{"id":180259,"date":"2026-02-16T16:16:29","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T16:16:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/180259\/"},"modified":"2026-02-16T16:16:29","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T16:16:29","slug":"dirtbags-respond-with-12-3-victory-to-even-series-against-san-jose-state","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/180259\/","title":{"rendered":"Dirtbags Respond with 12-3 Victory to Even Series Against San Jose State"},"content":{"rendered":"

Long Beach, Calif. \u2014 The Dirtbags delivered a resilient and complete performance Saturday, showing composure and depth to defeat San Jose State, 12-3.<\/p>\n

Jake Fields<\/a> delivered a critical performance from the mound, working 5.2 innings to earn his first win of the season. The right-hander allowed two earned runs on two hits while striking out eight, keeping the Spartans off balance and giving the offense time to build a lead.<\/p>\n

Head coach TJ Bruce<\/a> credited his team’s poise in the early moments.<\/p>\n

“I thought they did a really good job responding,” Bruce said. “I think that’s the sign of a good team is when you can respond in difficult situations. I thought our guys did a really good job checking themselves and understanding that they still have a lot of game in front of them, and it’s all about winning pitches, and they did a nice job.”<\/p>\n

The Dirtbags struck first in the opening inning when Camden Gasser<\/a> drew a two-out walk and scored from first on Dylan Lina’s<\/a> RBI double to left field.<\/p>\n

Long Beach State broke the game open in the second. Matt Toomey<\/a> led off with a triple, Damon Valdez<\/a> delivered a two-run single, Gasser added an RBI groundout and Trotter Enright<\/a> followed with a run-scoring single as the Dirtbags plated four runs to take a 5-0 lead.<\/p>\n

The offensive pressure continued in the fourth when Aaron Perez<\/a> drove in a run with a single, and Long Beach State added another in the fifth as three consecutive walks loaded the bases before Gasser forced in a run to make it 7-0.<\/p>\n

San Jose State trimmed the margin with three runs in the sixth, but the Dirtbags bullpen quickly shut the door. Tyler Gebb<\/a> recorded the final out of the inning, Hogan Shelby<\/a> struck out four over two scoreless frames, and Erick Diez<\/a> finished the game with a clean ninth.<\/p>\n

The offense answered again in the seventh when Lina lifted a sacrifice fly, and Long Beach State put the game away with a four-run eighth. Reid Montgomery<\/a> delivered a two-run single, and Lina capped the rally with a two-run base hit.<\/p>\n

Lina led the Dirtbags offensively, going 2-for-4 with four RBIs. Toomey (2-for-4, two runs), Perez (2-for-6, RBI), Enright (2-for-6, RBI) and Jake Evans<\/a> (2-for-2, two runs) each recorded multiple hits. Gasser reached base four times with four walks, scored three runs and stole two bases as Long Beach State totaled 13 hits and 11 walks.<\/p>\n

Bruce also pointed to the leadership of the upperclassmen and the team’s overall depth as key factors in the early-season response.<\/p>\n

“With the upper classmen knowing the system now and knowing how things work and how we do things, I think we’re doing a really good job passing things around,” Bruce said. “But like I just told the team, it’s going to be a team effort. You’re going to see different guys rolling in and out. We got a lot of guys that can play a lot of different spots, so you’re going to see a lot of different guys, and if they can work together, then they’re going to give themselves a good chance.”<\/p>\n

With the win, Long Beach State evened the series at one game apiece and will look to carry the momentum into tomorrow’s finale.<\/p>\n

“Saturdays are always the most important days of the weekend,” Bruce said. “We just got to come out and flush whatever happens tonight, and come back ready to roll tomorrow.”<\/p>\n

The series finale is scheduled for Sunday at Blair Field, with first pitch set for\u00a01:05 p.m.\u00a0as the Dirtbags look to secure the Opening Weekend series.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Long Beach, Calif. \u2014 The Dirtbags delivered a resilient and complete performance Saturday, showing composure and depth to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":180260,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[88,90,89],"class_list":{"0":"post-180259","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-jose","8":"tag-san-jose","9":"tag-san-jose-headlines","10":"tag-san-jose-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180259","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=180259"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180259\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/180260"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=180259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=180259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=180259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}