Long Beach Wins Big West Tournament

Long Beach State, which failed to win a title in three previous finals, won the Big West baseball tournament Sunday with a 24-10 victory over Sacramento State at Titan Field.

In addition to the championship, the 49ers (37-20-1) continued to build momentum for NCAA playoffs.

The 49ers’ victory over Sacramento State (25-35) was their 11th consecutive. It gave Long Beach the conference’s automatic NCAA berth.

Outfielder Chuck Lopez had two home runs, eight runs batted in and was four for five to lead Long Beach. First baseman Jason Yount was five for five.

“We put a lot of pressure on ourselves for the last couple of weeks, right through this game today,” Long Beach Coach Dave Snow said. “We felt we had to win. I don’t see three teams in our conference going this year, and you knew Fullerton was going to be in.”

Cal State Fullerton (44-15) is assured of making the NCAA field as an at-large selection when the tournament assignments and pairings are announced at noon today on ESPN. The chances of Nevada making the tournament, however, are not good.

Snow was pleased with the effort his team made in winning all four tournament games, and expects to be seeded third in one of the eight regionals.

“Our energy and intensity over the weekend was the best I’ve ever experienced with a Long Beach team,” Snow said. “We’ve been able to capture their attention, which is not easy to do anymore in college athletics consistently.”

Titan Coach George Horton said he expects his team to be seeded second.

Horton said his team suffered a letdown in the tournament, as did some other high profile teams. LSU, Clemson, Florida State and Florida lost in conference tournaments and Stanford to Washington in its playoff series.

“The other teams in our tournament were in a sort of do-or-die situation, and that works against a team that already is assured of going to a regional,” Horton said. “Long Beach did what we did last year. Last year we didn’t feel like we were in, but we went in and won the tournament to get the automatic bid. This time Long Beach beat us in every phase of the game.”

The 49ers had an even easier time against Sacramento State. The 49ers had 24 hits against a team whose pitching had been taxed by the three earlier games. Freshman pitcher Jeff Leuenberger (6-3) was the winner, giving up 10 hits and five runs in seven innings.

Long Beach catcher Bryan Kennedy was selected as the tournament most valuable player. Lopez, Gallo and Terrmel Sledge also were named to the all-tournament team along with Fullerton pitcher Benny Flores and third baseman Ryan Moore.