FULLERTON — The Long Beach State baseball team has no interest in playing spoiler at this point in the season, but the Dirtbags are doing a fine job anyway.
Long Beach won its second straight game against Cal State Fullerton on Saturday evening, getting another timely home run from Jonathon Long and knocking the Titans out of first place in the Big West Conference with a 7-4 win at Goodwin Field.
The loss was the eighth straight for Fullerton (28-21 overall, 17-9 Big West), which came into the weekend a game ahead of UC Santa Barbara (35-16, 18-8), but now sits a game back with four left in the regular season.
LBSU (30-21, 14-12) will go for the three-game sweep on Sunday at 1 p.m.
“We’re just trying to play good baseball,” LBSU coach Eric Valenzuela said. “I know they’re playing for the title and all that stuff, but I’m just more engaged on us playing good baseball and we’ve done that thus far.”
Long belted his 13th home run of the season in a four-run second inning and the 24th of his collegiate career at LBSU. The only Long Beach player to hit more home runs is Jeff Liefer, who clubbed 30 from 1993-95.
“We kind of lean on him in big situations and he had a big one tonight,” Valenzuela said. “I’m pretty confident when he comes up to the plate, especially in big moments.”
Fynn Chester (7-3) started on the mound for the Titans and retired the first two batters, but Eddie Saldivar was hit by a pitch and Connor Burns followed with a line-drive double over the head of center fielder Moises Guzman, scoring Saldivar from first for a 1-0 lead.
Chester, who shut out LBSU last May on 76 pitches, left the game with an apparent arm injury after the first two runners reached base in the second inning.
He was replaced by left-hander Peyton Jones, who gave up a two-run double into the left field corner by No. 9 hitter Jashia Morrissey for a 3-0 lead.
Long came up with two outs in the inning and lifted a two-run homer over the fence in right-center field for a 5-0 lead.
“I got a fastball there,” Long said. “They’ve been throwing me changeups all weekend, so that was always on the back of my mind, but I recognized it early and was able to stay on it and stay through it and put it out there.”
LBSU starter Graham Osman allowed three runs and seven hits in 4-2/3 innings. He matched his season high with 11 strikeouts (out of 14 outs), walked two and hit a batter.
The Titans scored a run in their half of the second on a groundout to cut the lead to 5-1.
Brendan Bobo, who had three hits for Fullerton, doubled off the wall in right-center in the fourth to drive in another run and make it 5-2.
Eli Lopez dropped a bases-loaded single into right field in the fifth inning to make it 5-3 and end the night for Osman.
Kellen Montgomery (4-4) replaced Osman and got out of the bases-loaded jam.
Morrissey threw out a runner at the plate from right field to end the sixth and maintain the two-run cushion.
The Titans made it a one-run game with an RBI single by Cole Urman in the seventh, but Ethan Clough replaced Montgomery and stranded the bases loaded when he caught JT Navyac looking at a 3-and-2 curveball.
LBSU tacked on a run in the eighth on an RBI double by Cole Santander (who keyed Friday’s win) to make it 6-4, and a bases-loaded walk to Burns in the ninth extended the lead to 7-4.
“They were one hit away a couple times,” Valenzuela said of Fullerton. “You’re one bad pitch away from a walk or a big double to clear the bases, so this worked out our way.”
