By: Wichita State
Box Score LONG BEACH, Calif. - Wichita State (3-1) fell in 12 innings to No. 10 Long Beach State, 3-2.
Shane Peterson doubled in Danny Espinosa who reached on a walk in the bottom of the 12th, to take game one of a three-game series.
Wichita State's bats were ice cold for the first three innings as Long Beach starter Andrew Liebel cruised through the Shocker line up. Liebel struck out the side in the first and continued to deliver nine consecutive outs through three innings.
Taylor Krick led off the Dirtbag second with a double off the left field wall. A sacrifice bunt advanced Krick to third and the runner scored on a wild pitch by Rob Musgrave.
The first WSU hit was a big one as Andy Dirks legged out a triple to left field. Ryan Jones reached on a fielder's choice and Dirks was frozen at third as the fielder did not make a play. Workman followed with a grounder to third and this time Dirks broke towards home, but came up short and was thrown out at the plate.
Espinosa found a hole on the left side for a hit and Peterson followed with a bunt. Third baseman Conor Gillaspie waited on it to roll foul, but it never did. Krick put one back up the middle with a slash hit. Musgrave was able to knock it down, but no one was at first as the fielders had moved in for the bunt. Musgrave got a fly ball for an out with the bases loaded, but walked Zach Barger to force in a run for a 2-0 Dirtbag lead. Junior Tyler Fleming took over on the mound and got a much needed double play to end the inning.
The Shockers seemed to have a spark in the top of the seventh with a hit fired up the middle by Gillaspie. Then with two outs Tyler Hill had a hard hit that hooked foul and settled with a single through the left side. The runners were stranded as WSU's tenth strikeout cut the inning short.
Wichita State came charging back in the eighth. Liebel struck out pinch hitter Kyle Sisney and walked Dirks before being relieved by David Roberts. Jones had a single that hit the lip of the infield and bounced over the short stop's head. Gillaspie hit one hard to first base and the fielder's glove deflected it to second base. The ball got away from Devin Lohman allowing Dirks to score and then a speedy Jones crossed on a wild throw to home. The Shockers had knotted it at two and Lohman was credited with two errors on the play.
Musgrave struck out six and allowed two earned runs on seven hits and one costly walk in 5.1 innings. Fleming's relief work was steady, throwing 5.2 scoreless innings, while scattering four hits and walking no batters. Andy Womack (0-1) only recorded one out, but faced four batters and allowed the winning run to score while shouldering the loss.
Long Beach State went through five pitchers and the one that faced the least amount of batters ran away with the win. Nick Vincent faced two batters, striking out one, and pitched 0.2 innings, but earned the win.
The Shockers look to come back tomorrow as the series continues at 4 p.m. CST.
-Wichita State-
