Long Beach State blasts Wichita State 13-1

The elation of Friday night’s comeback victory quickly dissipated Saturday for Wichita State, which again was confounded by Long Beach State in a 13-1 loss at Eck Stadium.

The Shockers (14-11) found tough going from the outset, as Long Beach (7-14) struck for three runs in the first off starter Albert Minnis (1-4). A.J. Ladwig and Drew Rainey followed with similar results.

“It was a miserable performance,” WSU coach Gene Stephenson said. “The pitching was not good for us. They beat us to death.”

Long Beach (7-14) came into the series with a .228 team batting average but has 29 hits in the two games, including 16 on Saturday.

“The bats have been better,” Long Beach coach Troy Buckley said. “This is a nice place to hit; you have to direct the ball.”

Long Beach has no homers but recorded five doubles and two triples Saturday.

Designated hitter Ino Patron and left fielder Johnny Bekakis had three hits each, and center fielder Brennan Metzger doubled and tripled, driving in three runs and scoring three times.

Buckley said he was pleased with his players for bouncing back.

“(Friday) was a tough night for our guys, but I think they showed a good job of showing their character,” Buckley said. “Just play the game, get into the next pitch and the next inning and do those things. That’s what we’ve been stressing.”

WSU was limited to five hits for the game after getting four in the pivotal ninth inning Friday. Only Kevin Hall’s first home run of the season, a line drive to left in the seventh, prevented a shutout.

Dayne Parker, who had four hits Friday, was the only Shocker with more than one hit Saturday with two singles.

Ryan Strufing (3-1) started for Long Beach and pitched six strong innings, allowing three hits, walking four and striking out three.

“That starting pitcher kept us off-balance all day,” Stephenson said. “We didn’t hit anything against him, and it’s hard to score if you don’t get anybody on.

“The other thing is, we couldn’t stop them, under any circumstances. We made a lot of bad pitches.”

Despite the lopsided margin, Stephenson said that today’s game provides a new opportunity.

“Every day’s a new day,” he said. “You come out and play the game the best you can and not concern yourself about what happened yesterday or the day before. You can’t change any of it anyway. All we can do now is focus on trying to be better, learn from the mistakes we made, and hopefully we will.

“There were mistakes made on the mound for us, and mistakes made at the plate for us. Focus on the mistakes we made and hope we can adjust.”

DP — WSU. LOB — LBS 8, WSU 9. 2B — Duffy (2), Avila (5), Metzger (3), Prigatano (2), Bekakiste (2). 3B — Patron (1), Metzger (1). HR — Hall (1). SB — McNeil (4), Yarnaguchi (2), Bekakis (3), Hall (11). S — Avila (3), Murai (3).

HBP — Prigatano, Metzger (by Rainey).

WP — Rainey (1). Balk — Strufing (1). Umpires — home, Terry Harrison; first, Ken McQueen; third, Greg Mudd. T — 2:59. A — 3,167.