a season. The last Dirtbag to hit seven in a single year was TJ Mittelstadt in 2009. His seven triples rank second in the country and are just one behind the national leader. The Dirtbags' 18 triples rank 15th.
HOLDING `EM DOWN IN BLAIR
The Dirtbags are 16-11 in their pitcher-friendly home park this season and have season some outstanding pitching while playing in Blair Field. Visitors in Blair Field are hitting just .222 and averaging less than three runs per game. Those visitors include a few high octane offense, who were stifled by the Dirtbag pitching at home. UC Santa Barbara came into town hitting .307 as a team while Cal Poly came into Blair Field the next week hitting .306 as a team and left hitting .296. Both offenses were also shutout for just the second time and scored well below their respective averages. Pepperdine came in to Blair in between the two series scoring about five and a half runs per game but failed to get on the board while managing only seven hits. Most recently, San Diego's high-powered offense, which leads the nation with 121 doubles and ranks among the top-10 in batting average, was held to just five singles and one run. The Gauchos, Mustangs, Waves and Toreros combined to hit just .178 in eight games at Blair Field despite all four entering the respective matchups hitting over .300 as a team.
YES, WE'RE REALLY CALLED THAT
The OFFICIAL nickname of the Long Beach State baseball program is the Dirtbags.
