Long Beach State Holds On to Beat Wolf Pack in Baseball

Long Beach State opened a three-game series against Nevada with a 6-4 victory in a Big West Conference baseball game at Reno Friday.

Keith Cowley had two hits, including a home run, and three RBIs and Will Skett had three hits, two RBIs and two runs scored for Long Beach (27-16, 10-3 in conference), which moved to a half-game behind idle first-place Cal State Fullerton (37-4, 10-2).

Fullerton, ranked No. 1 in the nation, had its game at San Jose State rained out. The Titans will play a doubleheader today. Long Beach, which has won nine of its last 13, will play Nevada (22-14, 4-9) again today and Sunday.

Long Beach pitcher Marcus Jones pitched 7 1/3 innings, giving up seven hits and one earned run. He struck out nine and walked four to improve to 7-3.

Long Beach reliever Ryan Brannan almost squandered the lead. With two on and one out in the ninth and the 49ers leading, 6-3, Nevada’s Andy Dominic hit a deep fly ball to left, but Long Beach outfielder J.J. Newkirk made the catch at the wall.

In nonconference women’s tennis:

UC Irvine 6, UC Riverside 3--Leah Fisher defeated UC Riverside’s Julie Dobrin, 3-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-2 at No. 1 singles for UC Irvine (8-13). Teammate Nina Basica also won, 6-2, 6-1.