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The biggest home crowd since 2002 and a visit from rival Fullerton was just what the doctor ordered for the Long Beach State Dirtbags. They entered the weekend on a five-game losing streak but broke out of the slump with a dominant 5-2 victory on Friday in front of 2,922 fans at Bohl Diamond at Blair Field.
“Our vibe was low because of losses, but leave it to an electric crowd and get Fullerton in here to get the fire back,” Dirtbags coach Bryan Peters said. “The electricity in the crowd, we always have it at Blair, but when it’s Fullerton it’s something else. Regardless how you’re feeling as a team, Fullerton brings it out of you. The opponents are supposed to be nameless and faceless, but it’s never that way when you play Fullerton.”
The Dirtbags battery of pitcher Myles Patton and catcher John Newman Jr. got the game balls after they shut down the Fullerton offense for most of the night.
“Every game is equally important to us, but obviously you’re going to be amped up in a good atmosphere against one of our rivals,” Patton said. “We definitely wanted to get back in the win column to get some momentum going and I think we did that for sure tonight.”
Patton tossed seven scoreless innings while scattering five hits and striking out seven without any walks. The sophomore lefty thinks that adapting to the Titans (8-12, 1-3) approach was the key to success.
“Ideally we were trying to pitch inside and get the slider off of that and they were trying to cheat to that inside fastball so we adapted and kind of threw changeups in there and lived with the fastball away,” Patton said. “And then once we started mixing it up the second time through the order they really didn’t have a chance.”
That adaptability is a byproduct of Patton working with new pitching coach Op. Patton, a Millikan High alum, now has a 3.37 ERA with 48 strikeouts and just 10 walks.
“Myles was very hungry to improve, so coach Op changed his entire arsenal, and he bought in and loves what he’s doing,” Peters said of Patton. “I thought Fullerton gameplanned pretty well, and Myles showed them a completely different pitcher than what he’s shown in the first six weeks of the season.”
Patton got some early run support as Newman Jr. drove in runs in the first inning. He finished with three hits, four RBI and a run scored. The big offensive night was a sight for sore Dirtbags eyes after Peters said the team’s approach at the plate needed to get better.
“We went to war this past week talking with (coaches) just trying to figure it out because obviously the ABs haven’t been good, the overarching thing besides swing mechanics is just hunting elevation,” Newman Jr. said. “The pitches we’re going to do damage on are the ones up in the zone. It’s just eliminating the bottom of the zone and letting the pitcher have that and just swinging at the pitches we can drive and do damage with.”
Newman Jr. is hitting .296 this season with a team-high nine extra base hits.
“He’s the emotional leader of this team,” Peters said of Newman Jr. “You want that guy catching for you because you know he’s got so much heart and soul and energy.”
LBSU (11-8-1, 1-3) also got three hits and two runs scored from leadoff hitter Kyle Ashworth, and Connor Charpiot chipped in two hits and two runs scored to go with an RBI.
The crowd at Blair was the 14th largest in program history.
This Big West Conference series continues on Saturday at 6 p.m.
