May 5, 2012

Box Score

LOS ANGELES, Calif. - Leading 4-2 headed into the bottom of the ninth, LMU (21-19) surrendered a pair of runs in the ninth and one more in the 10th en route to watching Long Beach State (22-21) walk off with a 5-4 victory in 10 innings at Blair Field on Saturday. Bret Dahlson walked two and hit one in the ninth inning, while three straight walks from Ryan Hawthorne in the 10th forced in the game-winning run. LMU walked six batters and hit two, with seven of the eight free passes issued by relievers. The season series is now tied 1-1 after both teams logged a walk-off victory in the first two games. Long Beach State is now 2-4 in extra-inning games, while LMU falls to 3-4.

The late-inning bullpen wasted a solid outing from freshman Colin Welmon on Saturday. Welmon went 6.2 innings, allowing just two runs on eight hits and a walk while striking out six but did not factor in the decision. Reliever Aaron Griffin was solid as LMU's first pitcher out of the pen, dealing an inning and a third scoreless before handing the ball over to Dahlson. The sophomore struggled through the ninth, allowing the two runs on just one hit to tie the game while dealing 35 pitches. Dahlson hit Brennan Metzger to start the ninth before a walk and a sacrifice bunt put two runners in scoring position with one out. A second walk loaded the bases as Kellen Hoime drove in the first run of the frame with a sacrifice fly. Johnny Bekakis got the Dirtbags back to even at four with a clutch two-out RBI-single back up the middle on a 3-2 pitch to force extras.

Long Beach took the victory one inning later as Hawthorne allowed a leadoff single to Ino Patron in the 10th before a sacrifice bunt moved the runner to second. After a pair of walks loaded the bases, the senior left-hander uncorked his third straight walk to force in the game-winner and hand Long Beach the walk-off win.

Patron finished the game 2-for-4, while Metzger had a two-RBI single in the sixth inning to erase a 2-0 Lion advantage as part of a 1-for-3 day. Jeff Yamaguchi, who drew the bases-loaded walk to plate the game-winner in the 10th, finished 2-for-3 with a RBI.

On the day that they graduated from LMU, seniors Alex Guthrie and Shon Roe had stellar days at the plate. Guthrie went 2-for-3 with a run scored, a double and a hit-by-pitch, while Roe was 2-for-4 with a double, two RBI and a run scored. Guthrie led off the second with a double before coming around to score on a Zac Fujimoto RBI groundout to put the Lions on the board. LMU extended the lead to 2-0 in the third when Roe led off with a double and came in on a RBI-groundout from Matt Lowenstein out of the leadoff spot.

Right-hander Matt Anderson got the start and was taken off the hook after allowing four runs (three earned) on six hits over seven innings. Lefty Jake Stassi dealt two perfect innings of relief, including striking out the side in the eighth, to keep the Lions off the board and allow the Dirtbag offense to come alive in the ninth. After pitching a scoreless ninth, Kyle Friedrichs improved to 1-2 with the win. Hawthorne was charged with the loss, falling to 4-1.

LMU and Long Beach State will continue the three-game series tomorrow at LMU. The first pitch is slated for 3 p.m.

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