Long Beach State University Athletics
49ers Headed to UCSB This Weekend
5/3/2005 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Beach Heads to UC Santa Barbara This Weekend Record: 32-14 Big West: 10-2 | Hi Rank: No. 10 | vs. Ranked Teams: 8-5 Dirtbag Lowdown: The nation's top pitching staff returns to Big West play this weekend when the No. 10-ranked Dirtbags (32-14, 10-2 Big West) travel up Highway-101 to take on UC Santa Barbara (19-25, 1-8 Big West) for a three-game series. The Dirtbag trifecta of lefthander Cesar Ramos (9-4, 1.56), and righthanders Marco Estrada (7-0, 1.73) and Jared Hughes (7-2, 2.34) will get the call for The Beach this weekend against an undetermined Gaucho rotation. UCSB has righthanders Steve Morlock (4-7, 6.28), Michael Martin (4-5, 4.65) and Andy Graham (4-5, 5.75) in some combination. Morlock pitched a complete-game loss against CS Fullerton in last Friday's opener and Martin started the last two openers against Cal Poly and UCLA. The Beach enter the weekend the winners of five straight, while UCSB has lost seven in a row. Estrada is Latest Big West Ace: Junior Righthander Marco Estrada (San Fernando) completed the trend of getting the Big Three on the Big West's Pitcher of the Week honor roll as the righthander was named the conference's top pitcher after giving up just three hits over eight shutout innings against UC Davis. Estrada struck out seven to earn his first conference award. Estrada joined two-time honoree Cesar Ramos (Pico Rivera) and Jared Hughes amongst winners this year. Rank and File: The Beach moved up slightly in the national polls as they remain amongst the nation's top-15, as the Dirtbags' ranking gets slightly higher as you move East, from Tucson (10th-Collegiate Baseball), to Durham (11th-Baseball America) to Miami (12th-Sports Weekly/Coaches Poll). LBSU achieved its highest ranking of the season, No. 9 in Collegiate Baseball, on April 18. The Beach returned to the top-25 in all three polls on March 28, after ranking between No. 25 and No. 29 in the coaches poll for the previous month. Tracking 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. Gametracker will not be available this weekend in Santa Barbara. Mike Weathers Show: The Mike Weathers Show will now air a half hour earlier starting at 6 p.m. this week and throughout the rest of the season, as it will lead into Rancho Cucamonga Quakes Baseball for the rest of the season on KWRM-1370 AM. Fans are welcome to attend all season long at Cirivello's at 4115 Viking Way, 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. This Wednesday's guests will be Scott Bradley and Brett Andrade. THE OPPOSITION LAST WEEK DIRTBAG BITS Nation's Top Pitcher?: It's hard to argue with the season All-American lefthander Cesar Ramos (Pico Rivera) is putting together this season. Ramos is just one win behind the national leaders in wins and has the ninth best ERA in the nation. Ramos has hurled two shutouts on the season, the latest, a five-hit, 98-pitch gem over UC Davis. Ramos has also outdueled two fellow All-Americans, Wichita State's Mike Pelfrey in a 1-0 win and then a week later, CS Fullerton's Ricky Romero. Ramos has not allowed more then three earned runs all season and has four complete games this year. He has struck out 79 and walked just 12. Ramos is also a big game pitcher, having gone 3-0 in his three career playoff starts. Keeping the Streak Alive: Junior centerfielder Sean Boatright (Mission Viejo) continued his hit streak for another weekend, riding the streak to 23 straight games to begin the weekend series. The streak trails just three former 49ers, Todd Guggiana's 27-game streak in 1989 and the record 28-game streaks of All-American Rob Townley (1979) and Todd Jennings (2003). Boatright has watched his average rise from .250 to its current mark of .312 over that time. He leads the team in doubles (11) and RBIs (24). Firing up the Bats: The Dirtbag aluminum has been lightening hot, batting .353 with seven homers and nine doubles over the last five games heading into the team's weekend series with the Gauchos. The team's .516 slugging percentage has equated well with the team's seven runs per game. And oh yeah, the team's ERA over the time? 1.00 with opponents batting .174. Over the last 12 games, LBSU is batting .332, hitting double digits in hits in nine of those contests. Ten of the team's 15 homers have come over that stretch. Chuck Sindlinger once led the team in homers for nearly two months, from January 30 to March 25 with just one, before LBSU exploded for 13 of their 15 homers in April. Estrada Remains Perfect: Saturday has yet again been a tough day for opponents following the team's Friday night starter. Over the past couple of years, it has been future All-Americans Jered Weaver and Cesar Ramos, and this year, it's just as tough with undefeated righthander Marco Estrada (San Fernando). Estrada, a transfer from Glendale Community College who did not pitch last year, has struck out 28 batters over his last three starts to lead the squad with 90 strikeouts. Estrada has allowed three earned runs or less in each of his 13 starts to produce the nation's 14th-best ERA at 1.73 to go along with a 7-0 record. Any Given Win for Hughes: Sophomore righthander Jared Hughes (Laguna Beach) has come into his own starting with his complete game win over No. 1 CS Fullerton to clinch the series in late March and continuing through a nine-strikeout day last Sunday against UC Davis. Hughes enters his Sunday start on a six-game win streak to move to 7-2 with a 2.34 ERA. The ERA ranks 58th nationally, as Hughes has struck out 69 in 73.0 innings. Hughes has not allowed more than two runs over those last six starts. Godfrey Set to Return: After being suspended for a violation of unspecified team rules the last two weekend series, first baseman Brandon Godfrey (Los Alamitos) is slated to return for the UC Santa Barbara series. Godfrey was batting .333 with 20 RBIs in 33 starts at first this season. That's the All-American We Know: All-American shortstop Troy Tulowitzki (Sunnyvale) seems fully recovered from the hamate bone injury to his left hand that put him on the disabled list for 20 games. Tulowitzki hit two more home runs this week to give him six on the season and 18th on the year. If Tulowitzki can hit two more, he will be just the seventh 49er to slug 20 in a career. Tulowitzki is batting .367 with 23 runs and 20 RBIs to go along with a .663 slugging percentage. Bradley Makes Most of the Opportunity: With Godfrey having to sit out, junior Scott Bradley (Walnut Creek) was given the opportunity to start and made the most of hit, producing multi-hit games in four of his last five starts. The streak has raised his average to .310, as he has split time between leftfield and first base. Versatility the Name of the Game: With injuries to start the year and the constant shuffling of the lineup, this team may be the most versatile in recent memory. Starting with Evan Lonogoria (third/shortstop) and Tito Cruz (third/catcher), and continuing with Danny Mocny (third/outfield) and most recently Scott Bradley (first base/outfield) and Cruz at first base, this team has a lot of options. This does not include backup catchers Jordan Struble and Tom Sarti, who have yet to start at receiver, but have both started in the outfield. Second and catcher have been the most stable positions, with Chuck Sindlinger starting 43 games at second and Chris Jones starting 34 games at catcher. Oh Chuckie: Second baseman Chuck Sindlinger (Reno, NV) enters the week having starter 117 career games at second base and has been a constant in the lineup, mostly for his glove but sometimes for his bat. Sindlinger saw his average rise 21 points this past weekend thanks to two multi-hit games as the junior is batting .271 on the year. Sindlinger has routinely made the spectacular catch, appearing on ESPN's Web Gems last year during the 2004 playoffs Welcome to the .300 Club: With the on-slaught of hitting, the team has started to produce a few more .300 hitters. Troy Tulowitzki (Sunnyvale) leads six 49ers who enter the weekend batting .300 or better. Jamison Closes in on Second Place: With 25 career saves to his credit (including 10 this season, senior closer Neil Jamison (San Diego) will tie current Brewer farmhand Josh Alliston (1999-2002) for second place all-time with his next save. Both closers are well away from all-time leader Gabe Gonzalez (1992-95) and his 46 career saves. Jamison, a nominee for Stopper of the Year, has already surpassed Alliston in games pitched with 98 in his career and could become just the second pitcher in 49er history with 100 career games pitched (Gonzalez has 121). Setup man Brian Anderson has 68 career games, sixth-best all-time. Double Trouble for Opponents: Long Beach State baseball is trying to make history this season. With lefthander Cesar Ramos (Pico Rivera) being named to the Golden Spikes Award watch list, LBSU is trying to become the first program to have back-to-back Players of the Year. Ramos, who ranks amongst the nation's leaders in wins and ERA, is trying to follow up the performance of former teammate Jered Weaver in 2004, as Ramos is on the same watch list's (Baseball America, The Clemens Award and the Golden Spikes Award) that Weaver was on last year. Crosby Gives Back, Again: Oakland Athletics shortstop Bobby Crosby gave back yet again to his alma mater, donating the $20,000 he earned for winning the Rookie of the Year last season, back to The Beach. Crosby continued a tradition of recent Dirtbags in giving back to their program when he gave $10,000 of his signing bonus to LBSU following the 2001 draft. The shortstop even has his own bobblehead, on display in the SID office, courtesy of the A's PR department and next to the likenesses of Jason Giambi, Misty May, President Bob Maxson and Govenator Arnold Swarzeenegger. Mid-Season All-Americans: Baseball America tabbed two pitchers on the Dirtbag pitching staff as mid-season All-Americans, with closer Neil Jamison getting a first team nod and Cesar Ramos, one of the publication's National Players to Watch, earning a spot on the second team. Strong Pre-Season, Considering: The Dirtbags completed virtually its entire non-conference schedule in good order (a three-game series with UC Davis and a Wednesday affair with USC to end the year are the only other non-conference games), as The Beach over the first half of the season took four series over top-15 opponents (Arizona State, Baylor, Wichita State and CS Fullerton) and did so virtually without the middle of the lineup, Sean Boatright (hamstring-three weeks), Danny Mocny (shoulder-four weeks) and Troy Tulowitzki (left hand-six weeks), who all missed time due to injury. The trio returned for the first time against CS Fullerton to close out March. Draft Predictions: Baseball America put out its mid-season update of top college prospects, and no surprise, but The Beach feature two of the top-20. Shortstop Troy Tulowitzki is listed as the sixth-best college player, while lefthander Cesar Ramos is the 19th-best player and seventh-best pitcher in the country. 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. |
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