Beach Wins Marathon in 14th

Saturday, March 24

Long Beach, Calif.

6:30 PM

Long Beach State University

13-8

Cal State Fullerton

14-10

CS Fullerton

Long Beach State

3/24/2007 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

Dirtbags Win Marathon in the 14th
Tinoco Powers Extra Inning Win with Game-Winning Single

March 24, 2007

BOX SCORE

LONG BEACH, CA-- Most of the world was already up and enjoying their Sunday when Steve Tinco hit the game-winning single in the bottom of the 14th and scored AJ Pinocchio from second base to give No. 18-ranked Long Beach State (13-8) a 4-3 win over No. 13-ranked CS Fullerton (14-10) to even the series after five hours and 43 minutes. Tinoco had entered in the sixth inning and had taken four at-bats prior to the game-winning hit.

Danny Espinosa walked four times in the game, one away from the school record. It was the third time since 2001 that a game in the rivaly series has gone over five hours. The other two went 16 innings.

Andrew Liebel (4-1) got the win pitching the final four shutout innings, while Nolan Bruyninckx (0-1) took the loss, pitching the final two innings. The two teams left a combined 28 runners on base.

Both teams had chances late into the evening. Liebel struck out reserve cather Dustin Garneau with a runner on third with two outs to keep it tied at 3-3 in the 12th. In the ninth, Fullerton reliever Michael Morrison, after loading the bases with two outs with two walks, struck out AJ Pinocchio on a borderline 3-2 pitch to send it into extra innings.

Shane Peterson went 2-for-3 with an RBI in the contest. Brian Capon had two hits earlier in the contest, including a two-run double that gave LBSU a 3-1 lead. Fullerton tied it with two runs in the seventh. The 2402 on Saturday night was the 19th largest crowd in LBSU history at Blair Field.

Dirtbag starter Omar Arif tied his longest career outing, leaving it to the bullpen with two on and two outs in the seventh after giving up one unearned run on five hits, while striking out six. Adam Wilk used just one pitch to dispose of Clark Hardman on a flyball to end the inning and keep the Dirtbags in front 3-1. Arif retired seven in a row in the early innings and pitched to just two over the minimum after hitting the third batter of the game until the start of the seventh. He finished his night with an efficient 95 pitches.

A Chris Jones RBI single in the eighth off of Wilk and closer Bryan Shaw made it 3-2, before a Khris Davis single tied it off of Shaw giving Arif a no-decision.

Peterson tied the game with a single, before Capon's two-run double on the first pitch came up just short of the centerfield wall and made it 3-1. Jeff Kaplan left in the sixth, surrendering three runs on seven hits over five and one-third innings.

CS Fullerton took advantage of a fielding error by first baseman Brandon Godfrey to go up 1-0 in the fifth off a two-out single from Clark Hardman.