The Long Beach Coast have hit their first extended rough patch of the season as the Pioneer Baseball League regular season enters its final stretch.
After dropping a series for the first time in franchise history against Oakland, Long Beach returned to Blair Field looking to get back on track against the Missoula PaddleHeads. Instead, the Coast dropped four of six games, including a 13-4 loss in Sunday’s finale, to fall to 58-26 overall.
It marked the first time this season Long Beach has lost a six-game series, continuing a difficult August for a team that spent much of its inaugural season rolling through the Pioneer League.
The series got off to a quiet start Tuesday as the Coast fell 3-1 in their first-ever meeting with the PaddleHeads. Long Beach’s offense struggled to get going and the loss dropped the Coast to 56-23.
Those offensive struggles initially carried into Wednesday, extending Long Beach’s scoreless streak to 10 innings before the bats finally broke through in a big way.
The Coast erupted for six runs in the fourth inning and finished with 14 hits on their way to a 10-3 victory. The win snapped a three-game losing streak and briefly appeared to give Long Beach some momentum after its recent struggles.
Missoula quickly halted that momentum Thursday.
The PaddleHeads shut out Long Beach 4-0, handing the Coast the first shutout loss in franchise history. Long Beach managed six hits but was unable to bring a run across, continuing an inconsistent offensive stretch after Wednesday’s breakout performance.
Friday’s game went in the opposite direction as the two teams combined for 22 runs and 29 hits, but Long Beach once again came up short.
The Coast scored in six different innings and carried a 10-8 advantage into the ninth before Missoula put together a late rally. The PaddleHeads scored four times in the top of the ninth to turn the game around and hand Long Beach a 12-10 loss.
With the series already tilting toward Missoula, Long Beach responded Saturday with one of its better offensive performances of the week.
The Coast scored four runs in both the fifth and sixth innings to pull away for an 11-7 victory. Cuba Bess and Emilio Corona each homered as Long Beach collected 10 hits and improved to 58-25.
That win gave Long Beach an opportunity to salvage a split Sunday, but the PaddleHeads quickly took control of the finale.
Missoula rolled to a 13-4 victory to secure the series, dropping the Coast to 58-26. Cooper Vest and Benjamin Rosengard homered for Long Beach, but the Coast couldn’t keep pace as Missoula pulled away.
The 2-4 week continued a noticeable change of form for a Coast team that had been remarkably consistent for most of its inaugural season. Long Beach entered the Missoula series having gone 4-6 over its previous 10 games, meaning the Coast are now 6-10 over their last 16.
There have been some positive signs during that stretch, particularly when the Coast offense has been able to string together big innings. Long Beach scored 10 or more runs three times during the Missoula series, winning two of those games.
But the other side of that inconsistency was also on display. The Coast scored one run in Tuesday’s loss and were shut out for the first time in franchise history Thursday before allowing 25 combined runs in losses Friday and Sunday.
Despite the recent slide, Long Beach has already secured a postseason berth after its dominant first half, giving the Coast time to work through its first prolonged stretch of adversity before the playoffs begin. The Coast will now leave Blair Field and look to regain some consistency during the final week of the regular season as they hit the road to face Modesto and Oakland.
