THURSDAY, APRIL 29, 1999

Leal breaks school record

By Arnold V. Cruz

On-Line Forty-Niner

It's the bottom of the sixth inning and junior first baseman Jaeme Leal steps up to the plate for the Long Beach State men's baseball team.

The pitch. The swing. Leal launches a solo shot over the left-center field fence for his school single season record 17th home run.

Leal's record setting homer gave the 49ers [24-18] the lead and turned out to be the game-winner as the Dirtbags bounced the Loyola Marymount Lions [25-20], 4-2, Tuesday night at Blair Field.

"It [the pitch] was a high change-up and I took advantage of it," Leal said of his homer off Lions reliever Chris Gray [3-4].

"I'm really happy for him," 49ers coach Dave Snow said. "He [Leal] has taken some good at-bats over the last three weeks."

Leal broke the former mark of 16 dingers hit by Tony Laurenzi in 1982 [spanning 17 years].

The Dirtbags played small ball most of the game, scoring on timely hitting and aggressive base running.

"I really liked my club tonight," Snow said. "We could've capitalized a little more, but we played with a good, relaxed intensity."

In the bottom of the first inning, leadoff hitter Jeff Jones walked and advanced to second with two outs.

When Leal walked, junior Greg Dobbs promptly laced an RBI double to left field just under the glove of diving Lions third baseman Tommy Perez.

The Lions produced in the top of the second when Joe Sulentor grounded out, scoring Perez from third.

The Beach answered in the bottom of the inning on a delayed double steal.

With Jones occupying first and Crosby on third, Jones broke to second after the pitch. As soon as Lions catcher Scott Walter threw to second, Crosby sprinted toward home and scored.

Kasey Olenberger (4-1) bounced back after a dreadful outing last Saturday at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. He pitched six strong innings, giving up one earned run for The Beach.

Reliever Jeremy Ward pitched three hitless innings for his third save.

The Dirtbags host Big West Conference foe New Mexico State in a three-game series this weekend at Blair Field.

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Notes: Catcher Bryan Kennedy will likely see some playing time this weekend for the 49ers.

Kennedy - who has been out for almost two months with a broken right foot - made Baseball America's freshman All-American team last year.

In only his first year and 14 regular season games still left, Leal is tied for sixth on the 49ers' career home run list.

Jeff Liefer holds the record with 30 homers in his 1993-1995 campaign at The Beach.