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sports:
baseball
Dirtbags take
two from host Cal Poly
By Ben Dimapindan
On-line Forty-Niner
Home-field advantage
meant very little this weekend for Cal Poly as Long Beach
State won the first two of teams' three-game series.
The Dirtbags (17-10)
seized control early and never allowed the Mustangs (18-10)
to get close in Saturday's contest, which resulted in an 11-3
victory for the 49ers.
LBSU stormed the Cal Poly's defense and pitching early,
driving in five runs in the first two innings.
Then, in the top
of the sixth, the Dirtbags extended its already comfortable
5-2 lead with another five-run surge.
Third baseman/second
baseman Edgar Varela ignited the offensive attack for LBSU
with two hits and five RBIs.
"It was a
team effort today," Varela said. "We had our defense,
hitting and pitching working today. Personally, I was confident
at the plate and was able to really see the ball."
In addition, shortstop
Bobby Crosby went 4-for-4, with a home run, one RBI and three
runs scored, while catcher Bryan Kennedy and first baseman
Jeremy Reed each added a pair of hits.
While the Dirtbags'
offense was clicking on all cylinders, the LBSU pitchers staggered
the Cal Poly batters.
Matt Paz (5-4)
pitched strong for six innings and picked up the win for the
Dirtbags. Paz struck out a season-high nine batters, while
allowing only two runs on five hits. Also, Chad Bentz earned
his first save of the year, pitching three innings and giving
up just one run on two hits.
"I felt good
today," Paz said. "My slider was my out pitch today.
The reason I had to come out was because I was striking out
too many batters. I would rather go eight innings and have
a lot of groundouts than have a lot of strikeouts. I want
Coach Snow to know what he's getting every time out from me:
consistency."
In Friday's series
opener, right fielder Jeff Jones stole the spotlight with
a two-run single in the ninth inning to lift LBSU to a 5-3
victory.
In the top of ninth
with the game tied at 3-3, Jones took a big swing and drilled
a single, scoring two base runners and boosting the Dirtbags
to a permanent 5-3 advantage.
"I was looking
for something to swing hard at and got it," Jones said.
"I wasn't feeling well to start the game, but I started
to feel better near the end ... hopefully the win will give
us some momentum heading into the rest of the weekend."
Then, pitcher Josh
Alliston struck out the final three batters in the bottom
of the ninth to seal the victory for the Dirtbags and earn
his seventh save of the season. Bo Ashabraner (1-0) recorded
the win for LBSU.
The Dirtbags seemed
to have the game in control after center fielder Corry Parrott
slammed a two-run triple in the sixth to give LBSU a 3-1 lead,
but the Mustangs rallied back.
Cal Poly answered
with a two-run sixth inning of its own to even the game at
3-3.
The Dirtbags finally
took control of the game when Jones' hit in the ninth seized
the lead and the victory for LBSU.
Results from Game
3 will be in Tuesday's On-line Forty-Niner.
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