Pitcher's duel against UC Riverside

Pitching was the strong suit Friday night at Blair Field as the Long Beach State Dirtbags took down the UC Riverside Highlanders for a 1-0 victory. Long Beach pitchers Andrew Gagnon, Eddie Magallon and Branden Pinder led the way throwing 12 shut out innings.

For the Highlanders, starting pitcher Matt Andriese was just as impressive holding a no-hit bid up until the seventh inning. He went on throw ten shut-out innings allowing three hits. 

"[There was] good pitching on both sides," Dirtbags head coach Troy Buckley said. "Our goal was to get as many ground ball outs as possible. [Gagnon] was able to get a couple of secondary pitches over for strikes. When he's able to do that he can pitch backwards at times."

The Dirtbags produced their game-clinching run in the bottom of the 12th inning when infielder Ino Patron singled off Highlanders relief pitcher Dylan Stuart. Mike Marjama then put down a perfect sacrifice bunt to move Patron over to second. The next batter up, Matt Duffy, then took a Stuart pitch up the middle for a single. UCR center fielder Tony Nix came up throwing, but it was too late as Patron had scored the game's lone run.

Courtesy of Capes homepage