Long Beach State’s Kyle Friedrichs outdueled UCSB’s Dillon Tate in Friday’s Big West Conference opener. (Presidio Sports Photos)
Dillon Tate was spectacular in his start on Friday afternoon against Long Beach State. Unfortunately for Tate and UC Santa Barbara, Dirtbag starter Kyle Friedrichs was also practically unhittable as he pitched his team to a 2-0 win in the Big West opener for both teams.
Tate (3-3) tossed a complete game, allowing just three hits and no earned runs. He struck out 10 and walked only one. Friedrichs (4-1) also went the distance, allowing two hits while striking out 13 and allowing no walks.
UCSB (17-7 overall, 0-1 in Big West) allowed Long Beach (13-8, 1-0) two unearned runs and that was enough.
UCSB’s Dillon Tate was on the mound for the Gauchos
The Dirtbags scored their first run in the top of the second inning. With one out, left fielder Alex Bishop was hit by a Tate fastball. The next hitter, third baseman Nico Maida grounded to the right side in what looked like a possible double play, but the ball went under the glove and through the legs of second baseman Peter Maris. Bishop went to third while Maida wound up at second on the play. Bishop scored when catcher Eric Hutting grounded to third for the second out of the inning.
The score remained 1-0 until the top of the ninth. Shortstop Garrett Hampson bunted a ball that popped over Tate’s head and landed in no-man’s land between second base and the mound. There was no play and it wenat as a single.
Hampson moved to second base on a sacrifice by Zack Domingues. After Tate got Zack Rivera to strike out swinging, pinch hitter Chris Mathewson hit a grounder to the Gauchos’ new second baseman, Kyle Plantier. Plantier couldn’t handle the ball and Hampson came in to score the game’s second run.
UCSB really threatened just once. With one out in the top of the sixth, Clay Fisher reached first when Maida threw wide to first base on a ground ball. One out later, center fielder Andrew Calica was hit by a pitch giving the Gauchos two runners for the first and only time in the game, but Luke Swenson struck out swining to end the inning.
Swenson collected Santa Barbara’s first hit of the game, a single to left, while pinch hitter Billy Fredrick drove a single up the middle in the eighth inning for the team’s second hit.
Tate’s nine-inning, no-earned run performance lowered his team-leading earned run average to 1.39.
The Gauchos and Dirtbags will play the second game of the three game series on Saturday afternoon. First pitch at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. UCSB is slated to pitch Justin Jacome (3-1, 2.27 ERA), while Long Beach is expected to counter with Tanner Brown (3-0, 1.62).
