Late-inning wildness leads to one-run loss at Long Beach State

Long Beach State had four hits on Wednesday, but it made them count in a 4-3 win over Vanderbilt at Blair Field in Long Beach, Calif., on Wednesday night.

All four hits came in the same inning, all singles, two of which never left the infield. But that, and two critical wild pitches, were enough to sink the Commodores.

The go-ahead blow was a two-out, bases-loaded infield single from Chris Jimenez, capping a three-run seventh.

Commodore third baseman Jayson Gonzalez homered and drove in three runs, and left-hander Jake Eder threw five innings of shutout, no-hit ball for the Commodores.

But the Dirtbags scored a run on a wild pitch in the seventh, then went ahead in the eighth.

Vandy (10-4) had two on and two out in the ninth for Gonzalez, who was ahead 3-1 in the count against LBSU closer Chris Rivera. Gonzalez watched a close pitch on the outside corner, then took a close one on the inside corner, both called strikes.

Gonzalez singled through short with one out in the second, giving Vandy a 2-0 lead.

With Eder mowing the Dirtbags down, Gonzalez connected on a home run to center to lead off the fifth.

But with Eder at 76 pitches, VU coach Tim Corbin went to Justin Wilson to start the top of the sixth.

Wilson walked back-to-back hitters with one out, and Corbin went to lefty Zach King, who got a ground-out before firing a wild pitch past catcher Philip Clarke for Long Beach State's first run.

In the seventh, the Dirtbags picked up their first hit, coming off King, and threatened for more when Joey Sanchez hit a ball hard down the line in right.

But J.J. Bleday ranged over and made a terrific, head-first, diving catch that saved a run.

That only amounted to hitting the pause button.

King walked Jarren Duren, and Clayton Andrews topped an infield single down first.

Corbin then went to Reid Schaller, who uncorked a wild pitch a couple feet to Clarke's left to make the VU lead 3-2.

Then, with two out and the bases loaded, Jimenez hit a grounder to Julian Infante at first. The junior fielded it and threw to first, but Jimenez beat it out while the tying and go-ahead runs scored.

The Commodores out-hit Long Beach State, 9-4, but walked eight hitters.

Vanderbilt, losers of three of four games on its trip west, travels to play at UCLA (10-2) on Friday, a game scheduled for 8 Central.

Three of VU's losses have been by one run. The 10 wins have all come by three runs or more.

Left fielder Alonzo Jones didn't play for the third straight game after running into the left-field wall against Sam Houston State on Friday. Walker Grisanti started in left instead.

Eder had seven ground-ball outs and one fly out.

Infante had a pair of hits to snap out of a 2-for-34 slump.

Erik Kaiser pitched a scoreless ninth, with one strikeout.

VU 2: Gonzalez single through short scored Bleday and Kaiser. VU, 2-0

VU 5: Gonzalez solo home run to center. VU, 3-0

LBST 6: Jimenez scored on King's wild pitch. VU, 3-1

LBST 7: Colacchio scored on Schaller's wild pitch. VU, 3-2

LBST 7: Duren, Andrews scored on Jimenez's infield single. LBSU, 4-3