COLLEGE BASEBALL: Metzger helps keep Dirtbags alive

LBSU's first Blair Field homer since 2010 forces winner-take-all finale.

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LBSU's Brennan Metzger celebrates as he crosses home plate after hitting a three-run homer for the Dirtbags in the third inning. It was the first home run by a Long Beach State player at Blair Field since 2010.

The wind was brisk, the game was fast and the Long Beach State team meeting in center field after the game was the quickest of the season.

"There wasn't a whole lot to say," Long Beach State head coach Troy Buckley, a huge smile on his face, said.

The Dirtbags (28-26, 15-8 Big West) beat Cal State Fullerton (34-19, 16-7) Saturday night 5-1 before 2,412 at Blair Field to make today's series and regular-season finale a classic winner-take-all situation for the Dirtbags.

Win and the Dirtbags punch a ticket to the postseason. They would share the title with Fullerton and possibly Cal Poly but win all tiebreakers that would get them to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2008.

Brennan Metzger slugged a three-run home run in the third, the first Dirtbag home run at home in two seasons, and Ryan Strufing pitched the best game of his career, allowing two hits through eight innings before tiring and losing his shutout in the ninth.

Leading 1-0 after a RBI single by Juan Avila, Metzger exploded the inning with his two-out, three-run home run to left field off starter Grahamm Wiest.

It was the first home run by a Dirtbag at Blair Field in two seasons using the new BBCOR era of power-deprived bats. The previous homer was on May 9, 2010, when Metzger (fourth inning), Kirk Singer (fifth) and Jonathan Jones (eighth) all went deep in a win over Stanford.

"He gave me a fastball up, which is what I was looking for,"

Metzger said after his second homer of the season and sixth of his career. "It felt good after missing everything they threw at me Friday. I thought it had a chance but I kept my head down until I saw (the umpire) signal home run."

"That was a big blow," Buckley said. "It gave us some space."

Strufing didn't need much. He was in control from the beginning with a hard fastball down in the zone that had the Titans hitting the ball into the ground more often than not. Strufing got 12 outs via a ground ball, struck out six and picked a runner off. He allowed just two hits and two walks through eight innings.

Buckley shook his hand after the eighth to indicate he was going to the bullpen for the ninth. "I politely refused," Strufing said. "I really wanted to finish the game with all of the drama and the crowd."

He was nicked for an error and two hits and left with two outs for Kyle Friedrichs, who struck out J.D. Davis on three pitches."

"He was phenomenal," Buckley said of Strufing. "The setting, with our backs to the wall, with a big crowd ... he had a great fastball today. He had the angle where all they could do was hit the top half of the ball. He pounded the strike zone and didn't back off even when he went 2-0."

Weist walked Kellen Hoime in the third and Johnny Bekakis bunted the Dirtbag catcher to second. After Matt Duffy lined out, Ino Patron's infield single put runners on the corners.

Juan Avila drilled a double to the left field gap to make it 1-0, and Metzger followed with his crushing three-run shot. Avila added an insurance run in the fifth with a two-out run-scoring double, the second of his three hits.

Today at 1 p.m., Shawn Stuart (7-0, 2.21) faces Fullerton left-hander Kenny Mathews (5-2, 4.09). Stuart, the ace of the staff, was moved to the final game of weekend series earlier this season after missing a start, and he's become the Dirtbags' Sunday or last-game talisman.

In his last eight starts, the Dirtbags are 7-1 and Stuart is 6-0. Four times, he's won the final game to clinch a 2-1 series win. Twice, he won the last game to finish a sweep. He also salvaged the last game of the UC Davis series after the Dirtbags dropped the first two games.

In his two starts prior to that run, he went nine innings and allowed two runs, one earned, in a no-decision against Arizona State, and threw 5 2/3 innings of shutout ball, allowing six hits, in a nonconference game at Fullerton.

The Dirtbags are 12-2 on Sundays, too.

Mathews' best outings include seven inning-plus efforts against Pacific, UC Irvine and Long Beach back in their nonconference series, going 7 2/3 innings while allowing five hits and one unearned run in a 2-1 win.

"This is what it's all about, it all comes down to the last game," Buckley said.

"They understand what's at stake. It'll be fun."

bob.keisser@presstelegram.com

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