Baseball Seeks Fourth Straight Midweek Win Tuesday vs. LMU

Tuesday, April 30
Long Beach State vs. LMU
Time: 6 p.m.
Location: Bohl Diamond at Blair Field
Watch: Beach Vision Live Stream | Listen: 22 West Radio | Live Stats

Probable Pitching Matchup:
LBSU – RHP John Sheaks (1-1, 9.33 ERA)
vs.
LMU – LHP Sean Paquet (0-1, 5.75 ERA)

LAST TIME OUT
•   The Dirtbags lost three close games at UC Davis over the weekend, getting outscored by just four runs combined in the three-game sweep against the Aggies.
•   Junior Jacob Hughey had his eight-game hitting streak snapped in the first game, but did record an RBI on a sac fly. He had hits in the last two games, including a three-hit effort with two runs and his 21^st RBI on Sunday. It was his fourth three-hit game of the season and 11^th multi-hit game of the season. Eight of those multi-hit efforts have come during the month of April.
•   Junior Calvin Estrada is on a four-game hitting streak, and has five combined RBIs in his last two games. He drove in a pair of runs last week against LMU, then on Sunday against UC Davis he set a new career high with three RBIs, part of a 3-for-4 day at the plate. He has hits in 12 of his last 15 games.

SCOUTING THE LIONS
•   LMU snapped a four-game skid with a 5-1 win on Sunday in Pepperdine, and are currently in third place in the West Coast Conference with home series against the two teams above them (BYU, Gonzaga) left on the regular season schedule.
•   Shortstop Nick Sogard leads the Lions with a .323 batting average and 23 stolen bases in 26 attempts. Providing the power in the lineup is junior 1B/OF Trevin Esquerra, who has 14 home runs and 47 RBIs on the season. LMU produced just two runs on five hits in the meeting against the Dirtbags last week, with 1B Steven Chavez producing a two-run single in the bottom of the first to represent the only offense of the day.
•   LMU used six pitchers in last week's meeting with the Dirtbags. Freshman LHP Nate Madole made the start for the Lions in the game, working two scoreless innings with one hit allowed and one strikeout.
•   With last week's win, Long Beach State is now 88-51-2 all-time against LMU and the Dirtbags have won four of their last five meetings against the Lions.

LB IN MLB
•   Long Beach State had more former players in the big leagues than any other college or university from 2010-17, with 13 MLB representatives in 2018, again placing the Dirtbags among the nation's leaders.
•   Three Dirtbags made their MLB debuts last season, all in the span of two weeks. RHP Drew Gagnon debuted for the Mets on July 10, followed by infielder Garrett Hampson's debut on July 21 for the Rockies and INF Jeff McNeil on July 24 for the Mets.
•   The 2019 MLB season got underway with 10 former Dirtbags featured on Opening Day rosters to start the year: Troy Tulowitzki (Yankees), Evan Longoria (Giants), Jason Vargas (Mets), Bryan Shaw (Rockies), Nick Vincent (Giants), Marco Estrada (A's), Jared Hughes (Reds), Matt Duffy (Rays), Shane Carle (Braves), Garrett Hampson (Rockies), and Jeff McNeil (Mets).
•   RHP Drew Gagnon made his season debut with the New York Mets on Apr. 16, giving Long Beach State 11 representatives on big league rosters. That puts LBSU one ahead of Cal State Fullerton for the nation's lead.
•    Long Beach State also has representation among the coaching ranks as former players Brandon Hyde and Jeremy Reed are in their first years serving key roles in their respective dugouts. Hyde is the manager of the Baltimore Orioles and Reed is the hitting coach for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

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Players Mentioned

Calvin Estrada

Jacob Hughey

John Sheaks

Long Beach State University Athletics