Long Beach State (24-27, 19-5 Big West) struck early eleven again after a 12-run first inning on Friday. Jacquelyn Bickar opened the bottom of the first with a walk, and then a bunt single by Sarah Olson and a pair of steals, an RBI groundout had the Beach on the board. With two on, an RBI double from Jocylyn Vidal scored one more and then an error allowed one more run. With two on, back-to-back walks drawn by Corissa Sweet and Selena Perez added one more run and the Beach took a 4-0 lead after the first.
Sophia Fernandez struck out four of the first seven batters she faced, but allowed her second hit in a leadoff double by Kaia Johnson to start the fourth inning. Fernandez struck out the next two batters, but an error allowed Johnson to score unearned, the only run of the series for Cal State Bakersfield (5-41, 3-21 Big West).
The Beach broke the game open in the fourth inning, as a Runner error opened the floodgates as the Beach batted around for the second time on the day. With two on, a triple from Sinclair Lawhorn scored two, a double from Vidal added one more, and then RBIs from a trio of seniors in Mikayla Ceballos, Cassie Camou and Jaeden Barajas made the score 10-1 in favor of the Beach.
Senior Mo Quinlan finished off the game for Long Beach State to end the series with a quick fifth inning.
Highlighting the effort of a pair of seniors on the weekend, Vidal was a perfect 1,000 from the plate against the Runners, 8-for-8 with a walk, four doubles a home run and 8 RBI. Fernandez struck out 11 over 9.0 innings pitched, grabbing two wins to increase his record in Big West action to 11-3.
Following the contest, Long Beach State bid farewell to their nine seniors in Jaeden Barajas, Cassie Camou, Mikayla Ceballos, Sophia Fernandez, Sinclair Lawhorn, Lilyanna Martinez, Mo Quinlan Sarah Olson and Jocylyn Vidal.
The series sweep of CSUB sets up another epic season finale, as Long Beach State and Cal State Fullerton will play for the title for the fourth year in a row. The winner of the series will claim the Big West Championship, with three games being played in Fullerton starting on Friday, May 10.
