Box Score

DAVIS, Calif. -- Four errors led to a trio of unearned runs and that proved to be the difference on Friday afternoon as visiting Long Beach State held off UC Davis for a 6-3 victory in the opener of a three-game Big West Conference series at Dobbins Stadium.

Despite scoring three runs late to close the gap and make it a two-run game, the Aggies dropped their fifth straight, falling to 16-32 overall and 4-15 in league play, with all five contests decided by three runs or fewer. Long Beach improved to 33-18 overall and 12-7 in the Big West.

Cameron Olson finished 2-for-4 and slugged his team-best fifth home run of the season in the sixth inning to break up the shutout after the visitors had run out to a 5-0 lead. The Yuba City, Calif., native skied the first pitch he saw from starter Chris Mathewson over the wall in right field for the Aggies' first run of the game.

That sparked a rally for UC Davis, which tacked on two more after the stretch to chase Mathewson and climb to within 5-3. Alex Roeser rolled a double that split the outfielders in right centerfield to lead-off the inning, moved to third on Brad Pluschkell's ground ball into the hole on the left side, and scored on a passed ball to make it 5-2.

With two outs, Caleb Van Blake wasted no time in his pinch hitting appearance, lining a ringing double into the corner in right field to move into scoring position for Tanner Bily, who bounced a single back through the box to extend his hitting streak to seven games and inch the Aggies even closer.

After retiring the side in order in the seventh and eighth, reliever Chris Brown ran into a bit of trouble in the ninth, allowing a lead-off double before pinch-hitter Brooks Stotler found a hole past a drawn-in infield off Blake Peters in relief, driving home an insurance run and the final 6-3 score.

Mathewson (7-4) earned the win, allowing three runs on seven hits, walking three and striking out two in 6.2 innings of work, before giving way to Kyle Brown and Ty Provencher, who combined to allow just one hit and struck out four in 2.1 innings of work. Provencher was credited with his second save of the year, retiring five of the six batters he faced.

Robert Garcia (3-4) suffered the loss despite throwing his team-best sixth "quality start" of the season, allowing just two earned on five hits and striking out a pair over six innings.

Led by Olson's ninth multi-hit game of the year, six of the nine Aggie starters finished with at least one hit, including a total of five extra-base hits on the day for UC Davis. Seven different players accounted for Long Beach State's hit total, including a two-run single off the bat of Daniel Jackson in the fourth.

The two teams reconvene on Saturday (May 21) at 1 p.m. for game two of their series at Dobbins Stadium.

Long Beach State 6, UC Davis 3 (May 20, 2016 at Davis, Calif.)
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Long Beach State.... 100 211 001 - 6 7 0 (33-18, 12-7 BIG WEST)
UC Davis............ 000 001 200 - 3 8 4 (16-32, 4-15 BIG WEST)
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Pitchers: Long Beach State - Mathewson, Chris; Brown, Kyle(7); Provencher, Ty(8) and Banuelos, David. UC Davis - Garcia, Robert; Brown, Chris (7); Peters, Blake (9) and Denholm, Logan.
Win - Mathewson, Chris (7-4) Save - Provencher, Ty(2) Loss - Garcia, Robert (3-4) T-2:45 A-353
HR UCD - Olson, Cameron (5).
Weather: partly cloudy, wind blowing in