25-15, 7-3
Long Beach State
24-16, 7-6
Long Beach State Erases Early Deficit, Defeats Cal Poly 14-3
4/29/2016 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
LONG BEACH, Calif. – Trailing 3-0 after one inning, Long Beach State scored 14 unanswered runs on 21 hits and beat Cal Poly 14-3 in the opener of a three-game Big West Conference baseball series Friday night at Blair Field.
Despite the loss, Cal Poly remains tied for first place with Cal State Fullerton as the Titans were shut out by UC Irvine 2-0. Both the Mustangs and Titans are 7-3 in Big West games. Cal Poly is 25-15 for the year while Long Beach State is 24-16 and 7-6.
Michael Sanderson singled for one RBI and Kevin Morgan doubled for two more runs as Cal Poly jumped on Long Beach State starter Chris Mathewson for three runs in the first inning.
The rest of the game, however, belonged to the host Dirtbags as they tied the game with three runs in the second inning, tallied the go-ahead run in the fourth and pulled away with two runs in the fifth, seven in the seventh and one in the eighth.
Cal Poly had other scoring chances early in the game, but left the bases loaded in the second inning and stranded two more runners in both the third and sixth frames.
Sanderson and shortstop Kyle Marinconz both collected two of Cal Poly's nine hits. Left fielder Brett Barbier singled and walked twice, extending his hitting streak to 16 games and his streak of reaching base safely to 40 contests.
Long Beach State's 21-hit offensive attack included four singles by first baseman Daniel Jackson, a double and two singles by designated hitter Luke Rasmussen and three singles each by catcher David Banuelos and second baseman Jarren Duran. Brock Lundquist and Garrett Hampson each had a pair of hits for the Dirtbags.
Mustang starter Kyle Smith (5-4) allowed six runs (five earned) and nine hits over 4 1/3 innings and suffered the loss. Cal Poly used four other pitchers in the game. Spencer Howard (pictured above) secured five outs without giving up a run or a hit.
Mathewson (5-3) overcame a rough start and earned the win for Long Beach State, tossing 5 2/3 innings and allowing three runs and eight hits with five walks and eight strikeouts.
Cal Poly, which had played errorless defense in five of its last six games, committed three miscues in the 4-hour, 7-minute contest.
Second game of the series will be played Saturday afternoon at 2 o'clock with sophomore right-hander Erich Uelmen (5-0, 3.26 ERA) on the mound for Cal Poly.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Mathewson, Chris (5-3)
L: Smith, Kyle (5-4)
Batting:
2B: Morgan, Kevin 1
RBI: Sanderson, Michael 1 ; Morgan, Kevin 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Meyer, Nick 1 ; Barbier, Brett 1 ; Sanderson, Michael 1
Batting:
2B: Rasmussen, Luke 1 ; Banuelos, David 1
RBI: Hampson, Garrett 3 ; Duran, Jarren 1 ; Jackson, Daniel 2 ; Rasmussen, Luke 2 ; Domingues, Zack 1 ; Banuelos, David 1 ; Sanchez, Joey 2
SH: Domingues, Zack 2 ; Sanchez, Joey 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Hampson, Garrett 1 ; Jackson, Daniel 2 ; Lundquist, Brock 2 ; Rasmussen, Luke 2 ; Domingues, Zack 2 ; Banuelos, David 2 ; Stotler, Brooks 1 ; Colacchio, Domenic 1 ; Sanchez, Joey 1
HBP: Domingues, Zack 1
