Long Beach quiets Wildcats

By Mike Besack, On-line Forty-Niner

March 2,1998

After beginning the season a disappointing 2-8, the Long Beach State baseball team didn't need just a couple of wins against Kentucky this weekend.

It needed a sweep.

And after a come-from-behind 6-4 win on Friday night and a 19-2 trashing Saturday, the brooms were out for Sunday's 13-1 victory over the Wildcats at Blair Field, and with authority.

After getting 17 hits Saturday, Long Beach exploded again Sunday for 15 more. First baseman Jason Berni went four-for-five with a three-run homer and five RBIs.

Long Beach third baseman Paul Day reached base four times and extended his hitting streak to 13 games.

The 49ers totaled 38 runs on 39 hits over the weekend. Both are season highs.

"This weekend was more to us than just three wins," said 49er Head Coach Dave Snow. "I felt like we were really focused on what it takes to win."

The 49ers (5-8) got a strong showing Sunday from junior pitcher Caleb Balbuena, who earned his first win of the season.

Balbuena went six innings, giving up two hits and one unearned run.

Balbuena, a 6-foot-7 right-hander, had been suffering from back stiffness, though it did not show Sunday as he threw only 66 pitches in his six innings.

In all, Long Beach pitchers combined to surrender just five hits.

Long Beach opens Big West Conference play this weekend, as it will host Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo.

Leading 7-1 in the eighth inning of Sunday's game, Long Beach's Justin Hall drove in two runs with a bases-loaded single off Kentucky's Matt Bourne (3-6). Then, following a walk, Berni hit a fastball over the right-field wall - his first home run of the year.

"I got my pitch and I thought I might have gotten under it a bit," said Berni, a freshman from San Diego who took struggling Jason Yount's spot in the lineup. "We really needed to turn things around a bit [this weekend]."