Long Beach State University Athletics
49ers open Big West softball play at UC Santa Barbara
3/29/2012 12:00:00 AM | Softball
March 29, 2012
49ERS OPEN BIG WEST PLAY AT UCSB: Long Beach State opens Big West Conference play this weekend when the 49ers travel to UC Santa Barbara to face the Gauchos. LBSU finished the non-conference season with a 12-18 record, while UCSB finished it's non-league slate with a 13-22 record after losing at Fresno State on Tuesday.
The 49ers enter this weekend's games with a .265 team batting average and 14 home runs. LBSU pitchers have combined for a 3.36 ERA, while allowing opponents to hit .274. The Gauchos take a .250 team batting average into the three-game series with 12 homers. UCSB pitchers have combined for a 3.73 ERA with opponents hitting .286 vs. the Gauchos.
LBSU swept the three-game series in Long Beach last season, beating UCSB 5-0, 6-5 in 13 innings, and 3-2 in eight innings. The Gauchos swept the season series two years ago with three wins in Santa Barbara. Overall, LBSU holds a 77-34-1 advantage in the series.
JONES-WESLEY NAMED BIG WEST CONFERENCE PITCHER OF THE WEEK THREE TIMES THIS SEASON, NINE TIMES DURING CAREER: Sophomore Erin Jones-Wesley has been named the Big West Conference Pitcher of the Week three times this season, running her career total to nine weekly awards. Jones-Wesley claimed back-to-back awards on Feb. 13 and Feb. 20 before winning the award for a third time on March 19. The reigning Big West Conference Pitcher of the Year claimed six weekly honors in 14 weeks last season. She heads into this weekend's series at UCSB with all 12 LBSU wins and a 2.47 ERA.
NEAL LEADS LBSU IN HITTING; FIFTH IN BIG WEST: Junior college transfer Cya Neal heads into the UC Santa Barbara series with a team-best .345 batting average. The 49er second baseman is 29-for-84 with nine runs scored. She ranks fifth in the Big West in batting average, while sitting sixth in hits.
Neal started her Long Beach State career with a four game hitting streak in the Las Vegas Tournament, including a pair of two hit games in her first two games. Overall she has seven multi-hit games including a pair of three-hit games against Maine and Nevada.
DE GAETANO AND TUPUA-TAUTALATASI WIN BIG WEST PLAYER OF THE WEEK AWARDS: Sophomore Hannah De Gaetano and freshman Leilani Tupua-Tautalatasi have both been named Big West Conference Players of the Week this season.
Tupua-Taulatasi won the award after her first five career games during which she batted .368 with a home run and two RBI, while finishing with a .632 slugging percentage. She went 7-for-19 at the plate with a home run, a triple, and two RBI.
De Gaetano claimed the honor after batting .500 with two home runs and five RBI at the Louisville Slugger Desert Classic in Las Vegas during the season's second weekend. The sophomore had multiple hits in three of LBSU's games in the tournament including three vs. Indiana and two against both Texas Tech and Memphis. She also had a pair of RBI against both Indiana and Ohio State.
49ERS BATTLING INJURY BUG: Long Beach State coach Kim Sowder has had to juggle her lineup for most of the season thanks to a rash of injuries to a number of LBSU starters. Four projected starters among the position players have combined to miss a number of games forcing Sowder to move players to various positions. Senior Alisha Rosen, junior Bree Stephan, and sophomores Karli Sandoval and Sarah Carrasco have all missed games in the first two months of the season. Rosen's injury has forced Sowder to move Hannah De Gaetano from left field to third base. In addition, senior pitcher Taylor Petty has yet to play this season because of an illness.
