Cal State Fullerton Falls to Long Beach in Slugfest

It won’t be worth anything in the Big West Conference standings this season, but Long Beach State picked up some early-season bragging rights with a victory over Cal State Fullerton Sunday night.

The 49ers held off the Titans, 13-11, in the final game of the Baseball Bash at Goodwin Field despite two home runs and five runs batted in by Fullerton’s Aaron Rifkin.

It was the first victory for Long Beach State (6-6) in the four-team, round-robin tournament after losses to Tennessee and Wichita State.

Fullerton (8-8) was assured of the tournament’s first-place trophy going into the final game because of its victories over Tennessee and Wichita State. Tennessee (12-2) also finished with a 2-1 record, but took second because of its loss to the Titans. The Vols defeated Wichita State, 14-4, in the opening game Sunday.

Rifkin, who had a leadoff homer in the second, blasted a three-run shot to left with two outs in the eighth to cut Long Beach State’s lead to 12-11 before the 49ers added an insurance run in the ninth.

“It was a typical Long Beach-Cal State Fullerton dogfight,” Titan Coach George Horton said. “It was our turn to pick the pitchers up, but we didn’t quite get it done. But we were swinging the bat pretty well the last three days. We’re making strides, and Aaron’s two homers were big for us. It looks as though he’s out of that slump he was in for a while.”

Titan starter Nick Lovato (0-3) took the loss with Long Beach’s Matt Paz (2-2) getting the victory.

The 49ers got to Lovato for two runs in the first; Bryan Kennedy’s double off the wall in left was the big hit.

Lovato ran into even bigger problems in the third. Kaulana Kuhaulua tripled leading off the inning and scored on Jeremy Reed’s hit. Lovato walked three batters and hit another, contributing to a six-run inning for the 49ers. Reliever Sean Martin replaced Lovato with one out, but the 49ers scored three runs before the inning ended.

The Titans came back for five runs in their half of the third to cut the deficit to 8-6. Shane Costa, Mike Rouse and Matt Belfanti doubled in the inning.

But Long Beach added another run in the fourth and three in the sixth to stay in control. Kennedy, who drove in four runs, had a two-run double in the sixth.