Dirtbags Nearly Comeback on USD Closer, Fall 4-2
April 22, 2008
SAN DIEGO-- No. 25-ranked Long Beach State sent the tying run to the plate in the ninth, after being baffled by Ricardo Pecina (4-2), as AJ Griffin survived a shaky 1.1 innings to send No. 9-ranked San Diego (32-11) to a 4-2 victory over the Dirtbags (23-15). Pecina was forced from the game ain the eighth, after giving up a Kip Masuda's two-out single, and a walk to Jonathan Jones, after the lefthander struck out a career-best 11 and retired 12 in a row prior to Masuda's second hit of the day. The next four outs for Griffin were not easy, as he gave up a two-strike, two-out RBI single to Steve Tinoco in the eighth and a solo home run to Shane Peterson, to make it 4-2, to lead off the ninth inning. Griffin then surrendered a one-out, pinch-hit double to Brandon Godfrey and then had to get a groundout and a strikeout to preserve USD's 13th victory in a row. It was Griffin's ninth save of the year. Pecina surrendered just four hits, prior to Griffin giving up three hits. San Diego took a 1-0 in the third inning against Brett Lorin (2-3), after the LBSU righthander retired the first eight batters of the game. Sean Nicol's two-out single, followed a two-out double by Jose Valerio and a walk, which gave USD a 1-0 advantage. Lorin then gave up two more runs in the fourth inning on an RBI single by Victor Sanchez and a sacrifice fly to make it 3-0. Tyler Topp then surrendered a run in the fifth, with two outs, after Lorin went the first four innings giving up three runs on four hits.
LBSU returns home to host Pacific for a three-game series this weekend, beginning on Friday at 6:30 p.m. |
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