Dirtbags Drop Series Opener vs. Fullerton, 6-2

Thursday, May 26

Long Beach, Calif.

6:00 PM

Long Beach State University

35-19, 14-8

Cal State Fullerton

34-20, 16-6

Cal State Fullerton

Long Beach State

5/26/2016 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

May 26, 2016

Box Score

Long Beach, Calif. - A rocky first inning put Long Beach State (35-19, 14-8 Big West) in an early 3-0 hole against rivals Cal State Fullerton (34-20, 16-6 Big West), and the Dirtbags weren't able to recover in a 6-2 loss on Thursday night at Blair Field. The loss puts the Dirtbags two games back of the Titans in the Big West standings with two games to play, meaning that if LBSU can win the next two games, they would still claim a Big West championship.

Chris Mathewson had a tough opening frame for the Beach, walking the leadoff man and allowing a single before eventually loading the bases with one out with a hit by pitch. After his second strikeout of the day, he was just one out away from escaping the jam, but he walked Scott Hurst to force in a run, then allowed a two-run single to Ruben Cardenas to give the visitors a 3-0 lead.

The Titans added another run in the fourth on an RBI double from Josh Vargas to take a 4-0 lead, but the Dirtbags were able to get on the board with a pair of runs in the bottom of the sixth. Zack Domingues lined a 3-2 pitch to right center for a leadoff single, then Garrett Hampson put down a great push bunt to put two men on with no outs.

That chases Titans starter Connor Seabold from the game, and Luke Rasmussen greeted reliever Dylan Prohoroff with a deep fly ball to left center that didn't quite carry enough to do any damage. With the runners at second and third, the game could've really changed during Brock Lundquist's at bat. The left-handed slugger pulled a ball sharply toward first base and into the right field corner, but it was ruled foul by the home plate umpire. Lundquist would later deliver a sacrifice fly, and Daniel Jackson drove in LBSU's second run with an opposite field double to score Hampson and make it 4-2. But that's as close as the Beach would get as the Titans tacked on two more runs of insurance.

The Dirtbags had their best chance at a comeback in the seventh, loading the bases to put the tying run on for DH Luke Rasmussen. However, a comebacker to the mound ended the threat. LBSU also leaded the bases in the ninth inning, but a double play ball ended the game.

Lundquist ended up 0-for-2 with a walk and his sac fly, seeing his 17-game hitting streak come to an end. Jarren Duran and David Banuelos each saw their hitting streaks extend to nine and eight games, respectively. Hampson had a pair of hits for the Dirtbags, giving him his 24th multi-hit game of the season. He also moved ahead of Jason Giambi for sole possession of eighth place on LBSU's career hits list with 209.

The Dirtbags look to bounce back tomorrow night at 6 p.m. as Darren McCaughan (9-1, 2.04 ERA) takes on LHP John Gavin (6-2, 2.31 ERA) in game two of this de facto Big West championship series.

NOTES: Mathewson matched his career high with five walks, reaching that number for the third time this season … He also struck out seven, and Dirtbags pitchers combined to punch out 14 Titans, which is just one shy of the team's season high of 15 … Lucas Jacobsen recorded all four of his outs via the strikeout, and Jacob Hughey struck out three batters looking in 1.1 innings of relief … Hurst walked four times for the Titans, doubling his previous career high in a game … The top three hitters in the CSF lineup (Vargas, Timmy Richards and Dalton Blaser) each had two hits apiece.