Northwestern Edges The Dirtbags 4-3

Sunday, February 16

Long Beach, Calif.

11:30 a.m.

Long Beach State University

1-2

Northwestern

2-1

Northwestern

Long Beach State

Photo by: Diego Devia @Devia.Img

2/16/2025 2:39:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

Lina drives in all three runs for Long Beach State

By: Matt Turk, Associate Athletic Communications Director

LONG BEACH, Calif.—Northwestern edged Long Beach State 4-3 in the Sunday afternoon baseball series finale at Bohl Diamond at Blair Field.

Armando Briseno led off the bottom of the second by doubling to the left-center gap. Northwestern starter Matthew Kouser walked Nathan Cadena to bring up Jake Evans. The freshman second baseman successfully sacrificed the runners up a base. Kouser won a nine-pitch at-bat against Matt Toomey by striking out the freshman designated hitter. Efren Ortega ran the count to 3-2 before loading the bases with a walk. Alex Champagne hit a shot to third, which Owen McElfatrick knocked down. McElfatrick grabbed the ball and threw it onto first for the final out of the inning.

Redshirt freshman Jake Fields retired the first seven Wildcats he faced before giving up a Trent Liolios single. Jacob Hand walked on four pitches. A Fields' wild pitch advanced the runners a base. Fields battled back from being down 2-0 in the count to get Preston Knott to pop out to short. Tyler Ganus flew out to left to end the frame.

Dylan Lina's second home run of the season, measuring 395 feet, 9 inches over the left field fence, put the Dirtbags up 1-0 in the bottom of the third.

Ryan Kucherak tied the game with a home run to lead off the top of the fifth. Liolios singled up the middle one out later. Hand's sac bunt to third and pushed Liolios to second. Knott grounded out to second for the third out.

Ganus opened the sixth with a single up the middle. Bennett Markinson grounded out to third with one out as Ganus advanced to second. McElfatrick grounded out to short to keep the score tied at one.

Owen Geiss, LBSU's second pitcher, hit Kucherak and Jack Lausch to begin the seventh. A Geiss wild pitch moved the runners up a base. Liolios walked to load the bases. Hand popped up to short and was automatically called out due to the infield fly rule. Knott's sacrifice fly scored Kucherak as Lausch took third on the play. Ganus doubled to left to drive in two runs, making it 4-1 in favor of Northwestern. Freeman flew out to center to keep it 4-1.

Blake MacMillan relieved Kouser as the bottom of the seventh got underway. He walked Ortega on four pitches with one out. Champagne lined out to right field before Connor Charpiot walked. Kyle Ashworth walked to load the bases, bringing up Lina, Long Beach State's cleanup hitter. Down 1-2 in the count, Lina singled to left to score Ortega and Charpiot. The Wildcats got out of the inning when Briseno grounded out to short.

McElfratrick reached on a one-out infield single at the top of the eighth, followed by a Kucherak single through the left side. Geiss struck out Lausch, looking for the second out. Liolios grounded out to conclude matters.

Ortega walked to lead off the bottom of the ninth. Ty Borgogno ran for Ortega, the Dirtbags catcher. Sam Hliboki relieved MacMillan to face Champagne. Champagne attempted to lay down a sac bunt. McElfratrick, the third baseman, fielded it. He threw to second to retire Borgogno. Chariot grounded into a 6-4-3 double play to end the game.

Ganus and Kucherak each posted two hits for Northwestern (2-1). Kouser and MacMillan both walked four batters. Hliboki picked up his second save of the weekend for Northwestern. The trio of Wildcats' hurlers combined on a three-hitter as Lina went 2-for-4 with three RBI.

Long Beach State (1-2) travels to LMU (3-0) Tuesday night. Action on ESPN+ begins at 6 p.m.

~#LongBeachBuilt~