Cal State Fullerton sweeps Long Beach State and gets ready for start of Big West play

Sahid Valenzuela takes a lead for Cal State Fullerton and takes off. (Photo courtesy Cal State Fullerton athletics, photo Matt Brown, For OC Sports Zone).

For the first time since 2013, the Cal State Fullerton’s baseball team swept Long Beach State in a three-game series at Blair Field with a 5-1 victory Sunday afternoon.

It’s the first time since 2015 Fullerton has swept the Dirtbags. The series between the two Big West Conference schools was a non-conference series and did not count in the standings.

Big West Conference play officially begins this weekend.

With the win the Titans (11-10 overall) remain undefeated on Sunday’s with a 6-0 record. Fullerton has had wins over Virginia, Oklahoma, Stanford, New Mexico, James Madison and Long Beach on Sunday. Long Beach State fell to 3-19 overall.

For the first time in the series the Titans didn’t score first and in the first inning, this time it was the Dirtbags turn to take the early lead. Fullerton didn’t panic after trailing 1-0 through four innings as they got on the board to tie the game in the fifth inning.

Jordan Hernandez got the Titans on the board as he scored from third base on a single by Sahid Valenzuela in the fifth inning. Hernandez started the inning with a single before advancing to second on a sacrifice bunt and then to third on a wild pitch in the dirt.

Valenzuela wasn’t done in the fifth inning. In the top of the seventh with one out and the bases loaded, the junior ripped a triple to right-center field to score three runs and put the Titans up 4-1.

The Yuma, Ariz. native went 2 or 5 with four RBI and one run. Valenzuela scored the run on a wild pitch in the dirt following his triple which extended the Titans lead to 5-1 in the seventh inning.

For the third straight game the Titans got a gem on the mound, this time from Michael Knorr. The freshman tied a career-high, pitching seven innings while also tying a career-high with five strikeouts. Knorr gave up just six hits and allowed only one run which was unearned.

In the third through fifth inning Knorr retired eight straight batters. With the win Knorr moves to 2-1 on the season while the Titans as a team are 5-1 when Knorr starts the game.

Mitchell Berryhill recorded a single through the right side in the first inning to extend his on-base streak to 30 consecutive games dating back to the 2018 season while recording a hit in 14 straight games.

Gavin Velasquez came on in relief of Knorr in the eighth inning and was lights out. The redshirt junior pitched the final two innings, allowing just one hit while striking out two batters. Velasquez came on in a difficult position, with runners and first and second and no outs but didn’t give up as much as a hit to shutdown the Dirtbags offense.

Fullerton now looks forward to a mid-week match-up with Pepperdine Tuesday night at Goodwin Field before beginning Big West Conference play next weekend against UC Santa Barbara (17-3 overall) at home.

Friday’s game begins at 7 p.m., Saturday is at 6 p.m. and Sunday’s finale is at 1 p.m.

-Courtesy Cal State Fullerton athletic media relations