Long Beach State University Athletics
Dirtbags Travel to Wichita State
3/15/2005 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Dirtbags Try to Shock Wichita This Weekend Record: 14-8 Big West: 0-0 | Hi Rank: No. 28 | vs. Ranked Teams: 4-2 Dirtbag Lowdown: The No. 28-ranked Dirtbags (14-8), winners of nine of their last 11, will head to No. 14-ranked Wichita State (16-3, prior to playing McNeese State on Tuesday and Wednesday) for a three-game series beginning on Friday at 5 p.m. PST. A couple of national teammates will matchup in the opener with lefthander Cesar Ramos (3-3, 1.97) dueling Shocker ace Mike Pelfrey (3-1, 2.25). Righthander Marco Estrada (4-0, 2.06) will look to remain perfect against fellow rightie Jereme Foster (2-0, 4.78) on Saturday, while righthander Jared Hughes (1-1, 3.46) will look to get back on track against righthander Travis Banwart (1-0, 1.65). The Shockers, after playing at USC's tournament last weekend, will play five games this week, while LBSU will take the next two Tuesday's off to prepare for two-straight top-15 opponents, Wichita State this weekend and arch rival, CS Fullerton, as part of college baseball's best rivalry, next weekend. Greatest Collegiate Rivalry Next Weekend: Arch-rival CS Fullerton will make its annual trip to Blair Field for a three-game series starting on March 24 in the greatest collegiate baseball rivalry in the nation. Last year's series brought 7,241 fans to the ballpark, the second-highest series crowd (to another Fullerton series in 1996) in school-history. Four of the five largest series have involved the Titans. Rank and File: The Dirtbags, despite winning nine of their last 11, have dropped to No. 28 in Sports Weekly/Coaches Poll this week and remained out of the national polls for Baseball America and Collegiate Baseball. LBSU achieved its highest ranking on February 18 when it was ranked No. 12 by Sports Weekly. The team's RPI has steadily climbed, according to Boydsworld.com, moving from 117 three weeks ago to 67 this week. A New Radio Home For The Beach: Long Beach State will have most of its schedule on KWRM-1370 AM this season. All night games as well as Sunday games (started in progress at 2 p.m.) will be on the larger signal. The games can still be heard through the Long Beach State website at www.longbeachstate.com as well as at every ballpark LBSU plays in with a normal radio. Veteran radio announcer Rob Buska will serve as the play-by-play man. Fans can all track the game live with CSTV's Gametracker software. THE OPPOSITION LAST WEEK Beach Comeback with Series Win over Houston: The No. 26-ranked Dirtbags won its ninth game in their last 11 with a series win over Houston (L 2-1, W 5-1, W 5-4). In the opener, the Dirtbags rally came up a run short after they chased Houston starter Matt Farrington from the game in the ninth as Cesar Ramos' 8.0 strong innings of six-hit baseball was wasted. On Saturday, Marco Estrada remained perfect at 4-0 and Evan Longoria and Brandon Godfrey pounded out three hits a piece in a 5-1 win. Estrada struck out eight and then turned to the pen, as Steve Hammond had two shutout innings before Neil Jamison pitched a perfect ninth. On Sunday, Cole Jacobsen's, two-out, two-run triple past a diving leftfielder in the ninth inning, plated two Dirtbags and gave LBSU its fourth come-from-behind victory of the season, a 5-4 win. Brian Anderson, who retired the final nine Cougars, picked up the win and ran his scoreless streak to 23.1 innings. Domination Out of the Pen: For the second-straight season setup man extraordinaire, righthander Brian Anderson (Aliso Viejo) has put up an impressive scoreless innings streak that is just outside the best, a 49er pitcher has had to offer. From late in 2003 to 2004, Anderson put together 23.0 scoreless innings, which he has bettered in 2005. With 4.0 scoreless innings in the Super Regional and 19.1 scoreless innings this year, including 3.0 on Sunday against Houston, Anderson has 23.1 consecutive scoreless innings to enter the week. Anderson needs just another inning to break into the top-five for consecutive scoreless innings pitched. He will need to pitch another 10.0 scoreless innings to tie Rocky Biddle's record (1995) of 33.1. Anderson has appeared in 56 career games, 10th-best all-time and is 2-0 this season. Opponents are batting just .066 against him this year. Ninth Belongs to Jamison: Righthanded closer Neil Jamison (San Diego) has compiled six saves this season to give the senior righthander 21 in his career, five behind Josh Alliston (1999-2002) for second place all-time. Jamison has been dominant out of the pen this season, not allowing an earned run in 11 appearances. Jamison along with setup man Brian Anderson have accounted for 11 of the team's 14 victories with a combined four wins and seven saves. Longoria's Hot as they Come: After a hot week, which included a five-hit attack against LMU and two more multi-hit games against Houston, sophomore shortstop/third baseman Evan Longoria (Downey) has taken over the team lead in batting with a .360 average. Longoria has driven in 11 runs and scored 10 runs, as he has moved up the order to the team's leadoff hitter of the past couple of weeks. Over the last two weeks, Longoria has had a three-hit, four-hit and five-hit performance. Godfrey Drives Them Home: First baseman Brandon Godfrey (Los Alamitos) has made the most of his first season at The Beach, batting .329 with a team-best nine multi-hit games and a team-leading 15 RBIs. Godfrey has started 19 games at first. Jones Earns Start at Receiver: Two of the team's question marks at the beginning of the season were at first (now occupied by Brandon Godfrey) and catcher (now occupied by Chris Jones. First base and catcher now have established starters, as Chris Jones, who has been flirting with .400, and is currently batting .357 in 15 starts at catcher. Jones has hit safly in nine of his last 10 contests. Boatright Returns to the Outfield: A welcome sight to the outfield was junior Sean Boatright (Mission Viejo) this past weekend, as the off-injured star started in center for the first time since the season opener. Boatright had missed three weeks of the season with a hamstring injury, and had been the designated hitter over the past two weeks. Boatright enters the weekend batting .273 with a .341 slugging percentage thanks to three doubles. Boatright had missed parts of the past three seasons due to injury. Marc-o, Perfect-o: Righthander Marco Estrada (San Fernando) remained perfect with 6.0 strong innings against Houston last week as the junior college righthander has won his last three decisions. Estrada enters Saturday's start at 4-0 with a 2.06 ERA, having struck out at least seven in three of his six starts and reaching the sixth in all but one start. Ramos Waits for Offense to Come Around: Not many pitchers can do what lefthander Cesar Ramos (Pico Rivera) has done on a Friday night, open a series with a quality start, and lose, but it has happened three times for the hard-luck Ramos. Ramos has allowed two or less runs in five starts this year. Over the last four starts Ramos has allowed just three earned runs over 28.2 innings, but is just 1-2. Overall Ramos is 3-3 with a 1.97 ERA as LBSU has scored 24 runs in his seven starts. His 21 career wins is one short of All-American lefthander Abe Alvarez's record for most wins by a lefthander (22). Mocny Banged Up: Third baseman/outfielder Danny Mocny (Santa Rosa) returned to the lineup in the opener at Baylor to extend his hit streak to eight games, but has not returned the lineup since then as he continues to re-hab his left shoulder. Mocny, who re-injured his left shoulder at third base against California on February 20, originally injured the shoulder in fall ball in the outfield. Tulowitzki Out Five to Six Weeks: All-American shortstop Troy Tulowitzki (Sunnyvale) will miss five to six weeks with a left hand (hamate) injury he suffered during the second weekend of the season. The junior is expected back at the start of conference play to begin April. Tulowitzki has the same injury second baseman Chuck Sindlinger had last season. Sophomore Evan Longoria (Downey) will fill in at short. Tulowitzki, who entered the season with 88 career RBIs, is a first team pre-season All-American after starting for Team USA last summer and earning Regional Tournament Most Outstanding Player honors in the 2004 playoffs. He was batting .526 over the first five games. We Remember You Guys: Aside from the established former Dirtbags in the Major Leagues, a four-some are trying to make Big League rosters for the first time in lefthanders Abe Alvarez (Red Sox) and Russel Rohlicek (Cubs) and outfielders Jeremy Reed (Mariners), Paul McAnulty (Padres). All are on spring training rosters to start the week. Duo Named to Clemens Award Watch List: The award that Jered Weaver won last year, may just go to another Dirtbag, as two hurlers, lefthander Cesar Ramos (Pico Rivera) and righthanded closer Neil Jamison (San Diego) are both on the initial watch list for the Roger Clemens Award. Ramos is also on the watch list for the Wallace National Player of the Year Award. Pre-Season All-Conference: In Baseball America's annual college preview, LBSU has two players picked by the publication to be all-conference selections, shortstop Troy Tulowitzki (Sunnyvale) and lefthander Cesar Ramos (Pico Rivera). Tulowitzki is also slated to be the conference's Player of the Year, while Ramos will have to battle with CS Fullerton's Ricky Romero to keep the Pitcher of the Year honors in the family. Tulowitzki (1st), Ramos (2nd) and Neil Jamison (San Diego) are expected to be three of the top five players drafted out of the Big West next June. Top Newcomers to The Beach: The 49ers have two of the top five newcomers in the Big West, according to Baseball America, potential weekend starters righthanders Jared Hughes (Laguna Beach) and Cody Evans (Huntington Beach). Hughes is tabbed as the third-best 2006 prospect out of the Big West in the June Amateur Draft. Top Rated Players: Baseball America has put out its annual list of top players, and it's no surprise Long Beach State is amongst the nation's brightest. Shortstop Troy Tulowitzki (Sunnyvale) is the sixth-best junior, while lefthander Cesar Ramos (Pico Rivera) is the 18th-best junior. Righthander Neil Jamison (San Diego) is rated as the third-best senior, while Jared Hughes (Laguna Beach) is the 31st-best sophomore. For the second straight year Tulowitzki's is the conference's top defensive shortstop with the best arm. Ramos has the best control in the conference. We Knew We Had A Few in the Majors: With four former players making their debuts in 2004, upping the total to a record 11, Long Beach State baseball knew it had a few former players in the Major Leagues. But when the publication came out with its list of alumni playing in the majors, The Beach made out with the third-most Major Leaguers in the nation, behind USC (14 Major Leaguers) and Stanford (12). Last year LBSU is the only school that had: the American League Rookie of the Year, Bobby Crosby, the last player to get a hit for the Montreal Expos (Terrmel Sledge) and a player with a World Series ring (Abe Alvarez). Weaver Named Nation's Top Player: In 2004 righthander Jered Weaver (Simi Valley) was named a first team All-American by Sports Weekly and Collegiate Baseball, becoming the first LBSU player to be two-time first team All-American. Weaver was named the Player of the Year by eight different organizations, including the Golden Spikes Award, Dick Howser Trophy and the Roger Clemens Award, also a first for the LBSU program. He was the 12th overall pick by the Angels in the 2004 draft. |
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