Long Beach State University Athletics
Long Beach State University
28-23, 11-10
UC Davis
28-25-1, 7-14
Dirtbags Ride Early Outburst To Senior Day Win
5/17/2015 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Box Score | Photo Gallery 1 
| Photo Gallery 2
LONG BEACH, Calif. -- Long Beach State rallied early and held off a late UC Davis rally to take the series finale 9-8 and complete the series sweep of the Aggies. Eric Hutting had three runs batted in and Alex Bishop drove in two more for the Dirtbags third sweep of the season.
The Dirtbags (28-23, 11-10 Big West) exploded in the first inning for seven runs and held on late for the win. UC Davis (28-25-1, 7-14 Big West) rallied for four runs in the ninth before Ty Provencher was able to close out the game for his seventh save.
Tanner Bily led off the game with a single and later scored in the first to put the Aggies on top out of the gates. However, the Dirtbags responded in a big way. Garret Hampson led off the bottom half of the first with a single, stole second and was sacrificed over to third. After the sacrifice, six Dirtbags in a row either had a hit or walked to fuel the onslaught.
Brock Lundquist scored Hampson with an RBI-single to tie the game and Luke Rasmussen, who previously walked, came home on a wild pitch for the 2-1 Dirtbags lead. Alex Bishop followed a Nolan Meadows walk with his first of two RBI hits in the game. Hutting later knocked in two with a double to cap the string of six Dirtbags in a row to reach base.
Hampson capped of the inning with his second single to score Hutting and give the Dirtbags a 7-1 lead after one frame. The seniors padded the Senior Day lead in the second as Meadows and Bishop stroked back-to-back doubles to make the score 8-1.
The offense cooled after the second. Aggies starter Max Cordy only made it through a third of an inning but was tagged with all seven first inning runs. Spencer Henderson bailed him out of the first and went four more innings, allowing only a run.
Bily continued to be the catalyst for the Aggies throughout the game, going 4-for-5 and scoring four times. He doubled in the third and scored on a wild pitch, singled in the fifth and scored on Austin March's single and singled in the ninth before scoring on an error.
The Aggies chipped away at the lead behind Bily, closing the gap to 8-4 in the seventh. Hutting added what proved to be a crucial insurance run with a sacrifice fly in the seventh to make it 9-4 at the time.
The Aggies did not go down without a fight, sending eight to the plate in the final frame and putting the tying run on base. Logan Lombana began the inning but gave way to Provencher when he ran into trouble.
With the tying run on first and two away, Kevin Barker hit a slow chopper down the line at third. Alex DeGoti charged in, scooped up the chopper and made a perfect throw on the run to end the game and complete the weekend sweep for the Dirtbags.
UC Davis recorded 18 hits in the game while Long Beach State had 12.
The Dirtbags finish up the 2015 regular season on the road at league-leading Cal State Fullerton. The series begins on Thursday at 8 p.m. at Goodwin Field on ESPNU.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: McCaughan, Darren (4-2)
L: Cordy, Max (8-4)
S: Provencher, Ty (7)
Batting:
2B: Bily, Tanner 1 ; Lynch, Nick 1 ; Novak, Mason 1
RBI: Lipson, Tino 1 ; Lynch, Nick 2 ; March, Austin 1 ; Silva, Izaak 1 ; Williams, John 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Bily, Tanner 4 ; Lynch, Nick 1 ; March, Austin 1 ; Heptig, Evan 1 ; Novak, Mason 1
SB: March, Austin 1
CS: Barker, Kevin 1
HBP: Lynch, Nick 1
Batting:
2B: Meadows, Nolan 1 ; Bishop, Alex 1 ; Hutting, Eric 1
RBI: Hampson, Garrett 1 ; Lundquist, Brock 1 ; Bishop, Alex 2 ; Hutting, Eric 3 ; DeGoti, Alex 1
SH: Mercadel, Tristan 1
SF: Hutting, Eric 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Hampson, Garrett 1 ; Rasmussen, Luke 1 ; Lundquist, Brock 1 ; Meadows, Nolan 2 ; Bishop, Alex 1 ; Rivera, Zack 1 ; Maida, Nico 1 ; Hutting, Eric 1
SB: Hampson, Garrett 1 ; Sanchez, Joey 1
