Long Beach Makes Statement by Beating Santa Barbara

LONG BEACH — Now is not the time to mess around for would-be NCAA tournament teams, especially those suddenly living atop bubbles.

Such realities are not lost on Long Beach State Coach Dave Snow, who didn’t gamble in the opening round of the Big West Conference baseball tournament. Snow’s bunch needed a victory in a big way to keep playing after this weekend, so he started his best pitcher in the opener Thursday night.

Marcus Jones did the rest.

The staff ace shut down UC Santa Barbara, 5-1, in front of 741 at Blair Field. Long Beach, champion of the South Division, next plays Pacific at 7 tonight at Blair Field in the second round of the double-elimination tournament.

“Obviously, Jones pitched great,” Gaucho Coach Bob Brontsema said. “Going up against Marcus Jones, you’re not expecting to score 10 runs.”

On this night, two would have been a reach.

Last season’s Big West pitcher of the year was overpowering throughout, keeping the Gauchos off base and frustrated. And when the Gauchos (26-29) did threaten, Jones just pitched better: he induced three double-play grounders.

Jones (10-5) pitched his fourth complete game. He gave up seven hits, four walks and struck out nine. He gave up his only run in the third inning and recorded the last five outs on strikeouts--including the side in the ninth.

“I thought Marcus’ experience really showed after the third inning,” said Snow, whose team improved to 35-22. “He gave us what we needed.”

Jones’ performance was the booster shot Long Beach had hoped for. Long Beach lost four of its final five regular-season games at home to conference opponents, which is not the type of statement that gets you top billing in the NCAA tournament, or any billing.

Snow said Long Beach isn’t assured of a tournament bid yet, but a different outcome might have made things a lock the other way.

“It sure pushes us in a better direction that we’ve been going,” he said.

Jones, the hard-throwing junior from Esperanza High, said he didn’t have a sense of urgency about the game. Well, no more than usual.

“There’s always pressure to go out and win every game,” Jones said. “But the reason we lost four of our last five is we put too much pressure on ourselves. What we need to do right now is stay loose.”

Long Izzy Gonzalez, the 49ers’ No. 2 RBI guy, gave Long Beach a 2-0 lead in the first. He drove a pitch from Seth Bean (5-9) over the right-field wall for his fourth home run and 44th and 45th RBIs.

“Izzy’s homer really lifted us off the mat,” Snow said. “That really got us going.”

Nevada 10, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo 6--The Wolf Pack scored three runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to defeat the Mustangs in the tournament opener at Blair Field.

Tim Hanna drove in two runs in the key inning with a single for Nevada (38-17), which won the North Division title.

Reliever Scott Albin (1-0) pitched 2 1/3 scoreless innings to earn the victory. Boyd Dodder went three for four with two RBIs for the Mustangs (36-20).