College Baseball Roundup : Long Beach Beats Titans as Abbott Pitches 5-Hitter

Kyle Abbott pitched a five-hitter, leading Cal State Long Beach over Cal State Fullerton, 4-1, Saturday in Big West Conference baseball at Titan Field.

Abbott, a junior left-hander, struck out 11 and walked four to improve his record to 13-2 and bring the ninth-ranked 49ers to 43-11 overall and 15-2 in conference play.

Don Barbara, who was two for four, drove in the first two runs of the game with a sixth-inning double. Fullerton scored its only run in the eighth, when Rod Klopfer hit a sacrifice fly to bring home Mate Borgogno to make the score 3-1.

Paul Johnson took the loss, going 6 2/3 innings and giving up three runs on six hits.

Fullerton drops to 29-23 overall and 9-8 in the conference. The Titans will try to salvage one game of the three-game series today at 1 p.m. at Titan Field.

In other Big West games:

Santa Barbara 5, UC Irvine 4 (12 innings)--Jeff Antoon, who went four for five, hit a solo home run in the bottom of the 12th inning. Sophomore Steve May earned the victory, pitching the final 6 1/3 innings and giving up five hits and one earned run. Irvine (17-34-1, 3-14) loaded the bases with one out in the top of the 12th, but winning pitcher John Gianulias struck out Al Rodriguez looking on a 3-2 pitch and got Brian Young to fly out to left. Santa Barbara is 7-10 in conference play.

In the Golden State Athletic Conference:

Southern California College 4-9, Christ College of Irvine 3-0 (first game 7 innings, second game forfeit)--Christ College reliever Martin Kindreich walked first baseman Vance Costelow with the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh to give Southern California College the victory in the first game. Right fielder Doug Rystrom went three for three with two doubles to pace SCC. Jim Dedrick went the distance to earn the victory. The second game was forfeited by Christ College in the top of the eighth inning after a brawl. With Christ College leading, 5-3, SCC’s Phil Bejarano’s pitch sailed behind hitter Steve Thornhill, who was restrained from charging the mound. However, a player ran out of the Christ College Irvine dugout and tackled Bejarano, prompting the umpires to end the game. SCC is 29-19 overall and 17-7 in the conference. Christ College Irvine dropped to 6-33 and 2-22.