Dirtbags Return Home to Host No. 2 UCLA

April 27, 2015

Tuesday, April 28
UCLA at Long Beach State
Time: 6 p.m.
Location: Long Beach, Calif. (Blair Field)
Listen | Gametracker | Tickets

THE MATCHUP

After playing nine of the last 12 games on the road, Long Beach State returns home for four games this week. No. 2 UCLA visits on Tuesday for the second matchup of the season between the two southern California programs.
UCLA sports a 31-9 record and a 16-5 record in the Pac-12. The Bruins are as high as No. 2 in the polls but own the top RPI spot as of Monday.
When the two met earlier this year, Long Beach State cooled off the hot UCLA bats but fell 1-0 at Jackie Robinson Stadium.
Last season, the Dirtbags and Bruins split four games. Both teams went 1-1 on their home fields.

SOME RECENT HISTORY

Three of the four games last year featured four combined runs or less before the Dirtbags slugged out an 8-5 win in the Sunday finale. The Dirtbags shutout UCLA on the road but were shutout in a midweek matchup and an extra innings Friday night matchup.
The low-scoring trend continued this year as UCLA scored the game's only run on Kevin Kramer's solo home run.

CRUZ RESUMES MIDWEEK ROLE

Ryan Cruz had an impressive start to his career as a Dirtbag, allowing just two earned runs in his first 20 innings. That included a midweek start at UCLA in February when he took a no-hitter into the sixth.
Cruz allowed just one run on two hits in six innings of work at UCLA but was pegged with a tough loss when the Dirtbags were unable to score.
He has appeared in every Tuesday game for the Dirtbags but has come into the bullpen in the last three.

RASMUSSEN BECOMING MAINSTAY

Luke Rasmussen has caught fire over the last few weeks, putting together a seven-game hitting streak and raising his average to .407. After spending most the season splitting time with fellow freshman slugger Brock Lundquist at DH, both now appear on the same lineup card during Rasmussen's hot streak.
Rasmussen has at least a hit in eight of the last nine games he has appeared in and has two hits in five of those games. Since April 3, his batting average has rose from .296 to as high as .419 and it not sits at .407.
He has started each of the last four games either at DH or in left field.
During his seven-game hit streak, which includes six starts and a pinch hit single, Rasmussen is a blazing 11-for-20 for a .550 batting average.
Six of 11 hits have gone for extra bases with three doubles, a triple and two home runs. He smacked his first career home run on April 18 against UC Riverside and hit a three-run homer on Sunday at Cal Poly.
Rasmussen is slugging 1.100 during his hit streak and is on base two-thirds of the time with a .667 on-base percentage. He also leads the team with seven RBI during the stretch to raise his season total to 10.

HIGHLY OFFENSIVE FOR A SUNDAY

Long Beach State has poured on the offense the last two Sunday, defeating UC Riverside 10-1 and Cal Poly 12-11.
They have pounded out 22 runs on 33 hits for a team batting average of .398 over the two games.
Against UCR, the Dirtbags jumped on top early. They scored four runs in the first and went on to score a pair of runs in each of the next three innings to build a 10-0 lead by the fifth.
At Cal Poly, the Dirtbags bats caught fire late. They managed just two runs over the first five frames but switch a flip in the sixth. They put up 10 consecutive run from the sixth to the 10th to turn a 9-2 deficit into a 12-9 lead and eventual 12-11 win.
The Dirtbags had managed just five combined runs in the first two games with UC Riverside and four at Cal Poly.

BETTER AT BLAIR

Long Beach State is 17-6 in the confines of its home stadium at Blair Field. Both the offense and pitching seem to get a boost in front of the home crowd.
The Dirtbags hit .249 as a team at home but their opponents mange to hit just .190. The Dirtbags have outscored their opponents 102-68 in 23 home games this year.
The pitchers own a slim 2.15 ERA at Blair this year with an average of nearly 10 strikeouts per game.
The Dirtbags are 3-2 in midweek games at home this year.

HAMPSON STREAKING

Sophomore Garrett Hampson will have a career-long hit streak if he records at least a hit in Tuesday's game with UCLA. With exactly one hit in each of the Dirtbags games over the weekend, Hampson now has a 10-game hit streak.
His current streak ties him for a career-long with came during his freshman campaign. He had a 10-game hit streak from Feb. 25-Mar.15 last year.
He is the only Dirtbag to reach a double digit hit streak this year.
His current hit streak was preceded by an eight-game hit streak, which equates to Hampson having at least one hit in 18 of the last 20 games.
In those last 20 games, Hampson is hitting .318 with a double and two triples while driving in three runs and scoring 14 more. He also has five stolen bases.

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.

Calendar

Players Mentioned

Ryan Cruz

Garrett Hampson

Brock Lundquist

Chris Mathewson

Darren McCaughan

Luke Rasmussen

Long Beach State University Athletics