March 8, 2005
Box Score
Long Beach, Calif. - LMU baseball cut a six-run lead to two and held Long Beach State (12-7) scoreless in its final four turns at the plate, but could not overcome the 49ers' early offense, as the Lions fell 6-4 at Blair Field Tuesday night. Freshman Andy Beal threw a hitless 1.2 innings and struck out four in the key sixth and seventh innings to keep LMU (4-9) within striking distance.
Long Beach State had taken a 6-0 lead by the bottom of the fourth, but the Lion offense got going in the fifth to welcome new 49er pitcher Cody Evans. Freshman catcher Sean Dovel started things with a single up the middle. Jason Lefkowitz advanced Dovel to second and reached first safely on a well-placed fielder's choice ball. Joe Frazee then singled to center to score the Lions' first run of the night in Dovel.
With runners on first and second, Lefkowitz stole third and induced an errant throw by catcher Chris Jones, allowing the Lions to add another run and get Frazee to third. Chris Pettit then made it a three-run fifth inning for LMU, scoring Frazee on a groundout to cut the 49er lead in half.
The Lions carried the momentum into the bottom of the inning, as Reyes retired the side, striking out Tito Cruz and Tom Sarti and gettting Jordan Struble to ground out to third.
Long Beach State turned to reliever Andrew Liebel to prevent another LMU rally, but Kyle Mura welcomed him with a first pitch double down the left field line. A wild pitch sent Mura to third and freshman Josh Bradbury drew the walk to put runners on first and third with no outs. A double play and a fly out to left ended the inning earlier than the Lions would have liked, but LaMonda's groundout allowed Mura to score to make it 6-4.
Reyes returned to the mound for the bottom of the sixth and struck out first batter Steve Velazco to make it three strikeouts in the last four batters for the junior.
Freshman Andy Beal took over for Reyes in the sixth, inheriting three baserunners with one just one out. But Beal followed Reyes's lead from the previous inning and struck out both Sean Boatright and Jones, the 49ers' leader in batting average, to strand the three runners and end the inning.
Beal stretched his streak to five straight retired batters, as he struck out two more in the bottom of the seventh in Cruz and Sarti.
Sophomore Blake Feaser came on to face the 49ers in the bottom of the eighth. Lead-off batter Velazco sent a line drive that looked like it would get through the right side, but second baseman Brandon DiTolla laid out for the defensive play of the night.
The Lions had a huge defensive stop again in the bottom of the eighth when Gabe Bueno took the mound to face the left-handed Godfrey with runners on first and second. Godfrey sent a hard-hit shot to DiTolla at second, who successfully put the 4-6-3 double play in motion to get the Lions out of the eighth.
Both starting pitchers entered tonight's contest without a decision and an identical 6.75 ERA. Long Beach State's Donnie Hume earned the win, while Daniel Macias took the loss for the Lions. Neil Jamison earned his sixth save of 2005.
Frazee went 2-for-4 with one RBI and one run scored to up his season average to a team-best .432.
Long Beach State's Evan Longoria had a career-night with a perfect 5-for-5 outing. Longoria equaled LMU's hit total, as the Lions stayed within two despite being out-hit 14-5.
The Lions wrap-up an eight-game road swing this weekend at UC Santa Barbara, with day games scheduled for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
-GO LIONS-
