Snow ends skid, helps edge UCLA

In a game that measured bragging rights for the many talented baseball teams in Southern California, the Cal State Long Beach men's baseball team defeated the UCLA Bruins 6-5 after rallying from a 5-1 deficit on Tuesday night at Blair Field.

The Dirtbags' starting pitcher, Luke Fitzpatrick, gave up two opening runs in the opening innings but CSULB was able to stay in stride with the Bruins by scoring a run in the bottom of the first.

The left-hander, Fitzpatrick had seen enough action and was replaced by Iran Barrera after only two innings. In the third, Barrere repeated the first inning by allowing the Bruins to score twice more.

UCLA extended its lead to four by scoring another run in the top of the fourth inning.

With two outs in the bottom of the fourth, the Dirtbags rallied with fierce determination, sending every batter to the plate and scoring four runs to tie the game at five.

With the bases leaded, third string catcher Neil Sauerheber pierced a single just out of reach of the UCLA first baseman's glove, driving in two runs for CSULB.

Sauerheber was given the starting position Tuesday night because the regular catcher, Casey Snow, had been hitless in near three weeks.

Two more Dirtbags crossed home plate after Jason Knupfer singled up the middle. After the six-hit rally rocked the UCLA starting pitcher, he was replaced and the following three and a half innings went scoreless.

The Dirtbag's closing pitcher, Ryan Brannan put on another show when he took the mound with men on third and first and only one out. He promptly struck out a batter attempting to execute the squeeze play. The next batter also attempted to bunt the winning run home, but was quickly thrown out at first by Brannan.

After two outs were registered against the Dirtbags in the bottom of the eighth, J.J. Newkirk reached first on a well hit single to right field.

At that point, Coach Snow pinched-hit his son for Sauerheber.

Snow, who had suffered the bat recently and had not gotten a hit in his last 18 at-bats, broke his slump slicing a pitch down the right field line giving him a double and scoring Newkirk to give the 49ers the lead.

The Bruins hit the ball hard against Brannan at the beginning of the ninth, but thanks to an incredible play by the shortstop, Knupfer, which could only be compared to something by Ozzie Smith, the 49ers let only one Bruin aboard the base paths.

A pop fly to third base and a strikeout finished the game and crowned the Dirtbags and bettered their record to 23-15.