By Long Beach State has now swept its last three opponents after an 11-3 win over UCSB Sunday. LBSU (20-5, 14-1 Big West) won its 11th consecutive game while pushing UCSB’s (8-25, 5-8 Big West) losing streak to seven games.
Long Beach jumped all over UCSB’s starting pitcher Camryn Snyder with a leadoff single and RBI triple from junior first baseman Alyssa Gonzalez to put LBSU on the scoreboard just three batters into the game.
Senior third baseman Suzy Brookshire followed by driving home her Big West leading 36th RBI of the season with a single to give the Beach a 2-0 lead. Brookshire walked in her last three at-bats.
After Long Beach scored two more runs in the second inning, starting pitcher Morgan Quinlan ran into trouble by walking the first three hitters to start the bottom half of the inning.
She was quickly relieved for sophomore pitcher Samantha Fowler who struck out the side and minimized the damage to keep a 4-2 lead.
UCSB scored its runs off a bases loaded wild pitch and a fielder’s choice as both runs were charged to Quinlan.
Fowler went turned in her best collegiate pitching performance by earning her first win of the season, going five innings and striking out seven, both career-highs.
She allowed two hits, two walks and an unearned run, trimming her ERA in half to 1.70 on the season.
Senior outfielder Breezy Wise went 1-for-4 but had a season-high four RBIs. She picked up 2 RBIs in back-to-back innings with a bases loaded single and a bases loaded sharp ground ball off the first baseman’s glove that trickled into right field.
UCSB’s pitching staff has given up more runs (210) and earned runs (170) than any other team in the Big West, 37 runs and 21 earned runs more than second-place UC Riverside.
The Beach and Big West batting averages leaders kept pace with one another with Gonzalez going 2-for-4 with an RBI triple (1st place) and sophomore outfielder Naomi Hernandez going 2-for-3 with two RBIs (2nd place).
Their batting averages now sit at .494 and .496 respectively.
Long Beach returns home for a three-game series beginning with a doubleheader against Cal Poly Saturday with the first match beginning at 1p.m.
