COLLEGE BASEBALL : Long Beach State Rallies From Seven Down to Win : West Regional: 49ers capitalize on Southwest Missouri State errors and bad relief pitching to win, 14-11.

Those expressions of failure on the faces of Southwest Missouri State’s players, coaches, fans and support personnel were well deserved and probably not pathetic enough. Considering how Southwest Missouri began the NCAA Division I West Regional baseball tournament, it was entitled to much more self-loathing.

Such is the aftermath when you bungle away a lead of seven runs. Long Beach State capitalized on the errors and horrid relief pitching in rallying for a 14-11 victory Thursday at Fresno State’s Beiden Field.

The second-seeded 49ers (36-23-1) prevailed despite spotting the fifth-seeded Bears (37-20) a 10-3 lead entering the bottom of the fifth inning. Clutch power hitting by Jeff Liefer and solid relief pitching of Kyle Wilson combined with the Bears’ mistakes were enough to help the 49ers stage their largest successful rally and keep them in the winners’ bracket of the double-elimination tournament. Long Beach plays fourth-seeded Pepperdine tonight at about 7.

“We had ‘em right where we wanted them, we just couldn’t hold them off,” Bear Coach Keith Guttin said. “I think it was more our mistakes than anything they did.”

Not surprisingly, Long Beach Coach Dave Snow offered a different perspective.

“We’ve spent our whole season preparing to play here,” Snow said. “We don’t expect anything to fall into our laps. We’re going to have to battle the whole way.”

The 49ers got a lot of practice at it Friday.

Long Beach tied the score, 11-11, with four runs in the seventh and won by scoring three runs in the eighth, on one hit, an error and a wild pitch. Wilson (12-3), the 49ers’ No. 2 starter during the regular season, gave up two unearned runs in 3 2/3 innings and closer Gabe Gonzalez got his 18th save by pitching a perfect ninth.

As he has been all season, Liefer was the catalyst. He drove in three runs with his team-leading 10th homer as Long Beach scored four runs in the fifth to cut Southwest Missouri’s lead to 10-7. Liefer, who scored three runs, doubled and scored the go-ahead run in the eighth.

Long Beach outfielder Jason Minici also played very well. Minici was four for four with four runs scored and one run batted in.

Joe Blasingim (8-5) walked four, hit a batter and threw a wild pitch in 1 2/3 innings in picking up the loss. But he was better than his predecessor. Scott Geitz gave up four runs--three earned--in only one-third of an inning after relieving starter Brandon Shelby.

“We haven’t had a hot hand out of the bullpen all year,” Guttin said.

Snow gambled that 49ers would be too much for the Bears and started Steve Hueston, basically the team’s fourth starter. This enabled Snow to save Scott Rivette, Rocky Biddle and Wilson for later in the regional when things get tougher.

However, Snow’s plan almost backfired.

Hueston, who has started only eight games this season including the regional, was shelled for five runs in the top of the fourth inning--including a grand slam by Alex Manary, who was three for five with six RBIs. Long Beach came back with two runs in the bottom of the inning to cut Southwest Missouri’s lead to 6-3.