LONG BEACH — The Long Beach State baseball team is not playing like a club that saw its season implode in April.

The Dirtbags held on for a 5-4 victory over Cal State Fullerton on Friday night at Blair Field in a typical game between the longtime rivals. The Titans rallied from 3-0 and 5-2 deficits and had the go-ahead run on base in the ninth inning when Long Beach closed the game with a double play.

LBSU is 25-26 overall and now 13-12 in Big West Conference play, with Friday’s series-opening victory their 10th win in their past 12 games – a formidable late-season run after a 4-14 April that included a 10-game losing streak.

“Things are a lot better than they were three weeks ago,” Long Beach head coach Eric Valenzuela said after the win. “Before the season even began, I looked at those games at midseason and knew they would be tough.”

The Dirtbags played road series against Cal Poly, Oregon State and UC Santa Barbara. But they bounced back from those series losses and took two of three from UC Irvine.

“We weren’t playing well when we met three nationally ranked opponents, but we came out of that with two wins against a good program and a win against UCLA,” Valenzuela said. “It’s tough for a team to play when you know you’re not going to have a postseason so early.”

Jack Noble, Matt Fields and Eddie Salvidar provided the big moments on Friday. Noble frustrated the Titans for five innings to earn his sixth win, Fields got a game-ending double play after the Titans rallied for two runs in the ninth, and Saldivar hit his first collegiate home run in the seventh inning for a three-run lead.

“We always stayed together through that tough stretch,” said Saldivar, a freshman second baseman from Clovis who is riding a 13-game hitting streak. “I’m a contact hitter and go with the ball, but I can turn on an inside pitch. Just making good contact.”

Fullerton (19-31, 11-14) has lost nine of its last 11 games. Tyler Stultz pitched six strong innings, with two of the three runs he allowed unearned because of an error. He struck out 10, seven of them looking.

Long Beach was clinging to a 3-2 lead through six innings when it jumped on Fullerton reliever Cameron Repetti. Sebastian Murillo lined a single to right field with one out, then Saldivar followed with a towering home run to right to give the Dirtbags a 5-2 lead.

Saldivar, who emerged as the starting second baseman and No. 3 hitter in the lineup, looks like a fixture for the future. He had eight doubles, two triples and eight stolen bases going into Friday’s game, and the second-highest on-base percentage (.385) on the team.

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Senior Matt Fields relieved Nobel in the seventh and pitched two brisk innings before the Titans used singles by Carter White, Caden Connor and Deylan Pigford to score two runs and get within 5-4.

Fields got Austin Schnell to hit into a 6-4-3 double play to end it.

Long Beach put together two hits, two walks and an error to score three runs in the third. Rocco Peppi doubled to left, Saldivar walked, and an error scored Peppi for a 1-0 lead. Chase Luttrell took advantage of the error with a blistering double down the right field line to score two and make it 3-0.

The Titans finally caught up with Noble in the sixth. Schnell singled and Brandon Bobo hit a high fly to right field and into the visiting bullpen to make it a one-run game.