49ers’ Title Proves to Be Little Reward

As rewards go, the payoff wasn’t great. Not even good.

For winning the Big West Conference regular-season title, Long Beach State earned the top seeding in the four-team conference tournament. That meant Long Beach faced the fourth-place team in the opening round Friday night.

So, theoretically at least, Long Beach had the path of least resistance to the tournament title. But theories don’t always work out, and neither did much else for Long Beach against Cal State Fullerton.

The tournament-host Titans defeated the 49ers, 3-1, at Titan Field in front of 2,468. The 49ers still own that regular-season title, but it won’t help them much now.

The 49ers will try to climb back into the tournament today. They play UC Santa Barbara at 11:05 a.m. in an elimination game at Titan Field.

“We knew what we were looking at coming in,” 49er Coach Dave Snow said. “It’s kind of a double-edged sword playing Fullerton in the tournament at their place, but anything can happen in this tournament.”

During the first inning Friday night, the 49ers found out.

Catcher Brian Loyd drove in two runs with what was scored as a single. The ball went under the glove and through the legs of reliable shortstop Jason Knupfer, which wasn’t a good sign for the 49ers.

Defense and pitching were keys in the 49ers’ title drive. They were especially stingy in the field while winning two of three games against the Titans at Blair Field in April.

This time, the Titans made the plays--and lots of them. The Titans turned four double plays.

“They played great defense,” Snow said. “When we played them earlier in the year, we turned all the plays. This time they did, and I really thought that was the difference in the game. They were outstanding.”

Long Beach starter Marcus Jones defeated Fullerton, 4-2, in the opener of the series in April. Jones had a rib cage problem that caused Long Beach coaches some concern, but he was again effective. Even if he didn’t agree.

“I felt fine coming into the game,” Jones said. “I was my normal self, even though I didn’t pitch like myself.”

Of course, Fullerton isn’t your average fourth-place team. Fullerton might not have played well down the stretch, but made up for its late-season shortcomings against Long Beach.

The Titans were effective in every part of their game, Snow said.

“They played great defense, but don’t take anything away from [Titan starting pitcher Brent Billingsley],” he said. “He’s very deceptive and he kept us off balance. He changed speeds and he had good movement.”

Billingsley tired in the ninth, allowing the 49ers to break through for a run. But that was it.

Not a very rewarding night indeed.