Long Beach State Holds On, Edges Cal, 8-7

After giving up two ninth-inning runs, reliever Iran Barrera shut down California and Long Beach State held on to defeat the Bears, 8-7, Saturday in a nonconference baseball game at Blair Field. The victory is the third consecutive for the 49ers.

Long Beach State (4-4) led by two in the bottom of the eighth inning when J.J. Newkirk hit a sacrifice fly that scored Jaron Madison and gave the 49ers an 8-5 lead.

Barrera struggled in the top of the ninth, giving up three hits, one walk and two unearned runs. But Barrera settled down and recorded his second save of the season.

Starting pitcher Rocky Biddle improved to 2-1 after pitching a shaky 5 2/3 innings, giving up seven hits and walking three.

Jaron Madison was three for three with four runs scored for the 49ers. Madison is seven for 14 this season.

Teammate Steve Doherty had two hits and four RBIs.

In Golden State Athletic Conference baseball:

SCC 8-5, Point Loma Nazarene 3-3--SCC used a pair of complete-game pitching performances and some home-run clout to sweep two from Point Loma Nazarene. In the first game, Bryce Primm went the distance for the Vanguards (6-3, 2-0) to record the win. In the second game, SCC broke open a 2-2 tie with three runs in the fifth. The victories snapped a 13-game losing streak they had against Point Loma, dating back to 1993.

In nonconference women’s softball:

Chapman 9-1, Claremont 0-0--Heather Peters’ double in the sixth inning scored Jessamine Maiben as Chapman went on to win the second game of a doubleheader. Katie Smithson threw a two-hit shutout for the Panthers (5-3).

Britanny Carlson pitched a no-hitter to win the first game for Chapman. Carlson had four strikeouts.

Sacramento State 5-9, Southern California College 0-0--Sacramento State’s Katie Cichy had three doubles and a triple in a doubleheader sweep of Southern California College (2-5-1). Susie Bugliarello pitched a one-hitter with nine strikeouts for Sacramento State (4-1-1).

Gretchen Brandt, Rachel Carver and Dawn Davidson each had one hit for the Vanguards.

In Golden State Athletic Conference men’s basketball:

Southern California College 100, Cal Baptist 86--The Vanguards (20-7, 7-3) won their seventh consecutive conference game and remained in a second-place tie with Biola, which beat first-place Azusa Pacific, 91-78. Azusa is 8-2 in the conference.

In nonconference men’s basketball:

The Master’s 104, Pacific Christian 81--Charles Henderson scored 27 points in a loss for Pacific Christian (5-25). Josh Whelin scored 20 points for Pacific Christian.

Mike Penberthy scored 31 points for The Master’s (16-8).

In Golden State Athletic Conference women’s basketball:

SCC 66, Cal Baptist 55--Elaine Whittemore scored all 18 of her points in the second half for SCC, going eight for nine from the field. Wynette Allen had 15 points for Cal Baptist.

In Mountain Pacific Sports Federation men’s volleyball:

UC San Diego 3, Long Beach State 2--UC San Diego defeated the ninth-ranked 49ers, 9-15, 15-11, 15-11, 2-15, 15-12, with the help of 23 kills and 15 digs from Eric Mai. Jon Yarris had 17 kills for the Tritons who defeated their second top-10 opponent of the week. On Wednesday the Tritons (4-8, 2-6) defeated 10th-ranked USC.

Long Beach State (7-3, 2-3) was led by Geoffrey Cryst with 20 kills and Gaby Amar with 19 kills.