Beach to Host Four This Week
3/7/2005 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Beach Host Four This Week Record: 11-7 Big West: 0-0 | Hi Rank: No. 26 | vs. Ranked Teams: 4-2 Dirtbag Lowdown: The No. 26-ranked Dirtbags (11-7), winners of six of their last seven, will begin a four-game home stand this week when they host Loyola Marymount (4-8) on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. and Houston (5-9) this weekend in a three-game series starting on Friday at 6:30 p.m. Freshman lefthander Donnie Hume (0-0, 6.75) is scheduled to make his first start of the season on Tuesday against an undetermined LMU hurler. On the weekend Cesar Ramos (3-2, 1.89) will get the call in the opener against fellow Southpaw Matt Farrington (2-0, 3.15). On Saturday at 2 p.m., Marco Estrada (3-0, 2.16) will try to remain perfect against fellow righthander Kevin Roberts (1-0, 3.32), while on Sunday at 1 p.m. righthander Jared Hughes (1-1, 2.61) will oppose righthander Brad Lincoln (1-2, 6.55). LBSU will play seven of their next 10 games at home prior to opening up Big West play on April 1. Rank and File: The Dirtbags fell a mind-boggling third straight week despite a 3-1 record to No. 26 in the 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. 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. Mike Weathers Show: Long Beach State skipper, Mike Weathers will have his own one-hour talk show every Wednesday from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. live from Cirivello's Restaurant at 4115 Viking Way in Long Beach. This week's show features Saturday starter Marco Estrada. Fans are welcome to attend all season long as Rob Buska and Coach Weathers will take your questions and offer giveaways, which will include autographed baseballs, jerseys, tickets and more. The show can always be heard on the internet. THE OPPOSITION A Look at Houston: The Cougars, who play Sam Houston State on Tuesday, come into the week with a record of 5-9 after taking two of three from Loyola Marymount at home last weekend... UH enters the week just 1-3 away from home this season... Houston is batting .273 as a team with a .958 fielding percentage and 4.50 team ERA... outfielder Jake Stewart leads the club with a .339 average, while pitcher/designated hitter Brad Lincoln enters the week batting .316... on the mound, leftie Matt Farrington, Friday's starter, posts a 3.15 ERA and 2-0 record, while righthander Kevin Roberts is 1-0 with a 3.32 ERA in three starts... righthander Justin Vaclavik has a 3.09 ERA and two saves out of the pen... LBSU leads the all-time series 6-1, having won two of three at Houston last season. LAST WEEK Dirtbags Take Series with Baylor: The No. 25-ranked Dirtbags won its second series over a top-15 opponent winning two of three over host No. 14 Baylor (W 4-2, W 7-6, L 1-7). In the opener, Cesar Ramos hurled 7.0 strong innings to pick his first win in a month, while Brian Anderson and Neil Jamison helped to retire the last 14 in a row. On Saturday it was again the bullpen of Anderson and Jamison to save the day, as Anderson got four outs and Jamison picked up his third straight save to seal the series victory. Evan Longoria and Sean Boatright each pounded out four hits. On Sunday, Baylor salvaged the final game with All-American pitcher Mark McCormack striking out a season-high eight in a 7-1 win. Opponents Stop at the Eighth Inning: The bullpen tandem of righthanders Brian Anderson (Aliso Viejo) and Neil Jamison (San Diego) have shortened opponents chances at scoring to the eighth inning as the duo have simply dominated the opposition this season. Anderson has not allowed a run over his first 12 appearances, mostly in the eighth, like he did three times last week, and Jamison has compiled a 2-0 record and five saves as the team's closer with nine appearances. Jamison, a former eighth round pick of the Mets in 2004 is third all-time in career saves (20), and has also not allowed a run this season as well, picking up three saves last week. Ramos Heats Up: Friday nights have belonged to the Dirtbags over the last few seasons with All-Americans Abe Alvarez and Jered Weaver taking the hill. Now it is lefthander Cesar Ramos (Pico Rivera) turn, as the pre-season All-American has heated up after a slow start, allowing just one earned run over the previous three starts and 21.0 innings. Ramos enters his start on Friday at 3-2 with a 1.89 ERA. Ramos with 21 career victories is just one win shy of tying Alvarez for the most wins by a 49er lefthander. Estrada Remains Perfect: Despite a less than perfect performance on Saturday (five runs in five innings), Saturday starter Marco Estrada (San Fernando) is a perfect 3-0 on the season with a 2.16 ERA. Estrada has won his last two starts, including 8.0 strong innings against San Diego State two weeks ago, when he allowed one unearned run. Godfrey Continues Solid Debut: Redshirt freshman Brandon Godfrey (Cypress), with a team-best eight multi-hit games, continues to have a strong collegiate debut at first base, batting .339 with six runs and a team-best 12 RBIs. Godfrey has started 15 games at first this season. Boatright Returns with a Flury: Thanks to a four-hit afternoon against Baylor last weekend Sean Boatright (Mission Viejo) has returned to the lineup after missing three weeks of the season with a hamstring injury. Boatright has been the team's designated hitter for the past five starts, batting .310 with two runs and four RBIs. Mocny Banged Up, Returns: Third baseman/outfielder Danny Mocny (Santa Rosa) returned to the lineup last Friday at Baylor to extend his hit streak to eight games, before being kept out of the rest of the series with the Bears. Mocny, who re-injured his left shoulder against California on February 20, continues to be day-to-day. Mocny is batting .333 on the season. 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. Defensive Struggles: The 49ers one achilles heal has been its defense this season. Normally stellar defensively, ranking amongst the nation's leaders in fielding over the past two seasons, this year LBSU is fielding at just a .964 clip, giving up 25 unearned runs, already more than all of last year (22). 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 INDICATORS 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 though, Bobby Crosby, the last player to get a hit for the Montreal Expos (Terrmel Sledge) and a player with a World Series share (Abe Alvarez). Solid Experience in the Field: The Dirtbags return five starters to the field, three of which who earned all-Regional Tournament honors in the team's win at Palo Alto last season. Junior Troy Tulowitzki (Sunnyvale) will be flipping to second baseman Chuck Sindlinger (Reno), who has 74 career starts, while third baseman Danny Mocny (Santa Rosa) earned honorable mention All-Big West honors last season after batting .318. In the outfield, Sean Boatright (Mission Viejo) will play center, after batting .330 in 30 games, while Steve Velazco (San Marcos) will take his 126 career games to right field. Boatright, Mocny and Tulowitzki all earned all-regional tournament honors last season, while Tulowitzki being named MVP. Velazco had the game-winning RBI in the team's first win of the 2004 playoffs, in the ninth inning over St. John's. Drafting Dirtbags as easy as 1-2-3: LBSU produced its most successful draft class of all-time in 2004 as seven players were drafted on June 7 and 8, highlighted by the Anaheim Angels selection of Jered Weaver as the 12th overall pick. Weaver was the second highest Dirtbag to be drafted. With Jason Vargas (2nd), John Bowker (3rd) and Brad Davis (5th) all going in the first five rounds, most selected first five rounds of action in LBSU history. Current righthander Neil Jamison was drafted in the eighth round and decided to go back to The Beach, while National Player of the Year, Jered Weaver, continues to be in talks with the Los Angeles Angels on Anaheim. 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. |
|
|
Copyrighted by Long Beach State and www.longbeachstate.com. All rights reserved worldwide.
No portion of this site may be reproduced or duplicated without the express written Please contact the webmaster should you find an error or out of date link.
