Shannon Haddad, Kellie White, Morgan Quinlan, Samantha Fowler and Sophia Fernandez proved they’re the best pitching staff in the Big West this year by combining for three wins with a 0.00 ERA and 27 strikeouts during the weekend series sweep at Cal State Northridge. The Beach (12-5, 8-1) outscored the Matadors 24-4 in the three games.
Haddad picked up a pair of wins with 18 strikeouts and two walks over nine innings. The LBSU pitching staff leads the conference with a 1.41 ERA and 6.79 K/7 over 109.1 innings.
LBSU was also fantastic at the plate where Alyssa Gonzalez led the way with seven hits, six RBI and a four runs scored in the series. Gonzalez is now hitting a team-best .440 with a 1.088 OPS.
The Beach hosts UC San Diego this weekend for a pair of Big West doubleheaders on Saturday and Sunday at the LBSU Softball Complex.
Baseball
The Dirtbags (6-6) got back to winning ways by taking three of four conference games at UC San Diego last weekend. LBSU won the first game on Thursday, split the doubleheader on Friday, and held on to a 3-2 victory on Saturday to take the series.
A pair of freshman led the way on Saturday as Luis Ramirez got the start in the series finale and posted his third quality start of the season. In 6.1 innings, the freshman allowed two earned runs on four hits and two walks while striking out eight.
After an Aidan Malm single got the third inning started, freshman third baseman Jonathon Long launched his second home run of the weekend to right center giving the Dirtbags a 3-2 lead. Long finished the weekend with seven hits, five RBI and three runs scored.
The Dirtbags host Cal Poly at Bohl Diamond at Blair Field this weekend starting with the 6 p.m. series opener on Friday.
Men’s Volleyball
LBSU (3-3) gave No. 1 Hawaii all it could handle in a pair of narrow losses last weekend. The Beach, still ranked No. 7 in the nation, lost in four sets before pushing Hawaii to five sets in the second match 26-24, 30-32, 17-25, 25-20, 8-15.
In the second match, the Beach was led by Spencer Olivier’s career-high 25 kills and Ethan Siegfried’s 19 kills on a career-best .708 attack percentage. Simon Andersen’s career-high 11-block performance is the first time since 2015 an LBSU player logged double-digit blocks.
The Beach visits No. 13 UC San Diego on Friday and hosts the Tritons on Saturday.
Track & Field
Senior Jason Smith was the best high jumper at the Stanford Invitational by almost six inches for his fourth consecutive victory in the event. His mark of 7’ 2.5” is now the season-best for the Beach— just missing out on setting a new personal best by less than an inch. It is also the fifth-best mark in program history for the outdoor high jump. Smith won the long jump as well, and his marks in each event now rank tenth and third, respectively, in the entire NCAA.
LBSU is back in action next week at the Fullerton Spring Invite.
Beach Volleyball
LBSU (11-9) could only salvage one win in three matches at Hawaii last weekend while the top flight duo of Mari Molina and Tyler Spriggs went a perfect 3-0 against the Rainbow Wahine. They have now won 12 of their last 14 matches.
The Beach travels to Northridge this weekend for matches against the Matadors and Grand Canyon University.
Women’s Water Polo
Sophomore Gabriella Matafora-Adams scored three goals and junior Lena Kotanchyan extended her goal streak to five games, but LBSU lost both of its conference clashes at Hawaii last weekend.
LBSU hosts Loyola Marymount on Saturday at 12 p.m.
