Series Evened As Dirtbags Fall 3-1 At UCSB

Saturday, March 28

Santa Barbara, Calif.

2:00 PM

Long Beach State University

13-9, 1-1

UC Santa Barbara

18-7, 1-1

Long Beach State

UC Santa Barbara

Rivera drove in a run and reached base in all four trips to the plate.

3/28/2015 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

March 28, 2015

Box Score

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. -- Zack Rivera went 3-for-3 but Long Beach State fell 3-1 at UC Santa Barbara to even the Big West opening series. The majority of the scoring came in the first inning as the No. 15 Gauchos (18-7, 1-1 Big West) held on to the narrow lead for the win.

Rivera reached base all four times he came to the plate with two singles, a double and a walk but the Dirtbags (13-9, 1-1 Big West) couldn't get much else going offensively against UCSB starter Justin Jacome. Jacome allowed just four hits and a run while going all nine innings for his fourth win.

The Dirtbags did all their damage in the first. Garrett Hampson led off with a single and was sacrificed over to second. Rivera then stroked his first single of the day to center to score Hampson.

The Gauchos immediately responded in the bottom half of the opening frame. A trio of two-out singles scored a pair of runs for the early 2-1 lead. Dalton Kelly and Scott Quinlan drove in the runs for UCSB.

From there, the Gauchos pounded out six more hits but couldn't scratch across another run. Tanner Brown scattered eight hits over four and a third while keeping the Gauchos to two runs. He ran into trouble in the fifth when runners reached the corners with one out but Austin McGeorge came out of the bullpen to bail him out with an inning-ending double play ball.

Meanwhile, Jacome continued to deal for UCSB. He struck out12 in the game and walked two. Both walks came in the seventh with no outs as he put Zack Domingues and Rivera on consecutively. They were sacrificed up to second and third but were stranded there after a strikeout and a ground out to end the threat.

UCSB added an insurance run in the ninth. Rivera doubled with two outs to keep the Dirtbags hopes alive but Jacome ended the game with a strikeout to even the series.

The two teams will meet one final time for the rubber match of the series tomorrow at 1 p.m.