|
sports:
baseball
Dirtbags get revenge
at home against Bruins
By Ben Dimapindan
On-line Forty-Niner
Payback -- complete
and utter -- was the theme of Long Beach State's 10-2 route
over UCLA in front 882 fans at Blair Field Tuesday night.
With last week's
5-1 loss at UCLA still fresh, the Dirtbags' offense exploded
to open the game, while the pitching and defense completely
silenced the swings of the Bruin batters.
"Our whole
team was out to avenge the loss," LBSU catcher Todd Jennings
said.
The Dirtbags (27-13,
5-1) displayed its intensity early as five different batters
tallied a hit in the bottom of the first. Left fielder Jeff
Jones and designated hitter Paul Macaluso each slammed RBI
singles to center. A two-run single by Jennings capped off
the inning, giving LBSU a 4-0 advantage.
"I'm just
trying to do my job and do whatever I can to help the team,"
said Jennings, who notched two hits and two RBIs in place
of the injured Bryan Kennedy.
In the second inning,
three fielding errors by UCLA (25-17) led to three runs for
LBSU. Two errors landed two base runners for the Dirtbags
and Jones ripped the ball to center field for a single, followed
by an RBI single by left fielder Chris Wright. A third error
allowed Jones to race home and score, boosting the lead to
7-0.
The Dirtbags delivered
a two-run surge in the third inning thanks to three more UCLA
errors. Third baseman Edgar Varela advanced to second and
second baseman Kaulana Kahaulua landed on first because of
two mistakes by Griffin. The Dirtbags increased the lead to
9-0 when first baseman Jeremy Reed's sacrifice fly to center
drove in Corry Parrott.
"They were
just careless," said Wright about the errors made by
UCLA. "They were just sloppy and didn't seem like they
had a lot of energy."
The LBSU defense
staggered any chance of offensive productivity for the Bruins.
Starting pitcher Nate Beucler (3-0) picked up the win for
the Dirtbags, allowing no hits and no runs in two innings.
Relievers Russel
Rohlicek, Chris Demaria, Jeff Baumback, Bo Ashabraner and
Josh Alliston sealed the win for LBSU. They combined to toss
for seven total innings and allowed only two runs on three
hits.
Big West baseball
action continues this weekend as the Dirtbags face Cal State
Northridge for a three-game series, which starts Friday at
Blair Field at 7:05 p.m.
|
