LONG BEACH, Calif. — Long Beach State connected on a season-high five homers to lift the Dirtbags to a series-equalizing 13-3 win over No. 15 Gonzaga on Saturday at Blair Field, despite an 11-hit performance for the Bulldogs led by 3-for-4 outings from Grayson Sterling and Savier Pinales.
The loss snaps the longest active road win streak in the nation at eight games, and ends the Zags' overall win streak at nine.
Sterling (one run), Rando (one hit, one run, one RBI) and Connor Coballes (one hit, one run) generated all three of the Zags' runs, with seven different GU batters picking up at least a knock.
RHP Owen Wild (1-1) made his first career start for GU on the mound, throwing four innings while striking out three. RHP Nate Weeldreyer added two more K's in a single frame of relief, and RHP Alec Gomez held the 'Bags hitless in the final frame in his season debut.
"Tip our hats to Long Beach, they outplayed us today," said GU head Coach Mark Machtolf. "Need to do a good job of flushing this game and coming out and giving them our best punch tomorrow."
The Action
After two scoreless innings, the Dirtbags (6-7) scored their first six runs on four homers in the third, fourth and fifth frames to jump out to a considerable lead before the Zags could respond. A fielding error and an RBI single from Cade McGee brought in two runs in the sixth in response, and GU put its third run on the board in the seventh off a sac fly from Rando.
But the 'Bags kept rolling late, pouring on seven more runs in the final three frames while stranding four runners on base in that span to keep the Zags off the board through the rest of the game. Gomez made his season debut on the mound in the final frame, holding the Beach lineup hitless for the first time since the first inning.
Series at a Glance
With the loss, this weekend's series is tied up at 1-1. This weekend marks the ninth, tenth, and eleventh games between the two programs but first time they have met in a weekend series. This series is also the first time the Zags and Dirtbags have met since 1998. GU is 1-1 in those two games with a 7-3 win in 1996 and a 15-8 loss in 1998.
Up Next
The Zags have a chance to claim their third-straight road series win in tomorrow's rubber match, set for 1 p.m. RHP Trystan Vrieling (1-1, 17 IP, 29 K, 4.76 ERA) is GU's probable starter on the mound against Beach RHP Juaron Watts-Brown (0-1, 12.1 IP, 19 K, 5.84 ERA). Live stats and streaming options are available on GoZags.com — follow @zagbaseball on Instagram and Twitter for live updates, highlights and more.
