The562’s coverage of Long Beach State athletics for the 2022-23 season is sponsored by Marilyn Bohl.
Long Beach State men’s basketball got a historic performance from Lassina Traore with 22 points and 20 rebounds, but UC Davis took the final regular season game 93-92 in double overtime this past weekend.
The loss moves LBSU (17-15, 11-9) down to the No. 7 seed for the upcoming Big West Championship. The Beach will face No. 10 Cal Poly in the opening round at 8:30 p.m. on ESPN+ from the Dollar Loan Center in Henderson, Nev.
Traore tied TJ Robinson for the LBSU single-season record with his 17th double-double on the year. He also became the first player since Michael Zeno in the 1982-83 season with a 20/20 game for LBSU.
In the second overtime, trailing by one with under 30 seconds remaining, Traore put the exclamation point on a huge day with a steal and dunk to put the Beach up by one. After Aggies free throws put them up once more, the Beach found Amari Stroud for a good opportunity in the paint that hit the front iron, allowing UC Davis to escape with the win in an instant classic.
If LBSU can beat Cal Poly tonight, they’ll play No. 2 seed UC Santa Barbara in the quarterfinals on Thursday.
BASEBALL
The Dirtbags (7-3) had a phenomenal road trip to the LaClair Classic last weekend in North Carolina where they beat Georgetown, Indiana and No. 9 East Carolina by a combined score of 31-9.
In the second game of the weekend against host East Carolina, left fielder Rocco Peppi led the offense with three hits, an RBI and a run scored. Freshman Kellan Montgomery came out of the bullpen to pitch three scoreless innings while earning his first collegiate save.
The Dirtbags host South Florida this weekend before starting the Big West Conference scheduled the week after that at UC San Diego.
SOFTBALL
Jacquelyn Bickar’s grand slam in the day’s second game earned Long Beach State a split in two games in the final day for the Beach at the San Diego Classic last weekend.
TRACK & FIELD
The Beach closed out their opening weekend of outdoor season at home with six individual winners and six program top ten marks.
On the men’s side, Cristian Martinez claimed the first event win of the day in the 1500m. Posting a new lifetime-best time of 3:51.14, he was three-tenths of a second faster than the runner-up.
In the throws, Sebastian Coleman had an incredible showing in Shot Put with a throw of 17.58m (57-8.25) that won the event but moved into tenth on the LBSU all-time list. It also marks a new lifetime-best.
On the women’s side, KiiKii Brown had the best jump of her career in the Triple Jump. Going 12.35m (40-6.25), she moved into a tie for fifth all-time on the program top ten. She finished second in the event.
The final top ten mark of the day came from freshman Alex Heerink-van Breda. Making her collegiate outdoor debut, she ran a 1:00.96 in the women’s 400m Hurdles for a lifetime-best and second place finish. It ranks as the tenth fastest time in LBSU history.
The Beach will be back in action next weekend at the Ben Brown Invitational hosted by Cal State Fullerton.
