Long Beach State Notebook: Dirtbags take another weekend series

The No. 24 Long Beach State Dirtbags (14-6) broke into the Baseball America standings last week, and looked the part over the weekend at Blair Field, where they took three out of four games from visiting Columbia. The Dirtbags have won nine of their last 11 games.

Sophomore Chris Mathewson, sophomore Darren McCaughan and senior Taer Brown all gave the Dirtbags a quality start this weekend. Long Beach State has 12 this season and is 11-1 in those games. Brock Lundquist also extended his hitting streak to 13 games on Thursday. Junior catcher Daniel Jackson retued from a shoulder injury and played his first two games of the season over the weekend, driving in five runs in two games, including a two-run homer on Sunday in an 8-6 loss.

This week, the premier rivalry in the Big West will be a nonconference weekend series at Cal State Fullerton starting Tuesday at 6 p.m. They’ll also play Friday at 7 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m. Cal State Fullerton (11-8) is also led by a strong pitching staff and shortstop Timmy Richards. The Long Beach Wilson High product is hitting a team-high .333 with 15 runsd, five doubles, three home runs and four stolen bases.

Men’s volleyball

It was a feast or famine weekend for the No. 4 49ers (19-4, 13-3 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation), who currently sit in a four-way tie for first place in the MPSF after splitting two matches with Cal State Northridge. Long Beach State eaed its 10th sweep of the season at home on Friday night but then fell to the Matadors on the road in a five-set thriller on Saturday night, 25-19, 18-25, 25-27, 25-19, 15-13.

Softball

The 49ers (18-11) finished their nonconference touament schedule by wiing three of five games at the San Diego Classic II over the weekend. Long Beach State beat BYU, Ohio State and Weber State after narrowly falling to No. 22 Fresno State, 5-4. Freshman shortstop Nichole Fry had an on-base percentage of .611 last week, hitting .462 and walking four times. Long Beach retus to the field for a doubleheader at Loyola Marymount on March 30 before the start of Big West Conference play.

Women’s teis

It was the most dominant weekend of the season for the 49ers (9-4, 3-0 Big West) who dropped just one match at No. 6 singles while beating Wyoming, 7-0, and the University of Coecticut, 6-1. Two matches this week close out a 10-match homestand. No. 44 Dartmouth (8-2) will be at Rhodes Teis Center Tuesday at 2 p.m. and Big West rival Hawai’i (9-7, 3-2) will play Thursday at the same time.

Women’s water polo

Senior Alexis Butler had a season-high 14 saves for the 49ers (10-7) in a 7-1 win over Bucknell last week, topping her total saves from last season. Butler now has 86 saves. Long Beach State also edged Whittier 12-11 over the weekend.

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Beach volleyball

Long Beach State will get a second crack at the defending champions this week, as the 49ers travel to No. 3 USC after falling to the Trojans 3-2 earlier this season. That match kicks off a full slate for Long Beach State, which hosts Nebraska on Thursday before holding a three-way dual match with Cal and Loyola Marymount on Friday.

- JJ Fiddler contributed to this report