Long Beach State University Athletics
Dirtbags Host UC Davis In Final Home Series
5/13/2015 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 13, 2015
Long Beach State Game Notes 
Friday, May 15
UC Davis at Long Beach State
Time: 6 p.m.
Location: Long Beach, Calif. (Blair Field)
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Saturday, May 16
UC Davis at Long Beach State
Time: 2 p.m.
Location: Long Beach, Calif. (Blair Field)
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Sunday, May 17
UC Davis at Long Beach State
Time: 1 p.m.
Location: Long Beach, Calif. (Blair Field)
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THE MATCHUP
- UC Davis makes its way to Blair Field for Long Beach State's final home series of 2015. The two teams will jockey for positioning in the standings with the Dirtbags currently in sixth and the Aggies currently sitting in seventh.
- Last year, UC Davis took two of three from the Dirtbags in northern California. It was the lone Big West series loss of the year for the Dirtbags in 2014. The Beach holds a 20-11 all-time advantage over UC Davis.
- Long Beach State has won the last four meeting in a row at Blair Field, sweeping the Aggies in 2013.
- The Aggies come into the series with a .283 batting average but lead the conference, by far, in doubles in stolen bases. Their 100 stolen bases in 142 attempts are 41 more than the second-ranked Big West program while their 115 doubles are nearly 30 more.
FINAL HOMESTAND
- The home schedule comes to a close after Sunday's contest between the Dirtbags and Aggies as LBSU finishes the season on the road.
- The 2015 senior class will be recognized on the field prior to Sunday's first pitch.
- With rain in the forecast for this weekend in Long Beach, any schedule changes will be announced on twitter (@LBDirtbags) and on LongBeachState.com.
HAMPSON AT HOME
- The Dirtbags have found success on their home field with an 18-10 record at Blair Field, but have lost the last four straight at home, including two shutouts.
- Sophomore Garrett Hampson has put up some big numbers at Blair Field, hitting .327 in the 28 home games.
- Hampson had 35 of his team-leading 56 hits at home and has 13 of his 16 RBI at Blair Field.
- He has at least one hit in 13 of the last 14 games at home and has at least one hit in 24 of the 28 home games this season.
- The sophomore leadoff hitter has reached base in all but two games at Blair Field this season, including the last 13 in a row.
PITCHING AT HOME
- Long Beach State pitchers have put together a solid season at Blair Field. The Dirtbags pitching staff sports a 2.44 ERA and is holding opponents to a .206 batting average through 28 home games.
- The starting rotation boasts even better numbers. Kyle Friedrichs, Chris Mathewson and Tanner Brown all own ERAs below 2.50 on their home mound. Opponents also have not managed to hit over .200 against any of them.
- Collectively, the weekend starters have a 1.70 ERA at Blair with a 12-4 record.
- Chris Mathewson has been lights out in home starts this year with a 0.63 ERA in six starts. On average, Mathewson's starts have lasted just over seven innings. He has allowed just three earned runs in 43 innings and limited opponents to a .149 batting average.
YOUTH AGAINST THE BIG WEST
- Youth is leading the way for the Dirtbags at the plate and on the mound in Big West play. The Dirtbags top hitter in terms of batting average is freshman Joey Sanchez, who is hitting .417 while starting in about half of the games.
- In fact, freshmen comprise four of the top-6 batting averages for the Dirtbags in Big West games. All six belong to underclassmen.
- Freshman Chris Mathewson's 1.14 ERA in Big West games also remains top on the team and in the Big West. His 1.72 ERA in all games is also tops in the Big West, 23rd in the nation and third nationally among freshmen pitchers.
POWER SWINGS
- Long Beach State found its power stroke last week with 10 home runs in four games on the road. The Dirtbags smacked at least one in every game last week, including three at UNLV on Tuesday as well as at Indiana on Friday and Sunday.
- The 10 home runs hit in the last four games total more than the Dirtbags' team total from 2012 and 2014, as well as equaling the team total from 2011.
- In the first 42 games of the season, Long Beach State launched seven home runs but more than doubled their season total on last week's road trip.
- Seven of their 10 homers came in the series at Indiana with Eric Hutting launching three in the series.
PROVIDING THE INSTANT OFFENSE
- Four players combined to hit all 10 home runs this week for the Dirtbags. Alex DeGoti hit his first career home run on Tuesday at UNLV with a solo shot to left field. Luke Rasmussen, Brock Lundquist and Eric Hutting all hit three to provide the power.
- Lundquist also launch his first career round-tripper at UNLV but went on to hit two more on Saturday and Sunday.
- Rasmussen took over the team lead with three homers last week, running his season total to five in 2015.
- He hit a pair of solo homers during the Dirtbags Friday night blowout of Indiana and hit the latter end of back-to-back homers at UNLV.
- Hutting's first home run was a grand slam that helped the Dirtbags to an eight-spot in the fourth inning on Friday and went deep in back-to-back at bats on Sunday to help the Dirtbags stay momentarily out in front.
- Lundquist, Hutting and Rasmussen each had enough home runs (3) in four games last week to lead the team in 2012 and tie for the team lead in 2011, 2013 and 2014.
HUTTING SLAM
- Eric Hutting was without a home run as a Dirtbag until hitting a grand slam at Arizona State on March 6. His second career home run was also a grand slam that he launched on Friday at Indiana.
- He became the first Dirtbag to hit two grand slams in a season since Jeff Jones in 2001.
- The last time the Dirtbags had multiple grand slams in a single season was 2008 when Shane Peterson, Jason Corder and Danny Espinosa all launched a slam.
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.
Players Mentioned
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