Fatigue Might Be Factor as 49ers’ Fall to UNLV

Simply awakening and arriving at the ballpark on time Sunday was an accomplishment for Long Beach State, which spent more time at Titan Field than the home team this weekend.

Forced to battle through the losers’ bracket at the Big West tournament, the 49ers played three games in two days to reach the championship game. Nevada Las Vegas showed up for the game too--but well rested and determined to leave its mark.

The combination was too much for the 49ers, as the Rebels won the title, 11-2, in front of 696 at Titan Field.

“We came here on a mission,” said Rebels Coach Fred Dallimore, whose team earned the conference’s automatic NCAA tournament berth. “We came here with a good focus, and these kids deserve this honor because they’ve worked so hard for this.”

The second-seeded Rebels (43-15) have beaten the top-seeded 49ers (34-24) in four consecutive meetings this season. The Rebels swept the 49ers in a three-game series at Las Vegas in early April. However, the 49ers won the regular-season title outright and are likely to receive an at-large tournament bid.

Defense was a key to the 49ers’ Big West Conference title drive, but you couldn’t tell Saturday. They committed five errors, three by normally sure-handed shortstop Jason Knupfer.

Fatigue would seem to be at least part of the problem. Long Beach played a doubleheader Saturday, defeating Cal State Fullerton in the second game to get to the title game. But the game didn’t end until after 11 p.m., and Long Beach was up bright and early Sunday.

“The toughest part of it isn’t the physical part, because the kids can get the adrenaline going pretty good,” 49er Coach Dave Snow said. “The mental part is harder, because we got frustrated and it was hard to release it. We didn’t handle the frustration well, and neither did I.”

UNLV broke the game open in the top of the eighth. UNLV began the inning with a 3-1 lead and the outcome still in doubt despite Long Beach’s lack of timely hitting and base-running adventures.

But the Rebels scored five runs in the inning on four hits, two errors and a wild pitch. The Rebels batted around, removing all suspense by taking an 8-1 lead.

UNLV, bound for the Western Athletic Conference, was 3-0 in the three-day tournament. San Jose State, which joins UNLV in the WAC next season, won the Big West men’s basketball tournament.

“We really wanted to win this because it was our last chance,” Dallimore said. “We wanted to stay out of the losers’ bracket and we did that too.”

UNLV starter Nate Yeskie pitched 7 1/3 innings to even his record (2-2). He gave up seven hits, two earned runs and five walks and struck out five.

Starter Iran Berrera (4-4) was one of six pitchers for Long Beach. He gave up nine hits, six earned runs and four walks in seven innings, and struck out two.

The 49ers repeatedly hurt themselves, failing to get clutch hits with runners in scoring position. They stranded 10 through the first six innings, 11 overall. They left the bases loaded in the fourth and sixth.

In the sixth, four consecutive 49ers reached base. There were two walks, a double and a hit batter. Yet the 49ers had nothing to show for it.

Casey Snow got caught between second and third on a double by Kevin Moore, and was tagged out at third in a rundown for the first out. The next two hitters flied out to center and popped up to short to end the threat.

“Casey couldn’t get a good read [on the ball], and he got a late break,” Snow said. “That was a very difficult inning for us. That might have been our inning to make a thrust in this game but, then again, it might not have made a difference anyway.”