Steve Tinoco was three-for-four with a home run and Adam Wilk provided the defense pitching as Long Beach State defeated Wichita State 6-4. Wilk pitched 6.2 innings, striking out seven and allowing one lone run.  The win could signal the rise of some consistency for the Dirtbags, who had not previously won the first of a three-game series this season.

Pitching dominated the early part of the game, as Wilk matched Wichita State’s Tim Kelly pitch-for-pitch through the first five innings. Showing great control, Wilk allowed just one run in the third, a Shocker answer for Long Beach State’s run in the top half of the inning. Jonathan Jones singled to begin the inning, and Devin Lohman would drive in the first of his three RBI.

Tinoco was able to finally break the game open in the seventh inning. With one out, Derek Legg reached on a single, and Tinoco homered to left-center field to give Long Beach State the lead at 3-2.

Wichita State pulled to within one after pushing one run across in the eighth, but Long Beach State responded in the ninth. Tinoco, already with two hits, doubled to start the inning, and two more singles scored a run for Long Beach State. Then, with the bases loaded, Lohman drove in two more runs to give Long Beach State a 6-2 lead.

The Shockers would threaten once more in the ninth inning. Taylor Brown picked up his fourth single of the game to start the inning, and after a walk to put a second runner on, Chris O’Brien’s two-out single brought home two runs. Wichita State would again put two runners on to bring the winning run to the plate, but a crisp throw following a ball caught Will Baez off of first to end the game.

Long Beach State returns to Eck Stadium for two more games in the series. Saturday’s game starts at Noon Pacific, while first pitch for Sunday is scheduled for 11am Pacific time.

From LBSU reports