Anemic Long Beach Sent Home With an Empty Feeling

If everything really is bigger and better in these parts, as the saying goes, only the locals seemingly reap those super-sized rewards.

Or maybe no one told Long Beach State how things are done around here. Either way, Long Beach didn’t do Texas’ reputation, or itself, proud.

Long Beach showed up at the NCAA Central I Regional with a meager offense and made a quick exit because of it. The 49ers were eliminated by Miami, 5-2, Friday in front of 3,298 at Disch-Falk Field. The only big thing they found in the Lone Star State was heartache.

“We’ve struggled to score runs all year long,” Long Beach Coach Dave Snow said. “That’s been our nemesis and it caught up to us here in Austin.”

In a big way.

Long Beach (34-26), seeded second in the six-team double-elimination regional, scored the fewest runs this season among the teams assigned to Austin. The 49ers’ team batting average of .282 was only slightly better than sixth-seeded Sam Houston State (.280), a .500 ballclub that’s here only because it won its postseason conference tournament and earned an automatic berth.

Top-seeded Miami (44-13) took control with three runs in the bottom of the second off Marcus Jones (9-5). Miami batted around and loaded the bases twice.

Alex Cora provided the big hit, driving in two runs with a single to right field. The Hurricanes also scored in the fourth and fifth.

The 49ers scored twice in the ninth, but lack of timely hitting hurt them again. With the bases loaded and one out, Keith Cowley struck out and Kevin Moore bounced into a fielder’s choice to end the season.

Snow has seen it all before. The Big West Conference regular-season champions managed only five runs and 10 hits in two regional games. In this age of college baseball, that simply won’t get you to Omaha, Neb.

“You’ve got to get hot and you’ve got to do something,” said Snow, whose team lost to USC in the West Regional title game last season. “We didn’t do a lot of fundamental things and we didn’t do a lot of big things.

“We didn’t move runners along and we didn’t get a lot of clutch hits. You either have to do a lot of little things or some big things to stick around in a situation like this.”

Also, the 49ers weren’t long on luck.

For the second consecutive game, the opposing pitcher threw his best game of the season. The star this time around was Clint Weibl, the Hurricanes’ No. 1 starter.

The junior right-hander had the 49ers in knots all day, mixing effective curves and sliders with occasional fastballs. Weibl (13-3) pitched 8 1/3 innings--the longest outing for a Miami starter this season--with four strikeouts and one walk.

He didn’t give up a hit through 6 1/3 innings, until J.J. Newkirk singled to center. It was exactly what the Hurricanes (44-13) needed after joining the 49ers in the losers’ bracket.

“I didn’t want this to be my last game or the team’s last game,” Weibl said. “I wanted to get us a win and then think about tomorrow.”

That was Jones’ plan too. The former Esperanza High standout is the Big West’s pitcher of the year, so it made sense for Snow to start Jones after gambling somewhat by going with his No. 4 starter Thursday.

Jones, a sophomore right-hander, pitched adequately, giving up four earned runs and 10 hits with three walks and seven strikeouts in 7 1/3 innings. Closer Ryan Brannan (Huntington Beach High) pitched the final two-thirds of an inning.

However, the lack of offense was too much to overcome. And Snow said Jones didn’t have his best stuff--physically or mentally.

“He hurt himself on fundamental things,” Snow said. “In a lot of ways, he was his own worst enemy.”