Long Beach Loses, Still Wins Title

Despite losing Sunday, Long Beach State clinched the Big West Conference Southern Division baseball title.

The 49ers lost to visiting UC Santa Barbara, 8-0, but the title came when second-place Cal State Fullerton lost to host Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

Long Beach (33-19, 22-5) has a three-game lead with three games left but holds the tie-breaker advantage over the Titans.

UC Santa Barbara’s Seth Bean dominated Sunday, pitching a four-hitter with seven strikeouts to improve to 5-7. It was the first time in 169 games that Long Beach has been shut out.

Chuck Lopez had two singles for Long Beach State, which took two of three games in the series. UC Santa Barbara is 24-26, 14-13.

In another conference game:

Cal Poly San Luis Obispo 14, Cal State Fullerton 4--Scott Kidd had four hits, including two home runs, for host Cal Poly San Luis Obispo (33-18, 12-15), which beat Cal State Fullerton for the first time.

Matt Priess also had four singles for San Luis Obispo, which had 19 hits. Ken Dolan, formerly of San Clemente High and Saddleback College, worked two shutout innings for the victory. Dolan is 5-0.

Mike Lamb had a two-run home run in the first inning for Fullerton (32-20-1, 19-8), but San Luis Obispo scored three times in the second and three times in the fourth to lead, 8-3.

In Big West Conference softball:

Long Beach State 1-3, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo 0-1--Long Beach State clinched its second consecutive conference title with the sweep. Amanda Favorite had a sacrifice fly in the ninth inning of the first game to drive in the winning run.

Tammy Dietrich pitched a three-hitter with six strikeouts to improve to 21-10 for Long Beach.

Christy Tucker had a run-scoring single and Tiffany Blood added a two-run double as Long Beach State scored three runs with two outs in the fifth inning of the second game.

Amy Miner pitched a two-hitter with five strikeouts for Long Beach (42-17-1, 23-9).

In Big West Conference men’s tennis:

UC Irvine 4, New Mexico State 3--UC Irvine won the doubles point, then split three singles matches to take third place at the conference tournament in Las Cruces. Boise State beat UC Santa Barbara, 4-1, in the championship match.