Long Beach State University Athletics
Dirtbags Open Big West Schedule At No. 15 UCSB
3/25/2015 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
THE MATCHUP
· Big West play begins this weekend as the Dirtbags head up to UC Santa Barbara for a three-game series with the Gauchos. With no lights, at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium, all three games will be played in the late afternoon to early evening.
· The Gauchos come into the series as the only ranked team in the Big West,, checking in as high as No. 15 in the D1Baseball.com poll.
· The Dirtbags lead the all-time series with the Gauchos 94-77 and took two of three from UCSB at Blair Field last year. All three games were decided by one run with the Beach winning 3-2 on Friday and 1-0 on Saturday before falling 2-1 in the finale.
ON THE ROAD AGAIN
· Long Beach State has not spent much time away from Blair Field this year - only four games to be exact. After 16 of their first 20 games being played at home, the Dirtbags will 19 of their final 34 game on the road.
· With every road game played against a ranked opponent this season (one at UCLA, three at Arizona State), LBSU owns a 1-3 road record. The UCSB series will make the Dirtbags first seven road games against ranked opponents.
MORE QUALITY OUTINGS
· For the second weekend this season, all three starting pitchers delivered quality starts. The Dirtbags rotation of Kyle Friedrichs, Tanner Brown and Chris Mathewson each went at least six innings while allowing three earned runs or less against Wichita State and Cal State Fullerton.
· The only difference between the two quality series is that all three starting pitchers picked up the win against the Shockers while only Mathewson was credited with the win last weekend.
· Of their 20 games this season, the Dirtbags have received 14 quality starts from their four starting pitchers, including midweek starter Ryan Cruz. Brown leads the Dirtbags as each of his five starts have been quality.
MATHEWSON IN THE CLUTH
· Freshman Chris Mathewson has already made a name for himself in LBSU history in starting the historic no-hitter earlier this season. Now, he's making a new name for himself at the plate.
· Mathewson delivered the game-winning hit in the 12th inning on Friday to lift the Dirtbags to a 4-3 win. It was his second at bat as a Dirtbag.
· A .511 hitter as a senior in high school, Mathewson is no stranger to the batter's box but hadn't made an appearance at the plate until Mar. 11 against George Washington.
· In his first AB, Mathewson took the first pitch he saw back up the middle to break a scoreless tie in the eighth inning against George Washington. His second AB was the game-winner against Cal State Fullerton, making him 2-for-2 with two clutch runs batted in.
BULLPEN IN SHUT DOWN MODE
· The Long Beach State bullpen has been on a roll the last four games, allowing only one run over the last 15 innings. With two extra inning games last week, the arms in the bullpen were called upon often and responded.
· In the Cal State Fullerton series, the Dirtbags bullpen was called on to throw 12 innings and allowed just the one run. Freshman Darren McCaughan kept the Titans scoreless through Friday's three extra frames to earn the win. Austin McGeorge and Logan Lombana pitched the three previous scoreless innings out of the bullpen.
· McGeorge and Lombana went on to each throw another scoreless frame in the series while Ryan Cruz tossed two scoreless on Saturday.
· The bullpen also allowed just eight hits over the 12 innings and is holding opposing hitters this season to a .209 batting average.
A POWERHOUSE MATCHUP
· A quick glance at the conference statistical rankings reveals a primetime matchup for the first weekend of Big West play. One of the Big West's best lineup faces one of the conference's best pitching staffs.
· UCSB ranks near the top of nearly every offensive category and leads the league in batting average (.299), on-base percentage (.388) and runs scored (128). LBSU ranks near the top of many pitching categories, including a conference low batting average against of .199.
· The Dirtbags also rank second with 197 total strikeouts despite playing the second-least number of innings and ranks third with a 2.82 ERA.
DIRTBAGS REMAIN TOUGH ON THE MOUND
· Long Beach State remained one of the national leaders in hits allowed per nine innings this week. Through last weekend's games, the Dirtbags allow just 6.43 hits per nine innings.
· They have allowed only 130 hits in 182 innings this year for a .199 opponent batting average.
· Vanderbilt leads the nation with a lower average than the Dirtbags by just a small fraction. The Dirtbags face a tough UCSB lineup this week that is hitting .299 as a team.
HAMPSON, BISHOP HAVE BIG WEEKS
· Sophomore Garrett Hampson had two multiple-hit games last week to raise his batting average to a team-leading .307. After starting the series 0-for-3, Hampson came through with hits in the ninth and 12th innings on Friday and went on to score the winning run.
· On Sunday, Hampson record a hit in each of his last three at bats to go 3-for-4, including his second triple of the year in the second inning. He also scored twice.
· Senior Alex Bishop hit .455 last week, going 5-for-11 in three starts as the Dirtbags left fielder. Bishop had two hits on Friday and two more on Saturday. All five hits went in as singles.
· Bishop also drove in his fifth RBI of the year with a groundout as part of the Dirtbags four-run first inning on Sunday.
· The senior left fielder is hitting .324 this year in 37 at bats. He has the highest batting average for any Dirtbag that has started in at least nine games.
FRESHMEN COMBINE FOR HISTORIC NO-HITTER
· March 1, 2015 will be a date forever remembered in the Dirtbags history book as the first no-hitter in school history. Freshmen Chris Mathewson and Darren McCaughan combined for the historic feat with Mathewson throwing the first seven innings and McCaughan tossing the last two. The Dirtbags defeated Wichita State 4-0 in the Sunday afternoon game at Blair Field.
WE ARE THE DIRTBAGS
· The OFFICIAL nickname of the Long Beach State baseball program is the Dirtbags.
