Baseball Wins, 10-6, Evens Series at Long Beach State

Saturday, March 17

Long Beach, Calif.

4 p.m.

Tulane University

9-11

Long Beach State

7-12

Tulane

Long Beach State

Baseball Wins, 10-6, Evens Series at Long Beach State

Mar 17, 2018 | Baseball

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LONG BEACH, Calif. – Tulane baseball scored nine runs in the middle innings on its way to a 10-6 bounce-back win over Long Beach State to even up the series Saturday afternoon at Blair Field.

All nine starters contributed either a hit or an RBI for the green-wearing Green Wave (9-11), as Tulane won its sixth straight St. Patrick's Day game dating back to 2010 and picked up its first road victory of the season.

Sophomore third baseman Kody Hoese, junior first baseman Trevor Jensen and senior designated hitter Matt Rowland each drove in two runs. That trio, along with junior center fielder Grant Witherspoon, freshman left fielder David Bedgood and junior catcher Acy Owen each collected two hits, while sophomore second baseman Jonathon Artigues led the 16-hit attack with three base knocks.

Graduate senior Ben White went 4.2 innings in the start, coming up big for Tulane just four days after he pitched five relief innings against Louisiana-Lafayette on Tuesday. He scattered seven hits and limited the Dirtbags (7-12) to three runs. Senior Sam Bjorngjeld (1-1) closed out the fifth inning and went the rest of the way to earn his first win of the season.

"We saw a response today, which was dearly needed," Tulane head coach Travis Jewett said. "The kids showed up today with good intent to play well, and they were rewarded for it. Ben White had a big start. We were looking for somebody to get in there today and establish the game and just try to keep them at bay. Between the two of them (White and Bjorngjeld) I thought they did a nice job."

After LBSU scored in the bottom of the third, Hoese tied it up right away with his first career home run – a solo shot to left field. Jensen singled and moved to third on a pair of wild pitches, and then scored on a perfectly laid safety squeeze bunt by sophomore shortstop Sal Gozzo. Freshman right fielder Stephen Sepcich made it a 3-1 game with a two-out single that found space down the right field line and scored Rowland from second.

Jensen delivered a two-run double off the top of the left field wall in the fifth inning to extend the lead to 5-1. The double scored Artigues and Witherspoon, who led off the inning with back-to-back singles.

After LBSU cut it to 5-3 with two runs in the bottom of the fifth, the Green Wave completed their middle innings onslaught with four runs in the top of the sixth. Bedgood started it with a double to left and scored on Witherspoon's base hit up the middle. Hoese followed with an RBI single to score Witherspoon and then Rowland delivered a base hit to plate Hoese and make the score 9-3.

Tulane extended the lead to 10-4 in the top of the eighth when Rowland scored Witherspoon on a base hit to left center.

Long Beach State scored first with an RBI double in the third inning by pitcher Clayton Andrews. The Dirtbags scored two more runs in the fifth inning on an RBI groundout by Andrews and a run-scoring double by catcher Chris Jimenez. Shortstop Santino Rivera then scored in the seventh on a strange play when two players collided on a pop up to left field. In the ninth, second baseman Jarren Duran hit a two-run home run.

Andrews (1-4) took the loss for Long Beach State.

Tulane and Long Beach State play the series rubber match at 1:30 p.m. CT Sunday.

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