Long Beach stays alive by beating Cal, 9-2

Jonathan Jones was forced to switch positions Saturday because the Long Beach State freshman did not exhibit his usual take-charge attitude in center field during a loss the night before.

It did not take long for Coach Mike Weathers’ punitive move to pay off.

Jones, playing left field, threw out a California runner at the plate in the first inning, pulling Long Beach State out of its playoff funk and starting the 49ers on their way to a 9-2 victory that kept them alive in an NCAA baseball regional at Blair Field.

“That play was huge because the momentum shifted,” said Jones, who also had two hits and drove in a run.

Long Beach will play San Diego, a 6-0 loser Saturday to Fresno State, in an elimination game today at 1 p.m. The winner of that game will play unbeaten Fresno State at 5. If Fresno State loses, a final game will be played Monday.

“This team is fully capable of coming back and winning the entire thing,” said Long Beach shortstop Danny Espinosa, who contributed two hits and drove in a run.

Brett Lorin (5-3) gave up two runs and four hits in five solid innings and Adam Wilk, Nick Vincent and David Roberts shut down the Golden Bears (33-21-2).

“All year we lived with our bats -- that’s how we won games,” Cal second baseman Josh Satin said. “We just went cold at the wrong time.”

The 49ers (38-20) came back from an undisciplined night at the plate against Fresno State and manufactured runs against four of the six Cal pitchers they faced.

But everything seemed to begin with Jones’ throw to the plate.

Cal leadoff hitter Rich Gorman had walked to start the home half of the first inning and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt. David Cooper’s single to shallow left looked like it might put Long Beach behind, but Jones came up firing and cut down Gorman with a throw to catcher Travis Howell, who blocked the plate.

Fresno State 6, San Diego 0 -- Clayton Allison pitched a five-hitter, struck out three and did not walk a batter as the Bulldogs (39-27) remained unbeaten in the regional.

Tommy Mendonca drove in four runs, three with a bases-loaded double.

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gary.klein@latimes.com