THURSDAY, MARCH 18, 1999

49ers continue winning streak against UCLA

By Arnold V. Cruz

Daily Forty-Niner

The Long Beach State men's baseball team pushed its winning streak to four games with a 9-7 victory over the UCLA Bruins in Los Angeles.

Senior utility player Mike Hota and freshman shortstop Bobby Crosby contributed with their bats on a chilly Tuesday evening. Crosby was 2 for 2 with four RBIs and Hota, making his catching debut this season, was 3 for 4 with two runs scored.

Hota was robbed of his first career home run in the fifth inning when Bruin center fielder Charles Merricks raced to the left-center field, jumped high towards the fence, and reached over to snag the ball.

"That was a great catch," Hota said of Merricks's catch. Hota joked, "I wonder if he [Merricks] knew that would of been my first home run. He probably did and that's why he took it away from me."

Crosby made a crucial double play in the eighth inning as he snatched a groundball destined for a single to center field and turned it into a double play.

"I love making a great play more than anything," Crosby said. "Obviously, the runs help but I enjoy defense."

The Beach (12-7 overall, 3-0 Big West Conference) squandered a few opportunities to open up the game in the middle innings.

The 49ers stranded 10 runners in the third through sixth innings and 14 runners were stranded altogether.

"The fourth inning, I felt, we really had a chance to open it up," coach Dave Snow said. "We were right there, they were down a little bit, but we let them off the hook."

The Bruins scored four runs in the bottom of the seventh to tie the score 6-6.

The 49ers answered with three runs on an RBI single by freshman outfielder Chris Wright and a two-run single by Crosby.

Senior right-hander Dan Thomas started for The Beach and pitched five solid innings, allowing two earned runs. Dennis Kordich threw 1.2 innings of relief to pick up the win.

Junior first baseman Jaeme Leal homered in the second inning, giving him 11 on the season with 37 games to play. Tony Laurenzi holds the Long Beach State single season record for home runs when he hit 16 in 1982.

The 49ers travel to Las Cruces, N.M. this weekend to resume Big West Conference play against New Mexico State.