Dirtbags
regroup, take series from Trojans
By Michael Bower
On-line Forty-Niner
The
Long Beach State baseball team (3-2) was
running high on all cylinders this weekend
against the sixth-ranked University of Southern
California Trojans (1-2). The Dirtbags took
two straight games by outscoring the Trojans
13-1.
The Dirtbag offense lit-up the scoreboard
for six runs Friday night and seven runs
Saturday afternoon to shock the back-to-back
Pac-10 champs. Meanwhile, the 49er pitching
staff threw 16 consecutive shutout innings
and the only run for the Trojans in the
two games was unearned.
“We expect both Alvarez and Weaver to keep
us in the game,” Head Coach Mike Weathers
said of his two aces. “They’re going to
have their off nights but for the most part
they’re doing what we thought.”
In game one Friday night the Dirtbags struck
for five unearned runs in the fifth inning
as Abe Alvarez and Joe Ashabraner combined
to scatter 10 hits and shutout the USC Trojans
6-0 in their first home game of the year
at Dedeaux Field. The last and only other
time the Trojans have been shut out in their
season opener at home was in 1964.
In what looked to be a pitcher’s duel, between
Dirtbag starter Alvarez and Trojan starter
Anthony Reyes, turned into a one-sided romp.
Reyes, the pre-season All-American senior,
danced around two errors in the first four
and two-thirds innings by striking out six,
but was yanked in the fifth inning. Reyes
took the loss on a day when the Trojans
committed five errors.
Alvarez threw five and one-third strong
innings to pickup his second win of the
season for the Dirtbags.
Brad Davis led off the fifth inning by reaching
on a dropped popup by second baseman Jon
Brewster of the Trojans. Just when it seemed
Reyes was going to pitch his way around
the leadoff error, freshman Chuck Sindlinger
and junior Travis Udvarhelyi smashed, two-out,
back-to-back doubles for the Dirtbags to
make the score 3-0, knocking Reyes out of
the game. After a walk to Josh Buhagiar,
Tim Hutting put the game out of reach by
singling home two more runs to make it 5-0.
Buhagiar tacked on another run with a RBI
single in the top of the ninth inning to
complete the route for the Dirtbags.
In game two Saturday at Blair Field, the
Dirtbags plated five runs in the bottom
of the first inning as Jered Weaver and
Scott Shoemaker dominated on the hill en
route to a 7-1 blowout in front of 1,575
fans.
“We put together some runs today in the
first inning and it made things a lot easier
for me,” Weaver said.
The offense didn’t waste anytime as they
belted the ball in the first inning off
of USC’s Brian Bannister. Mike Hofius and
Brad Davis hit back-to-back singles before
John Bonker ripped a double which scored
two runs and made the score 5-0.
Weaver coasted through the next five innings
before handing the game over to Shoemaker
in the seventh. Weaver finished the game
giving up just three hits and striking out
six.
Shoemaker did a brilliant job on the mound
as he pitched three innings and gave up
just two hits and one unearned run.
Weathers said he was pleased with the job
that the Dirtbags did in the innings after
they scored the five runs. He said he also
happy to see that they outscored the Trojans
2-1 in the final eight innings.
Hofius was pleased that the Dirtbags battled
back after losing two games to Arizona State
last weekend.
“It’s great after a tough series last weekend,”
Hofius said. “To come back and win two out
of two games says a lot about this team.”
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