Pinch Hit Heroics End Marathon

49ers Go For Sweep Sunday

May 25, 2002

LONG BEACH, CA- Chris Genung's pinch-hit RBI-single with two outs in the bottom of the sixteenth inning gave Long Beach State a 7-6 win over CS Fullerton just before the stroke of midnight Saturday. With the win, the 49ers (36-19, 16-7) have taken the first two games of the Big West Conference series. CS Fullerton is now 36-19, 14-9 in the Big West.

Carlos Muniz (2-1) got the win for the Dirtbags after going two innings in relief. Jeff Husman (0-4) took the loss in his second inning of work.

Nick Covarrubias got things going in the 16th with a one-out single. Brad Davis was the next batter and he singled Covarrubias to second. Pinch hitter Paul Maculoso struck out before Genung's heroics. The win clinched second place in the conference for the 49ers. Neither team scored after the bottom of the eighth.

The 49ers run in that inning ended an up-and-down sequence between the teams.

Trailing 5-2, clutch hitting and lapses on defense helped the CS Fullerton comeback in the eighth inning. An error by right fielder Covarrubias began the inning and a throwing error by Kevin Randel on the back end of a possible double play brought in the fourth run of the inning. In between, the Titans had four singles, including three off 49er reliever Chris DeMaria who came in for Daniel Eisentrager after the first two batters reached base. Josh Alliston finished the inning after relieving DeMaria with one out. By the end of the inning, the Titans had a 6-5 lead.

The Beach rebounded in the bottom of the eighth with Mike Hofius leading off the inning with a single and coming around on a two-out RBI-single by Nick Orlandos.

Eisentrager started the game for The Beach and went 7+ innings. He gave up four runs (three earned) on four hits and struck out seven. Sean Martin was the pitching hero for the Titans. He went 5.2 innings of relief without giving up a run.

The Titans got on the board first in the fourth inning with an RBI-single by Richie Burgos that scored Shane Costa from second base. CS Fullerton would get to Eisentrager again in the fifth. Jason Corapci's bloop double fell in front of a diving Chris Wright to lead off the inning and he came around to score when the next hitter, Chris Klosterman, singled up the middle giving the Titans a 2-0 lead.

After being shutout for the first four innings, Long Beach State bounced right back. Todd Jennings had an RBI fielder's choice in the fifth for the lone run of that inning. The Beach tallied twice in the sixth and seventh with a two-run homer by Paul McAnulty and RBI-singles by Nick Covarrubias and Brad Davis.

The two neighbors will complete the series Sunday with first pitch at 1:05 pm.

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Dirtbags Get Win In 16th

Pinch Hit Heroics End Marathon

Long Beach State University Athletics

Dirtbags Get Win In 16th

Pinch Hit Heroics End Marathon

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