Mathewson Strikes Out 12, Dirtbags Top Arizona State, 5-2

Saturday, February 27

Long Beach, Calif.

2:00 PM

Long Beach State University

4-2

Arizona State

5-2

Arizona State

Long Beach State

2/27/2016 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

Feb. 27, 2016

Box Score

Long Beach, Calif. - After allowing a leadoff single to start Saturday afternoon's game, Dirtbags starter Chris Mathewson was in early trouble. Arizona State (5-2) leadoff man Daniel Williams would then steal second, putting a runner in scoring position with no outs in the top of the first. Mathewson responded by retiring the next 16 batters he faced, allowing Long Beach State (4-2) to build a lead and win game two of the series with ASU, 5-2.

Mathewson struck out a career-high 12 batters in his seven innings of work, allowing a pair of runs on four hits and a walk. After the leadoff single, he didn't allow another baserunner until there was one out in the sixth. During that stretch, he struck out the side in the fifth, recording 10 of the 16 outs via the strikeout.

"I thought he was really good," said Dirtbags head coach Troy Buckley of his starting pitcher. "To me it was the Mathewson show. Besides the strikeouts, it's how he got to the strikeouts...he had all three pitches at times there... I thought he really pitched, I thought he was really under control and he had a really good emotional line of where he was at."

It was a nice bounce back performance from Mathewson, who had the worst start of his career against Arizona State last season as a freshman. In that start, he allowed five runs on eight hits with just two strikeouts in a 9-3 Dirtbags loss.

Oddly enough, the last time a Dirtbag struck out exactly 12 batters was one year ago to the day (Feb. 27, 2015) as Kyle Friedrichs struck out a dozen vs. Wichita State. The last time an LBSU pitcher struck out 12 or more was in March of 2015 when Friedrichs fanned 13 against UC Santa Barbara.

Mathewson was also the beneficiary of some early offense as Long Beach State put up a crooked number in the bottom of the first inning. Garrett Hampson led off the game with a double, moved to third on an errant pickoff attempt, then was plated by a Jarren Duran RBI groundout. After Lucas Tancas was hit by a pitch, Brock Lundquist singled to put two men on. CF Tristan Mercadel stepped up with a two-out RBI opportunity and lined a single to centerfield, scoring Tancas for the 2-0 lead.

LBSU got another two-out RBI in the third as Joey Sanchez drew a bases loaded walk to bring in Mercadel, who reached on a fielder's choice.

Mathewson made those two runs stand, but Arizona State did cut the lead to 3-2 with runs in the sixth and seventh innings. Jordan Aboites singled to break up Mathewson's stretch of dominance, then stole second on a close play. He would advance to third on a wild pitch then ultimately score on a balk by Mathewson, his first of two on the afternoon. His second balk moved Brian Serven into scoring position after his single in the seventh, and a Sebastian Zawada single brought him home.

The Dirtbags added insurance runs in the ninth thanks to some sloppy defense by the Sun Devils, who committed four errors in the game. C David Banuelos started the inning by reaching second base on a throwing error by Aboites at third. After a sacrifice bunt and a strikeout, Hampson was intentionally walked to put runners at the corners with two outs for Duran. Hampson was running on the first pitch as the Sun Devils were allowing him to take second base, and Duran sent a grounder to third. Aboites' throw to first went wide, allowing Banuelos to score easily, and Hampson continued hustling on the play to score all the way from first without the ball leaving the infield.

Chris Rivera was called upon for the save and he worked around a one out walk with a nifty double play started by Hampson at short. The freshman righthander is now 2-for-2 in save opportunities this season and has recorded the final out in LBSU's last three wins.

Sunday's game will now be a rubber match for both teams with RHP Darren McCaughan (1-0, 1.29 ERA) set to oppose LHP Reagan Todd (1-0, 0.00 ERA) for the Sun Devils. First pitch will be at 1 p.m. at Blair Field.

NOTES: Joey Sanchez started his fourth game of the season and now has a base hit in all four games, batting .385 on the year ... Mercadel recorded his first hit of the season, going 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored ... Hampson scored twice for the Dirtbags, giving him a team-best nine runs scored this year. He has scored at least once in five of the six games this season ... The 14 combined strikeouts for LBSU is a new season high for the pitching staff (Mathewson 12, McGeorge 2) ... The bottom four hitters in the LBSU lineup (Mercadel-Banuelos-Zack Domingues-Sanchez) picked up the slack on Saturday going a combined 5/11 with two runs, two RBIs and three walks.