49ers Hammer 21 Singles to Beat Nevada

Long Beach State used a single-minded approach in beating Nevada, 14-8, in a Big West Conference baseball game Sunday at Blair Field in Long Beach.

Long Beach had 21 singles and a double by Casey Martin in stopping a two-game losing streak.

Paul Day had four hits, Izzy Gonzalez drove in four runs and Ara Petrosian pitched five solid innings of relief for Long Beach.

Petrosian, a junior right-hander from Cypress College, gave up one run, one hit and struck out five in five innings to get the victory.

He gave up the final run as Nevada, the first-place team in the Northern Division of the conference, scored four times in the fifth to tie it, 8-8.

But Long Beach, the first-place team in the Southern Division, scored twice in the bottom of the fifth to take the lead for good. The 49ers (27-16, 17-4) scored four runs in the eighth.

Toby Sanchez and Chuck Lopez each drove in two runs for Long Beach, which is on the road this week. The 49ers, ranked 19th in the nation are at No. 12 Wichita State for nonconference games Tuesday and Wednesday, then have a three-game Big West Conference series at New Mexico State.

In Big West Conference softball:

Cal State Fullerton 7-7, Utah State 1-2--Visiting Fullerton had 21 hits in sweeping the doubleheader to improve to 24-20, 10-13. Kate Degener had three hits in the first game and Bevan Trueblood had three hits in the second game for Fullerton.

Fullerton got a home run from Christy Sears and Utah State (13-30, 3-17) made three errors to help the Titans score four runs in the third inning of the first game.

Fullerton’s big inning in the second game came in the seventh. Trueblood had a run-scoring single and Julie Williams added a three-run home run.