Long Beach State Eliminates Titans

Long Beach State got its revenge from Cal State Fullerton Saturday night.

The 49ers, swept by the Titans late in the regular season, overwhelmed Fullerton with a 12-0 victory in the Big West tournament and moved into position to win the title and the conference’s automatic NCAA tournament berth today.

Fullerton (44-15) appears assured of an at-large berth regardless of its finish in the tournament.

Strong pitching by Benny Flores and two home runs by Ryan Moore carried Fullerton to a 6-3 victory over Nevada earlier in the day, keeping Fullerton alive for the game against Long Beach (36-20-1). Flores, the conference pitcher of the year, won his 12th game of the season without a loss.

But the Titans weren’t able to match that pitching, much less the timely hitting, in the second game. Long Beach’s Mike Gallo, however had shut out the Titans through seven innings.

Jacobs got off to a shaky start, giving up two runs in the first inning on RBI singles by Paul Day and Bryan Kennedy.

The 49ers scored single runs off Jacobs in both the fourth and fifth innings. Then the roof caved in on the Titans in a four-run sixth inning.

An error on first baseman Ryan Fullerton opened the door to Scott Redfox’s RBI single in the fourth, and an error by Ryan Owens set up Day’s run-scoring double in the fifth.

Three of the 49ers four runs in the sixth were unearned. Two runs scored when Owens bobbled a potential double play ball and then threw wildly to first.

Fullerton had several early scoring opportunities, but struggled.

The Titans had runners on first and second with none out in the second after a hit by Aaron Rowand and a walk to Steve Chatham, but Ryan Fullerton grounded into a double play and Owens struck out.

Craig Patterson singled to lead off the third and took second on a passed ball, but was caught taking too big a lead off second when Ryan Moore missed a bunt attempt and was thrown at third. The next batter, Reed Johnson, doubled but was left on base.

In the fourth, Chatham doubled with two out and Ryan Fullerton walked but both runners were left on base. Fullerton stranded two more in the fifth. Moore and Reed Johnson singled with one out, but David Bacani popped out and Pete Fukuhara struck out.

In the first game Saturday, Flores struck out a season-high 11 batters, giving up seven hits in eight innings. Flores gave up a walk and hit a batter at the start of the ninth. An infield error brought in a run and single by Matt Ortiz loaded the bases.

At that point, the Titans went to the bullpen and Marco Hanlon retired the side on a double play and a strikeout for his first save of the season.

Flores took a 6-1 lead into the ninth. Moore had bases-empty homer in the fifth and a three-run shot in the sixth as part of a three for four day.

In an elimination game:

Sacramento State 15, UC Santa Barbara 11 (10 innings)--Sacramento State, which trailed by 10 runs after two innings, came back to beat the Gauchos in the Big West baseball tournament Saturday at Titan Field.

Sacramento State (25-34) advanced to today’s game at 1 p.m. against Long Beach State.

Relief pitcher Mark Rodriguez (4-5) kept the Gauchos scoreless in the final seven innings, giving up four hits and two walks.

The Hornets, who defeated top-seeded Cal State Fullerton on Friday night, scored four runs in the 10th inning. Sacramento State was shut out in the first three innings, but tied the score with two runs in the ninth.

Santa Barbara (18-31-2) was eliminated.