Box Score

Long Beach, Calif.- Wichita State (3-3) fell to Long Beach State, 8-3, as the Dirtbags complete the 3-0 sweep of the Shockers over the weekend.

 

Conor Gillaspie hit a two-out single in the top of the first and Dusty Coleman followed with his third homerun of the season, putting the Shockers up 2-0.

 

That lead was quickly erased after Shane Peterson doubled in Rylan Sandoval and Danny Espinosa.  Sandoval was hit by a pitch to get on board and Espinosa reached on a fielder's choice.  Both runners were safe as starting pitcher Tim Kelley made an errant throw to second base.  The redshirt freshman bore down and went through the next three batters in order.

 

The Shockers scattered 6 hits throughout 7 innings, but never managed to put any together, stranding all runners on base.  Even a one out triple from Gillaspie and a lead-off double by Andy Dirks could not be taken advantage of. 

 

The Dirtbags opened it up in the bottom of the fourth.  With two outs, which included an eye-popping play from Bret Bascue, Kelley allowed back-to-back singles and hit Espinosa to load the bases.

 

Womack took over on the hill and walked his first batter, pushing a run across.  Ted Lemasters followed with a two RBI single that put Long Beach State ahead, 5-2.

 

Taylor Krick added a run with a solo homerun in the fifth.

 

Grant Muncrief made his pitching debut in the bottom of the seventh.  The performance started off shaky with a walk, wild pitch and throwing error, allowing the lead-off runner to advance to third base.  Muncrief zoned in, struck out the next two batters and forced a ground out from the third to get out of the sticky situation unscathed.

 

With two outs in the eighth, Muncrief issued two walks and Peterson made them costly with a two RBI double down the right field line.

 

In WSU's last chance, Josh Workman bunted for a hit to lead off the ninth.  Kenny Williams, Jr., pinch hitting, doubled in the runner  to make it 8-3.  The next three batters went quietly, however, and the Dirtbags held on for the win.

 

Kelley fell to 1-1 and gave up four earned runs on four hits and two walks in the 3.2 innings and struck out two.  Andy Womack allowed one earned run in 2.1 innings and Muncrief completed two innings with two earned runs on three walks and one hit.

 

Long Beach starter Jake Thompson earned the win in seven innings of work.  The freshman right hander allowed two earned runs and struck out eight.

 

Gillaspie and Workman were the only Shockers with multiple hits.  Coleman's homerun gave the sophomore two RBI and Williams drove in WSU's third run with his double.

 

Peterson did the most damage to the Shockers, going 2-for-4 with five RBI.  Wichita State out-hit Long Beach State 10-7, but two Shocker errors and nine free passes would come back to haunt the Shockers.

 

 

-Wichita State-