Long Beach State University Athletics
Long Beach State University
34-14, 0
UC Santa Barbara
21-25, 0
Nelson's Slam Lifts 49ers
5/13/2007 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Big 11th Inning Lifts Dirtbags To Sweep SANTA BARBARA, CA-- Chris Nelson's grand slam highlighted an eight-run 11th inning lifting Long Beach State to a 12-4 win over UC Santa Barbara and a sweep of the three-game series. The Dirtbags, winners of 12 in a row, hit three home runs in the 11th frame. Long Beach improved to 34-14 overall and 13-2 in the Big West and maintained a one game lead over second place UC Riverside which swept Cal State Northridge this weekend. UCSB fell to 21-25 and 9-9 in the Big West. The 12-game win streak is the longest for a Dirtbag team since the 1998 season. Shane Peterson and Robert Perry each had three hits for LBSU, while Jason Corder and Nelson each had two, as the Dirtbags banged out 13 hits in the contest. Nelson drove in four runs and Corder three as Long Beach hit four home runs on the day. Long Beach began the 11th inning with a single to right by Perry. After Corder moved him to second, Brandon Godfrey was intentionally walked. Travis Howell came to the plate and bounced a ball to Gaucho third baseman Scott Cohen. Cohen's throw to second was dropped by Patrick Rose and Perry came home to score the go-ahead run on the error. After another intentional walk to Jason Tweedy, Nelson took a 1-0 pitch over the leftfield wall for his fourth home run of the year, and his fourth in four consecutive games. After Matt Cline recorded the second out of the inning, Peterson hit a solo homer to right, Danny Espinosa walked and Perry, in his second at bat in the inning, lined a homer over the rightfield wall. The Dirtbags trailed 3-0 after six innings and had problems solving Gaucho starter Jeff Braun. LBSU broke through in the seventh as Corder reached on a one-out double and he then scored on a double by Howell. UCSB responded with a run in the bottom of the inning, stretching the advantage to 4-1. As was the case on Saturday when the Dirtbags rallied late in the game, Long Beach tallied three runs in the eighth to tie the contest. With one out Peterson singled to center. An Espinosa double down the righfield line put runners at second and third. After Perry flied out to short left field, Corder then hit a long home run to left, his seventh of the year, tying the game at 4-4. Reliever Bryan Shaw was the seventh pitcher of the day for the Dirtbags and went three innings, not allowing a hit and striking out four, to pick up the win, improving to 6-2. Peterson started on the hill for LBSU and went 5.2 innings allowing four hits and two earned runs. Long Beach will be in action on Tuesday, May 15 when they play a non-conference game at Loyola Marymount at 3 pm. Next weekend UC Riverside comes to Blair Field for a key three-game series. The Dirtbags hold a one-game lead over the Highlanders in the Big West standings. |
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Shaw, Bryan (6-2)
L: Segal (2-4)
Batting:
2B: Espinosa, Danny 1 ; Corder, Jason 1 ; Howell, Travis 1
HR: Nelson, Chris 1 ; Peterson, Shane 1 ; Perry, Robert 1 ; Corder, Jason 1
RBI: Nelson, Chris 4 ; Peterson, Shane 1 ; Perry, Robert 2 ; Corder, Jason 3 ; Howell, Travis 1
SH: Howell, Travis 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Nelson, Chris 1 ; Peterson, Shane 2 ; Espinosa, Danny 2 ; Perry, Robert 2 ; Corder, Jason 2 ; Godfrey, Brandon 1 ; Howell, Travis 1 ; Tweedy, Jason 1
SB: Peterson, Shane 2
Batting:
2B: Rose 1 ; Anderson 1
RBI: Rose 1 ; Anderson 2 ; Fox 1
SH: Carlson 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Lewis 1 ; Zuanich 1 ; McMurray 1 ; Carlson 1
SB: Carlson 1
HBP: Lewis 1
PO: Fox 1
