Sunday, March 30
Long Beach, Calif.
1:00 p.m.
Long Beach State University
5
vs
4
UC Santa Barbara
Photo by: Edvin Herrera, @EnriqueHPhotos
Dirtbags Take First Big West Series 5-4 Over UCSB
3/30/2025 4:12:00 PM | Baseball
Geiss throws a career-high seven innings for the win
LONG BEACH, Calif.—Long Beach State clinched its first Big West baseball series of 2025 as the Dirtbags defeated UC Santa Barbara 5-4 Sunday afternoon at Bohl Diamond at Blair Field.
UCSB starter AJ Krodel walked Kyle Ashworth and Alex Champagne to begin the bottom of the first. Nathan Cadena's sac bunt advanced the runners up a base. Armando Briesno's grounder to shortstop scored Ashworth for a 1-0 score.
LBSU starter Owen Geiss retired the first four Gauchos he faced before Nate Vargas doubled to the right-centerfield gap in the second. Cole Kosciusko walked. Geiss fell behind 3-0 to Reiss Calvin before coming back to strike out Calvin looking. Corey Nunez hit the first Geiss pitch he faced to Conner Charpiot at first base. Charpiot tagged the back to get out of the inning.
Trotter Enright led off the bottom of the second with an infield single. Efren Ortega followed with a single up the middle. Matt Toomey's infield single loaded the bases. Krodel hit Ashworth to plate Enright for a 2-0 score. Champagne's sac fly to center scored Ortega, increasing the advantage to three.
Briseno homered to left on Krodel's first pitch of the bottom of the third. Jackson Flora relieved Krodel. Calvin, the rightfielder, attempted to dive to make a catch of a Charpiot liner. Calvin came up short as the ball rolled to the right field corner for a triple. Luke Taylor's sac fly drove in Charpiot to put the Dirtbags up 5-0.
Liam Barrett homered with one out in the top of the fifth to break the Gauchos' seal.
Ashworth doubled down the left field line with two outs in the bottom of the sixth. The Gauchos intentionally walked Champagne to face Cadena. An 0-1 wild pitch sent the runners up a base. Flora caught Cadena's foul ball in first base territory to quiet the LBSU threat.
Kosciusko beat the Long Beach State shift with an opposite-field single through the left side to start the seventh. Calvin flew out to left. Geiss hit Nunez with a 1-0 fastball. Barrett worked the count to 3-2 before hitting a ball to the warning track in right where Ashworth made the catch. Kosciusko tagged up and went to third. Jack Holman hit a grounder back to Geiss on the mound. He tossed it to Charpiot at first for the final out.
Tyler Gebb relieved Geiss to begin the eighth. Xavier Esquer singled up the middle to get things started for UC Santa Barbara. UCSB put the hit-and-run on as LeTrey McCollum tripled on a 3-2 pitch to score Esquer. Jonathan Mendez's sac fly scored McCollum to cut the lead to 5-3.
Albert Roblez entered in the top of the ninth to attempt to record his second save of the weekend. Pinch-hitter Nolan Farley walked to lead off the frame. A second pinch-hitter, Ian Fernandez, hit a shot to the warning track in left, which Reid Montgomery tracked down. The ball was deep enough for Farley to tag and head to second.
Barrett's liner went to the wall in right center where Ashworth made a jumping attempt to make the catch. He just missed, allowing Farley to score. Holman grounded out to second as pinch-runner Jimmy Zakhar went to third. Esquer went down 0-2 in the count. He fouled off three consecutive pitches before Ortega blocked a Roblez breaking ball in the dirt for ball one. Roblez struck out Esquer with a breaking ball for the victory.
Ashworth reached base in each of his first four at-bats. He ended the day 2-for-2 with a run scored and an RBI. Briseno drove in two runs. Esquer and Barrett charted two hits for UCSB (17-9, 5-7 Big West).
Geiss threw a career-high seven innings. He allowed four hits and struck out four. Geiss threw a career-high 114 pitches, 69 for strikes. Flora, coming out of the bullpen for the first time in seven appearances this season, gave up three hits, struck out eight, and walked two in six innings of work.
Long Beach State (10-16, 4-8 Big West) travels to the University of Hawai'i (20-6, 8-4 Big West) for a three-game set beginning Friday night at 9:35 p.m. PDT/6:35 p.m. HT on ESPN+.
UCSB starter AJ Krodel walked Kyle Ashworth and Alex Champagne to begin the bottom of the first. Nathan Cadena's sac bunt advanced the runners up a base. Armando Briesno's grounder to shortstop scored Ashworth for a 1-0 score.
LBSU starter Owen Geiss retired the first four Gauchos he faced before Nate Vargas doubled to the right-centerfield gap in the second. Cole Kosciusko walked. Geiss fell behind 3-0 to Reiss Calvin before coming back to strike out Calvin looking. Corey Nunez hit the first Geiss pitch he faced to Conner Charpiot at first base. Charpiot tagged the back to get out of the inning.
Trotter Enright led off the bottom of the second with an infield single. Efren Ortega followed with a single up the middle. Matt Toomey's infield single loaded the bases. Krodel hit Ashworth to plate Enright for a 2-0 score. Champagne's sac fly to center scored Ortega, increasing the advantage to three.
Briseno homered to left on Krodel's first pitch of the bottom of the third. Jackson Flora relieved Krodel. Calvin, the rightfielder, attempted to dive to make a catch of a Charpiot liner. Calvin came up short as the ball rolled to the right field corner for a triple. Luke Taylor's sac fly drove in Charpiot to put the Dirtbags up 5-0.
Liam Barrett homered with one out in the top of the fifth to break the Gauchos' seal.
Ashworth doubled down the left field line with two outs in the bottom of the sixth. The Gauchos intentionally walked Champagne to face Cadena. An 0-1 wild pitch sent the runners up a base. Flora caught Cadena's foul ball in first base territory to quiet the LBSU threat.
Kosciusko beat the Long Beach State shift with an opposite-field single through the left side to start the seventh. Calvin flew out to left. Geiss hit Nunez with a 1-0 fastball. Barrett worked the count to 3-2 before hitting a ball to the warning track in right where Ashworth made the catch. Kosciusko tagged up and went to third. Jack Holman hit a grounder back to Geiss on the mound. He tossed it to Charpiot at first for the final out.
Tyler Gebb relieved Geiss to begin the eighth. Xavier Esquer singled up the middle to get things started for UC Santa Barbara. UCSB put the hit-and-run on as LeTrey McCollum tripled on a 3-2 pitch to score Esquer. Jonathan Mendez's sac fly scored McCollum to cut the lead to 5-3.
Albert Roblez entered in the top of the ninth to attempt to record his second save of the weekend. Pinch-hitter Nolan Farley walked to lead off the frame. A second pinch-hitter, Ian Fernandez, hit a shot to the warning track in left, which Reid Montgomery tracked down. The ball was deep enough for Farley to tag and head to second.
Barrett's liner went to the wall in right center where Ashworth made a jumping attempt to make the catch. He just missed, allowing Farley to score. Holman grounded out to second as pinch-runner Jimmy Zakhar went to third. Esquer went down 0-2 in the count. He fouled off three consecutive pitches before Ortega blocked a Roblez breaking ball in the dirt for ball one. Roblez struck out Esquer with a breaking ball for the victory.
Ashworth reached base in each of his first four at-bats. He ended the day 2-for-2 with a run scored and an RBI. Briseno drove in two runs. Esquer and Barrett charted two hits for UCSB (17-9, 5-7 Big West).
Geiss threw a career-high seven innings. He allowed four hits and struck out four. Geiss threw a career-high 114 pitches, 69 for strikes. Flora, coming out of the bullpen for the first time in seven appearances this season, gave up three hits, struck out eight, and walked two in six innings of work.
Long Beach State (10-16, 4-8 Big West) travels to the University of Hawai'i (20-6, 8-4 Big West) for a three-game set beginning Friday night at 9:35 p.m. PDT/6:35 p.m. HT on ESPN+.
~#LongBeachBuilt~
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