LONG BEACH, Calif. — The Long Beach State Dirtbags completed their first Big West series sweep of the season Sunday afternoon, defeating UC San Diego 6-4 at Bohl Diamond at Blair Field behind clutch hitting, two home runs and another strong bullpen performance.<\/p>\n
Long Beach State collected nine hits while limiting the Tritons to just four hits in the victory. Jason Gerfers<\/a> earned his third win of the season after striking out six across six innings, while Tyler Gebb<\/a> picked up his second save by tossing three scoreless innings without allowing a hit and striking out two.<\/p>\n UC San Diego struck first in the second inning after Drake Bicknell walked and later advanced to third on Ryson Ujimori’s single up the middle. Thomas Maher then reached on a throwing error that allowed Bicknell to score an unearned run for a 1-0 Tritons lead.<\/p>\n The Dirtbags answered in the fourth inning. Kaiden Smaka<\/a> singled to center before Conner Stewart<\/a> followed with a single to second base. After Stewart remained on first following an interference call that retired Smaka at second, Justin Roulston<\/a> launched his first home run of the season over the left-field wall, scoring Stewart and giving Long Beach State a 2-1 advantage.<\/p>\n Gerfers settled in from there, stranding runners in scoring position during the fourth and working around traffic throughout the afternoon.<\/p>\n UC San Diego regained the lead in the fifth. Nick Costello singled before Gabe Camacho reached on an error, setting the table for JC Allen’s three-run homer down the left-field line that pushed the Tritons in front 4-2.<\/p>\n Long Beach State responded in the bottom half of the sixth. Dylan Lina<\/a> opened the inning with his 10th home run of the season, a solo shot to deep left that trimmed the deficit to one.<\/p>\n After Murchael Turner<\/a> singled up the middle, Smaka dropped down a sacrifice bunt and reached on a fielder’s choice to place runners at first and second. Stewart then laid down a sacrifice bunt that resulted in a throwing error by catcher Drake Bicknell, allowing Turner to score the tying run while Smaka advanced to third and Stewart moved into scoring position.<\/p>\n The Dirtbags continued the rally when Ty Borgogno<\/a> pushed a bunt single toward first base that brought home Smaka for a 5-4 lead. Damon Valdez<\/a> followed with a sacrifice fly to left field, scoring Stewart and extending the advantage to 6-4.<\/p>\n From there, Gebb shut the door. The right-hander retired nine of the 10 batters he faced over the final three innings, including strikeouts of Camacho and Bryan Bradshaw, to secure the sweep. The series sweep marked the Dirtbags’ first conference sweep of the season and extended their recent momentum after also winning their previous Big West series against UC Davis.
\nLina finished with two hits, while Roulston drove in two runs with his first homer of the season.<\/p>\n
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