Softball: Runs tough to come by on winless day
The Long Beach State softball team (5-11) fell to UTEP, 2-1 (8 innings), and Oregon, 1-0, on the first day of the San Diego Classic I on Friday.
UTEP 2, Long Beach State 1 (8 innings)
In its first game, LBSU suffered a 2-1 defeat to UTEP in an eight-inning affair at SDSU Softball Stadium.
UTEP (14-5) tied the game at 1-1 in the third when Kia Moore delivered an RBI triple. The Miners eventually pushed the game-winner across in the top of the eighth. Stacie Townsend drew a leadoff walk, advanced to second on a sac bunt, stole third and scored on a single up the middle by Ashley Ellis.
Petty (2-7) allowed just three hits while striking out seven, but the 49ers were unable to provide the run support with eight left on base. Senior Ashley Weber led The Beach with a pair of hits, while junior Liz Javier had LBSU’s lone RBI.
Townsend (12-3) picked up the win for UTEP, allowing one unearned run on six hits.
Oregon 1, Long Beach State 0
Turner (2-3) went the distance, giving up one run on four hits, while striking out a season-high eight batters. The 49ers also had four hits, two of which came off the bat of senior Brandy Reyes.
The Ducks got on the board in the fifth inning when Ashley Kivett doubled and eventually scored on a bunt single by Allie Burger.
The Beach had three of its four hits in the third inning. St. Germain led off with an infield single, but was doubled up on a pop out by Weber. With two outs, Reyes and Javier had back-to-back singles before DeBaun struck out to end the threat.
Oregon, which defeated LBSU, 9-1, earlier in the season, improved to 13-4. Samantha Skillingstad was credited with the win, while Brittany Rumfelt picked up the save.
LBSU returns to the field tomorrow when it takes on Buffalo (11:30 a.m.) at the USD Softball Complex. The 49ers then make their way back to SDSU Softball Stadium where they will close out the second day of action against No. 5 UCLA at 7 p.m.
Men’s Volleyball: Bittner pushes 49ers to win at Pacific
Dean Bittner led the 49ers to a 31-33, 30-25, 30-23, 30-26 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation win at Pacific on Friday night.
The senior finished with a team-high 14 kills, two aces, five digs and five blocks. Antwain Aguillard added 13 kills and four blocks, while Tommy Pestolesi and Jim Baughman had 12 kills each and Dan Alexander finished with 10 kills.
Aguillard hit .722 (13-0-18), while Alexander hit .714 (10-0-14) and Pestolesi added a .500 (12-3-18) hitting percentage. LBSU (9-6, 7-4 MPSF) finished with a team hitting percentage of .306 on 124 swings. Conor Eaton handed out 50 assists, while Kirk Francis led the 49ers defense with 12 digs.
LBSU travels to play Stanford, Saturday night at 7 p.m..
LBSU News: Rain pushes up start times of Saturday events
The Dirtbags’ Saturday game with Washington has been moved to noon in an attempt to avoid rainy weather in the area. Gates will open at 10 a.m.
Meanwhile, the 49er women’s tennis match with UC Davis has been moved up to 9:30 a.m. Both teams agreed to play singles before doubles in an attempt to get the match completed on time in case of rain.