Page One

For seven innings, Trevor Hutchinson dodged bullets. But in the eighth, he was done in by foam pellets. 

The Long Beach State 49ers didn’t hit a ball hard in the eighth inning on Friday at Evans Diamond, but they still managed to score four runs to break a 1-1 deadlock. They added another three runs in the ninth, again without hitting the ball very hard, to win 8-1 over Cal. 

The Bears (4-5) dropped the game to the 21st-ranked 49ers despite outhitting them, 9-8, and allowing just one extra-base hit. But Long Beach (3-1) crammed most of their hits into the final two innings, while Cal spread theirs out and left seven runners on base. 

“We need to come of age soon, and find some guys to get the big hits for us,” Cal head coach David Esquer said of his young squad. “We haven’t played very well yet, and we need to put together a string of games.” 

Hutchinson held Long Beach without a hit for the first five innings, but it was a matter of luck more than command. Jeremy Reed started the game for the 49ers with a long drive to the fence in left field, and there were several line drives that headed right for Cal gloves in the next few innings. 

“(Hutchinson) wasn’t dominating them. We just had guys in the right spots,” Esquer said. 

Cal grabbed a 1-0 lead when leadoff hitter David Nicholson cranked a two-out, two-strike home run over the left-field wall in the third inning. It was the center fielder’s first round-tripper of the season, but it was all the support Hutchinson would get on the day. 

The Bears had opportunities to extend their lead in the fourth and fifth innings, putting runners in scoring position with one out in each inning, but couldn’t get anyone home against Long Beach starter Abe Alvarez. 

“If we get even one more run there, it puts much more pressure on (Long Beach),” Esquer said. “They would have had to think about getting a couple of runs, rather than trying to manufacture one to tie the game up.” 

Reed finally got Long Beach’s first hit of the game in the sixth inning, lining the first pitch into left-center for a double. Nick Orlandos put down a sacrifice bunt on the next pitch, but Hutchinson got to the ball late and threw it away, allowing Reed to score and sending Orlandos to second base.  

Chris Wright followed with a single to left, but Orlandos was held at third and wouldn’t score as Hutchinson struck out Paul McAnulty and Nick Covarrubias, then got Mike Hofius to line out to first base to end the threat. 

Having tied the score, the 49ers called in reliever Josh Alliston, who set down Cal with little fuss for the next four innings to earn the victory. 

Reed got things started again in the eighth inning, hitting a leadoff single off of Hutchinson. Orlandos sacrificed him to second base, with Hutchinson this time handling the ball with no trouble. Esquer chose to intentionally walk Wright to set up a possible double play, but Hutchinson faltered, walking McAnulty to load the bases before Covarrubias plopped a single into right field to plate Reed for a 2-1 lead. Hofius then hit a soft ground ball to shortstop and Jeff Dragicevich could only get the out at first, allowing Wright to score. Todd Jennings then got the backbreaker, a soft looper that fell inside the foul line in right field, scoring two runs to give the 49ers a 5-1 lead. Hutchinson finally got out of the inning by inducing a grounder to Dragicevich off the bat of Adam Heether. 

Esquer had no compunction about sending Hutchinson to the mound in the eighth, although his ace had already thrown more than 90 pitches. The senior right-handed had won his first two starts, giving up just one earned run in 15 innings in the two games. 

“I absolutely wanted him out there,” Esquer said. “He’s our Friday starter, and he’s the guy who gets our big wins for us.” 

Freshman left-hander Travis Talbott started the ninth for the Bears, but got just one out before he was yanked after giving up two runs.