Spring sports at Long Beach State last week were part sunshine and part puzzle.

Kirk Singer’s two-run double in the fourth inning started a rally that put the Dirtbags in front 5-1, enough for Branden Pinder and the bullpen as the Dirtbags held on to win 5-3 Saturday.

Long Beach State had another tough match against DePaul Saturday, seeing four matches go to three sets, but the 49ers prevailed in all four to beat the Blue Demons 6-1 in the team’s third match in as many days.

Eleven former Long Beach State baseball players were on Major League Baseball rosters as the 2011 baseball season began Thursday.

The Dirtbags failed to extend their initial win into the final two fames of their three-game series on the road against No. 12 Stanford, losing the second game 6-1 and the third 6-5.

The Long Beach City College Vikings swept the Pasadena City College Lancers over the weekend in their three-game set to maintain the top spot in the South Coast Conference with a 7-2 SCC record.

While the ‘Niner coaches await the details of how the upcoming fee increase will benefit their Beach boys and girls, there is still the day job to do which in short means qualifying for the postseason.

Long Beach State stormed out to a 6-0 lead after four innings in support last Friday night’s starter Andrew Gagnon, and the Dirtbags held on to beat No. 12 Stanford 6-3 in Palo Alto.

Both the Long Beach City College men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams suffered South Coast Conference dual meet losses to visiting Pasadena City College on Friday at LBCC.