BB: Long Beach State Rallies To Defeat SDSU 9-4

SAN DIEGO, Calif. - Long Beach State broke open a 2-2 game with seven runs over the seventh and eighth innings as it defeated San Diego State, 9-4, Tuesday evening at Tony Gwynn Stadium. The win improved the 49ers to 13-17 while the Aztec dropped to 17-18.

The teams began the contest by scoring identical runs in the opening inning. In the top of the first, Jeff McNeill led off with a triple to center and scored on a grounder to shortstop off the bat of Matt Duffy. The Aztecs matched that in the bottom of the frame as Greg Allen opened with a triple to center and scored on Tim Zier's ground out to short.

The 49ers took the lead in the second when Johnny Bekakis singled, stole second and scored on Josh Guerra's two-out single to right to make it a 2-1 game. They had chances to add to their lead against SDSU starter TJ Kendzora, but left the bases loaded in the third and wasted runners at second and third with one out in the fourth, coming up empty on both occasions.

San Diego State did take advantage of its next opportunity as Zier led off the bottom of the fourth with a double. He went to third on wild pitch by 49er starter Matt Johnson and came home on Cody Smith's sacrifice fly to left to tie the contest at 2-2.

The score remained that way until the top of the seventh when the visitors scored three times off Aztec freshman reliever Adam Anawalt, who had come on to start the frame in place of Kendzora. An RBI single by Juan Avila and a two-out two-run double by Robert Vickers gave the 49ers a lead they would not relinquish.

Those three runs meant that Anawalt would be saddled with his second loss of the season as his record fell to 2-2. LBSU reliever Landon Hunt was the beneficiary of his team's rally as he picked up the victory to improve to 1-0 on the year.

Chris Wilson's solo home run in the bottom of the seventh, his sixth of the season, brought the Aztecs to within two at 5-3, but that's as close as they would get the rest of the way as the 49ers added four runs in the eighth on a pair of walks and three hits against Anawalt to take a 9-3 lead.

Greg Allen was the lone Aztec with more than one hit on the night as he finished with a double, triple and scored two runs.

San Diego State will now prepare for its three-game Mountain West series against league-leading New Mexico that is scheduled to get underway on Friday (April 13) with a game set to start at 6:00 p.m. at Tony Gwynn Stadium.