Coast Lose Nine-Game Series Streak

MARYSVILLE, CA – The Long Beach Coast (31-10) dropped the middle game of the Fourth of July weekend series against the Yuba-Sutter Freebirds (14-27) for their second series loss of the season on Saturday night.

Long Beach starter Gary Grosjean made the holliday start on Independence Day, the first start for the Truckee native at Bryant Field since Opening Day. Grosjean’s third start of the season was short-lived, throwing the initial six defensive outs of the game, but after some trouble in the first inning and at the start of the third, Coast manager Troy Percival had to go to his bullpen early.

Grosjean would end up responsible for the 6-0 deficit that kicked off the initial third of the ballgame. The Coast offensive run support began after Grosjean had returned to the dugout, going scoreless in the first three frames off of Freebirds starter Anthony Silvas, then scoring multiple runs in the next four consecutive innings.

Coast designated hitter Cuba Bess was a key contributor of the middle-inning march to eliminate the looming deficit – a three-run home run in the fifth inning (now tied for third place in the PBL with 13 on the year) and the game-tying sacrifice fly tied the game up at 8-8 for the first time in the top of the sixth.

Two batters after the game-tying sacrifice fly, second baseman Patrick Roche hit a go-ahead three-run shot off of Yuba-Sutter reliever Sean Wiese to snag an 11-8 lead, the first Coast lead of the game heading into the bottom of the sixth.

Coast reliever Cole Percival took the mound after the fresh lead. Percival didn’t record an out, having allowed three consecutive extra-base hits, the final one of which regained the lead for the Freebirds with a three-run homer from first baseman Andrew Kirchner.

Yuba-Sutter flipped the lead back to Long Beach in the next half inning when Freebirds reliever Dylan McCall allowed Emilio Corona to reach on an error that scored Eddy Pelc and Johnny Pappas.

After stretchtime and the second Coast lead at 13-12, Jake Dixon recorded a strikeout and a walk, leading to another immediate pitching change to Steven Ordorica. The sidearmed firefighter for Long Beach surrendered the third and final big fly of the evening to Yuba-Sutter, this time to center fielder Jackson Mayo, who scored two runs on one swing to take a one-run Freebirds lead into the ninth.

Yuba-Sutter’s star closer Tristan Wolf, on the one-year anniversary of his professional debut, came into the game in the top of the ninth for the save opportunity. Wolf allowed the first batter he faced aboard on a walk, but retired the next three he faced in order, leaving the potential game-tying Coast run in scoring position. 

Wolf earned his seventh save of the season, now tied for the league lead. Ordorica (0-2) received his second loss of the season in the series-clinching 14-13 Yuba-Sutter victory on Saturday night.

The series loss is the second of the season for Long Beach in their initial 12 on the year. The Coast had not lost a series since the first week of the 2026 campaign in Oakland on May 22-24. The high-scoring Fourth of July match was the fourth win by the Freebirds over the Coast in their initial 14 games played, also marking the 10th loss of the season for Long Beach.

The Coast will hope to avoid their first opposing sweep in the series finale at Bryant Field on Sunday afternoon at 1:05 PM PDT.

Joey Miller