Winners of Six in a Row Host Wichita State on Tues/Wed, at Fullerton This Weekend March 18, 2002 WEEKLY RELEASE (PDF) College World Series: 1989, 1991, 1993, 1998
NCAA Regionals: 1989, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001
* Dirtbags Host Wichita State, Tues/Wed, at Fullerton This Weekend
* Beach Rolling Having Won Six in a Row
* Three-Way Combo of Pitching, Hitting and Defense Excels
Record: 13-6 Big West: 3-0 | Highest Current Ranking: 17th (Baseball America) DATE | DIRTBAG
STARTER | WICHITA ST
STARTER | GAME TIME | | Mar.19 | LHP-Alvarez
(5-0, 1.40) | LHP-Kerbs
(1-0, 3.12) | 6:05 p.m. | | Mar. 20 | RHP-Beucler
(0-1, 3.00) | TBA | 6:05 p.m. | DATE | DIRTBAG
STARTER | @FULLERTON
STARTER | GAME TIME | | Mar.22 | TBA | RHP-Littleton
(3-2, 1.71) | 7 p.m. | | Mar. 23 | TBA | RHP-Merrell
(4-2, 5.58) | 6 p.m. | | Mar. 16 | TBA | TBA | 2 p.m. | | Listen to all games on the net at www.kbeach.org |
Next Series: at Sacramento State (Mar. 28-30), vs. UCLA (Apr. 2), at Pepp. (Apr. 3)
Big Games This Week: Winners of six and a row, the No. 17-ranked Dirtbags (13-6, 3-0 BWC) will host No. 6-ranked Wichita State (10-2) on Tuesday and Wednesday at Blair Field, before traveling to No. 15-ranked CS Fullerton (13-9) for three non-conference matchups this weekend. LHP Abe Alvarez (5-0, 1.40) will get the start Tuesday at 6:05 p.m. against WSU LHP Reuben Kerbs (1-0, 3.12), while Wednesday’s game at 6:05 p.m. features RHP Nate Beculer (0-1, 3.00) in his first start of the year against an undetermined starter, possibly RHP Mathew Jakubov (0-0, 3.00). On the weekend, the Niners rotation is not set, but expect Alvarez, RHP Daniel Eisentrager (4-1, 3.55) and RHP Jered Weaver (2-2, 4.55) to be in the mix. For the Titans, RHP Wes Littleton (3-2, 1.71) is slated to start on Friday at 7 p.m., followed by RHP Darric Merrell (4-2, 5.58) on Saturday at 6 p.m. On Sunday at 2 p.m., the starter has not been announced, but it could possibly be RHP Jordan DeJong (4-1, 3.47).
UPCOMING OPPONENT
Wichita State 6th | Record: 10-2
Head Coach: Gene Stephenson (1320-407-3, 25th year)
Team Notes (adapted from Baseball America): WSU enters the series 10-2, winning two out three against Fullerton two weeks ago and two out of three over LA-Lafayette last weekend... Coach Gene Stephenson entered the season with the fourth-most wins of all-time and second-most active wins (behind Augie Garrido at Texas)... the team is considered to have a great deal of depth... out of the Missouri Valley, BA picks the Shockers to take their conference and to make the NCAA tournament with SW Missouri State... the team travels to Evansville, IN for a three-game series after their two-game series to the Golden State... the Shockers were ranked No. 12 in the pres-season poll after going 42-24 in 2001.
Players to Watch (adapted from Baseball America): Sophomore 1B Lorgan Sorenson (.231), junior 2B Brian Burgamy (.388), senior OF Justin McCarty (.326), junior OF Randy Walter (.158), junior RHP Adam Peterson (2-0, 2.38) and junior LHP Justin Maureau (2-1, 4.34) were all pre-season all-conference picks... Mareau, Peterson and Walter are the top three 2002 draft prospects out of the MVC... Mareau also has the best breaking ball in the conference and is the 25th-best junior in the country... Peterson and Walter are considered amongst the best juniors in the country... LHP David Sanders (1-0, 1.17) is considered a top 2003 draft prospect out of the MVC, and one of the nation’s top sophomores... Burgamy is considered the best pure hitter, while Walter is considered the best runner and to posses the best OF arm in the MVC... OF Drew Moffitt leads the team with a .492 average and 15 runs, Burgamy is second with a .388 average and team-best 14 RBIs... OF Ryan Bell is batting .343... the team is hitting .286... Sanders and RHP John Tetuan lead the team with a 1.17 ERA... their ERA is 2.37.
Series Notes: WSU has won 14 of 19 meetings between the two clubs winning three out of four last year, including two out three in a cold Wichita.
CS Fullerton 15th | Record: 13-9
Head Coach: George Horton (235-103-1, 6th year)
Team Notes (adapted from Baseball America): The Titans are 13-9 heading into the weekend series, after splitting with Nevada in frigid conditions in Reno over the weekend... CSF has split their last 10 contests, losing two out of three to Wichita State, losing to Miami and Houston, while beating USC, LMU and Arizona State... coach George Horton has one of the top active winning percentages in the country after going to the CWS last year and finishing with a 48-18 record and 14-4 record in the Big West... the Titans were picked to win the Big West in all four pre-season polls... CSF was No. 15 in the pre-season poll.
Player Notes (adapted from Baseball America): RHP Chad Cordero (1-1, 2.82) and LHP Darric Merrell (4-2, 5.58) are both considered amongst the top-15 sophomores in the country... junior 3B Mike Martinez (.321), senior SS David Munoz (.255), Merrell and Cordero are all pre-season all-conference picks... Martinez is the sixth-best 2002 draft prospect in the Big West... Merrell, Cordero, RHP Wes Littleton (3-2, 1.71) and OF Kyle Boyer (.246) are top 2003 draft picks out of the Big West... 2B Jason Corapci (.279) and SS Munoz are the top defensive infielders, in the Big West, at their respective positions... OF Chris Stringfellow (.229) has the best OF arm in the Big West, while Cordero (best fastball) and Merrell (best control) are pitchers with the best stuff in the conference... sophomore DH/IF Richie Burgos leads the team with a .343 average, while sophomore OF Shane Costa has a .333 average, team-best 20 runs and 10 doubles... sophomore 1B Nick Fitzgerald (.288) leads with 14 RBIs... the team is hitting .288... Littleton (1.71) and Cordero (2.82) lead thepitching staff... the team’s ERA is 4.03.
Series Notes: In one of the most heated rivalries in all of collegiate baseball, the two teams are 31-31 since 1989. Fullerton holds the all-time edge, 85-48 (.361)... since 2000, The Beach have won seven of 13 meetings... Kevin Randel is the top active player against the Titans with a .400 average (since 2000), while Chris Demaria (0.84 ERA) and Joey Pace (2.70) are the top hurlers.
LAST WEEK
Mar. 14, 15, 16 (at Riverside, CA) The Beach opened up Big West play in resounding fashion with a sweep of UC Riverside, defeating the Highlanders 4-2, 9-2 and 10-3 as the Dirtbags ran their winning streak to six games. Over the weekend, The Beach hit .360, compiled a 2.00 ERA and had a .967 fielding percentage. In the opener, Abe Alvarez battled flu like symptons to go 7.0 innings, giving up two runs (one earned), five hits and three walks, while striking out five to improve to 5-0 on the season. In game two, after twice being down by one, LBSU scored twice in the sixth to take the lead and win. The Beach broke open the game with seven runs over the final three innings. Daniel Eisentrager pitched 7.0 strong innings, striking out six as LBSU had a season-high 15 hits, as all nine players had hits, while six players had two hits a piece. In the finale, Jered Weaver may have tossed four wild pitches, but he held Riverside at bay with seven strikeouts, as yet again LBSU broke open the game with eight runs over the final five innings. LBSU tied their season-high for hits and set a season-high for runs, as Nick Covarrubias and Brad Davis each had three hits. For the series, Brad Davis and Kevin Randel each hit .500, while Nick Covarrubias and Paul McAnulty hit .417. McAnulty also raised his batting average from .206 to .261 after the weekend.
BEACH NOTES
The Coach: Mike Weathers enters his first year as head coach of the Dirtbags, taking over for Dave Snow, who retired in July. Weathers previously served as the team's top lieutenant for the previous nine seasons under Snow. Weathers carries a 292-286 record in 11+ years as a head coach. Weathers was a head coach at Utah for two seasons in the early 80's and at Chapman from 1984 to 1992.
Rank and File: The Beach made their biggest jump of the season in the national polls, moving to No. 17 in the Baseball America poll. They are currently No. 28 in Collegiate Baseball and No. 26 in the Coaches Poll. Currently, eight opponents are ranked in the top-40 nationally.
Pitching Notes: The team leads the Big West with a 2.80 ERA and five shutouts... opponents are batting a mere .238... the team has struck out 146 and walked just 27... LHP Abe Alvarez (Fontana), after just six innings all of last year, is coming off another solid outing, 7.0 innings, five hits and five strikeouts to improve to 5-0 with a 1.40 ERA... Alvarez, despite three walks on Thursday, has struck out 34 and walked just five as opponents are batting .196 against the sophomore... fellow starter RHP Daniel Eisentrager (Elk Grove) had a solid outing on Saturday, 7.0 innings, six strikeouts, improving to 4-1 with a 3.55 ERA... Eisentrager has a strikeout to walk ratio of 8:1... RHP Jered Weaver (Simi Valley) has won his last two outings with an ERA of 0.75 ERA, striking out 15 and walking just two... Weaver is 2-2 with a 4.55 ERA... RHP Nate Beucler (Huntington Beach) has given up just one run over his last three appearances (7.0 innings) after missing the first two weeks of the season with various minor injuries, Beucler was the team’s most consistent starter in 2001... from the pen, RHP Chris Demaria (Torrance) has yet to allow an earned run in 10.1 innings, opponents are batting .211... RHP Joey Pace (Long Beach) has an 0.84 ERA in 10.2 innings, while RHP Neil Jamison (San Diego) has a 1.23 ERA in 7.1 innings... 19th round pick of the Mets, RHP Josh Alliston (Long Beach) despite a 5.06 ERA, is 2-1 with two saves, and has not allowed run in four of eight apperances this year.
Hitting Notes: The team is hitting .298, after a .360 average against Riverside last week... the balanced attack features six players with double digit runs and five players with 10 or more RBIs... the team is hitting .287 with runners on base, .274 with RISP and .655 with a runner on third and less than two outs... the leadoff hitter reaches safely 43% of the time and the team has a 53% chance of moving the runner over... pinch hitters are hitting .136... currently, OF/IF Nick Covarrubias (West Covina) leads the team with 16 runs, seven doubles and a .355 average... senior 2B Nick Orlandos is hitting .333, while SS Kevin Ranel (Montclair) is hitting .327... sophomore 1B Mike Hofius (Lakewood) leads the team with 14 RBIs, whilesophomore UT Todd Jennings (Orangevale) is hitting .303 with 13 RBIs... Brad Davis has a .361 average on the season, with a five-game hit streak since starting at catcher on March 9.
Defensive Notes: The team has a .964 fielding percentage on the season... since making six errors at LSU on March 2, the team has five errors for a .981 fielding percentage.
Time Changes: Games times for the Cal Poly series in April in San Luis Obispo have been changed to a 5 p.m. start on Friday, and 1 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. Also, on most schedules that were printed, the San Diego home game in April was listed incorrectly, it should be for Wednesday April 24.
Regular M*A*S*H Unit: Here is a list of current injuries for this year’s squad and now long they will be out for: PLAYER | HOMETOWN | INJURY | SS | PROGNOSIS | RHP MATT PAZ | STOCKTON | RT ELBOW | TOMMY JOHN | SEASON | OF SEAN BOATRIGHT | MISSION VIEJO | LOWER BACK | HERNIATED DISCS | SEASON | LHP BOBBY CRAMER | ANAHEIM | LT ELBOW | TOMMY JON | SEASON | OF PAUL MACALUSO | ENCINITAS | HAMSTRING | MAR. 11 | ONE WEEK | RHP BO ASHABRANER | YORBA LINDA | RT ARM | CLEANING | 6-8 WEEKS | 3B EDGAR VARELA | E.RANCHO DOMINGUEZ | RIGHT HAND | 4-6 WEEKS | FEB. 11 | OF JOHN BOWKER | SACRAMENTO | RIGHT WRIST | SIX WEEKS | FEB. 18 |
This Year’s Team is Versatile: This year’s team features incredible depth with many players being able to play multiple positions. They include: OF/1B Jeremy Reed, C/IF Tood Jennings, OF/3B Nick Covarrubias, IF/OF Steve Velazco and infielders Kevin Randel, Nick Orlandos, Adam Heether and Tim Hutting.
Pitching Notes: The team leads the Big West with a 2.95 ERA... the team has a strikeout to walk ratio of nearly 6:1 (117:21)... opponents are batting .241... LHP Abe Alvarez (Fontana) has three wins over top-30 teams, compiling a 4-0 record with a 1.42 ERA in five starts... Alvarez has struck out 29, walking two in 31.2 innings... opponents are batting .191... RHP Daniel Eisentrager (Elk Grove) is 3-1 with a 3.81 ERA in 26.0 innings... Eisentrager has struck out 18, and walked four... RHP Jered Weaver (Simi Valley) is 1-2 with a 5.06, but an impressive .202 opponent batting average... RHP Nate Beculer (Huntington Beach) is 0-1 with a 3.38 ERA after 4.0 shutout innings last week... relievers RHP Chris Demaria (Torrance) and RHP Joey Pace (Long Beach) both have a 0.00 ERA in 17.1 combined innings... opponents have a .236 average with runners on base and are batting .221 with two out.
Hitting Notes: The team is hitting .285... OF/3B Nick Covarrubias (West Covina) leads the team with a .344 average, five doubles and 13 runs... 2B Nick Orlandos (Mission Viejo) is batting .333 with a .476 slugging percentage... OF/1B Jeremy Reed (LaVerne), projected as a third round pick in the 2002 draft, is batting .323 with a team-best 13 runs... UT Todd Jennings (Orangevale) is batting .315 with a team-best 12 RBIs and .500 slugging percentage... the team is hitting .278 with runners on base, .273 with RISP and .630 with a runner on third and less than two outs... the team has a 52% success rate at advancing runners and reach base to leadoff the inning 40% of the time... pinch hiters are 2-for-20 (.100).
Defensive Notes: The team has a .963 fielding percentage, after an excellent series against Arizona (.990, 1 error)... 11 times this season the team has one error or less... twice this year, the team has five errors or more.
Baseball America’s Picks: Last year Baseball America selected SS Bobby Crosy as the pre-season Big West Player of the Year and a top draft pick, well they were right, so here’s this year’s picks. Jeremy Reed is BA’s pre-season pick for BWC Player of the Year, and according to their experts the Big West’s best pure hitter and best baserunner. Reed is also the top draft pick in 2002 out of the Big West. Reed is the 36th-best junior in the country, Mike Hofius is the 49th-best sophomore, and Josh Alliston is the 28th-best senior. Alliston is the 10th-best 2002 prospect in the BWC.
Beach Picked to Finish Second: The Big West Coaches picked Long Beach State to finish second in the Big West this year. According to Baseball America, they expected The Beach to finish fourth, while Collegiate Baseball picked LBSU third. CS Fullerton is picked to finish first in each of the publications. The next tier featured newcomer UC Irvine, CS Northridge, UC Santa Barbara, UC Riverside and Cal Poly. The bottom tier was Sacramento State and Pacific.
Rotation Down to Five: Five pitchers are expected to vie for three weekend jobs this season. They are: RHP Jered Weaver (Simi Valley), LHP Abe Alvarez (Fontana), RHP Daniel Eisentrager (Elk Grove) RHP Nate Beucler (Huntington Beach) and RHP Josh Alliston (Long Beach).
Strength in Numbers: This year's staff features 11 healthy pitchers, of which five are returning pitchers, two are JUCO transfers and four are freshmen.
Forever Enshrined: The Beach retired the jerseys of their last two skippers early this season. No. 25 John Gonsalves, who coached The Beach from 1970-1988 and compiled a 452-634-16 record had is number retired on February 2, while No. 18 Dave Snow, who coached from 1989-2001 and coined the term Dirtbags compiling a 510-294-1 record, had his jersey retired on February 10.
Reed Has Successful Summer: OF/1B Jeremy Reed (LaVerne) was the second straight Dirtbag to start for the summer National team, when he did so this summer. Reed led the team with a .366 average, 22 runs, 37 hits, a .505 slugging percentage and nine steals. Reed also hit safely in 21 of 26 starts, had a 10-game hit streak and had 12 multi-hit games. Reed was name a pre-season third team All-American by Baseball America.
Drafting For the Future: Last year's team saw 10 players drafted, of which eight signed. SS Bobby Crosby was a first round (25th pick overall) of the A's, while Southpaws Russel Rohlicek (6th) and Chad Bentz (7th) were drafted in the first 10 rounds. RHP Josh Alliston (19th) and LHP Bobby Cramer (38th) both chose to stay for their senior seasons.
NATIONAL POLLS BASEBALL AMERICA
1. Stanford
2. Clemson
3. Florida State
4. Rice
5. South Carolina
6. Wichita State
7. Houston
8. Baylor
9. Nebraska
10. Florida
11. Wake Forest
12. Georgia Tech
13. Alabama
14. Louisiana State
15. CS Fullerton
16. San Diego
17. LONG BEACH
18. Texas
19. Texas A&M
20. East Carolina
USA TODAY COACHES POLL
1. Florida State
2. Clemson
3. Stanford
4. Rice
5. South Carolina
6. Florida
7. Wichita State
8. Wake Forest
9. Baylor
10. Georgia Tech
11. Alabama
12. Houston
13. Nebraska
14. Texas
15. Arizona State
16. Louisana State
17. Ole Miss
18. CS Fullerton
19. Auburn
20. Oklahoma State
26. LONG BEACH
COLLEGIATE BASEBALL
1. Florida State
2. Clemson
3. Stanford
4. South Carolina
5. Rice
6. Florida
7. Wichita State
8. Wake Forest
9. Houston
10. Baylor
11. Alabama
12. Georgia Tech
13. Nebraska
14. Louisiana State
15. Texas
16. Ole Miss
17. Texas A&M
18. Oklahoma
19. CS Fullerton
20. Arizona State
28. LONG BEACH
NAT. COL. BASE
WRITERS ASSC.
1. Florida State
2. Clemson
3. Stanford
4. Rice
5. Georgia Tech
6. Wichita State
7. South Carolina
8. Louisiana State
9. Florida
10. Ole Miss
11. Wake Forest
12. Arizona State
13. Baylor
14. Houston
15. Alabama
16. Nebraska
17. Miami (FL)
18. CS Fullerton
19. Texas A&M
20. East Carolina
30. LONG BEACH |
