The bats weren’t singing in Kansas Sunday afternoon—Steve Tinoco and Rylan Sandoval each had two hits, but the rest of the Dirtbags were on the wrong side of a gem from Wichita State’s Jordan Cooper, who pitched a complete game on the way to a 6-1 Long Beach State loss.

The Shockers got on the board first in the second inning. Josh Rosecrans started the action with a walk, and then after getting the lead runner on a ground out, Mitch Caster doubled to score Cody Lassley.  A two-out rally would open up the lead for Wichita State. Gagnon was able to retire the first two batters in the third, but Clint McKeever singled to extend the inning, and after a walk to Chris O’Brien, Will Baez put the Shockers up 4-0 with a homer to left.

Long Beach State put across an unearned run in the fourth, as Tinoco and Sandoval hit consecutive singles for the second time in the game, and Derek Legg’s grounder to second base was misplayed by Will Baez, allowing Tinoco to score.

A leadoff double by McKeever and a walk to O’Brien set up the fifth inning for similar trouble as the third. After a single by Josh Rosecrans brought home one run, though, Jason Markovitz entered ikn relief and picked up a strikeout and a popup to keep the score 5-1.  Baez added a second home run in the seventh inning, a solo shot to give the Shockers a 6-1 lead.

The Dirtbags will head to San Diego for a Tuesday night rematch with the Toreros at 2pm. Long Beach State returns to Blair Field on Friday, Match 27 for the first game of a three-game series against UNLV. First pitch is scheduled for 6:30pm.

From LBSU reports