Long Beach State University Athletics
Dirtbags Miss Post-Season
5/29/2006 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Dirtbags Miss Post-Season Despite Tough Schedule LONG BEACH, CA-- Long Beach State baseball (29-27) will miss the post-season for the first time six seasons (2000) and for just the third time since 1989 after not making the field of 64 despite the second-toughest schedule in the country, 21 games against ranked opponents and games against three of the top-eight national seeds. According to boydsworld.com, The Beach finished with an RPI of 47 and had the toughest non-conference schedule in the nation, featuring nine NCAA Tournament teams. They also beat two teams which were ranked No. 1 in the nation (Rice and Texas). This is the first time since 1991 that the top two teams in the Big West were not invited to post-season play. That year LBSU hopscotched co-champion CS Fullerton and joined co-champion Fresno State for the only two bids. In 2006, the Dirtbags finished the season at 12-9 and in second place, ahead of UC Irvine, who The Beach swept and who went 11-10 in conference. UCI's RPI was 38. The Big West, according to boydsworld.com, had the sixth-best conference RPI, while the West Coast Conference, which got three bids, had the ninth-best RPI. Both the University of San Francisco and the University of San Diego, with RPIs of 51 and 57, received at-large selections. Three Dirtbags this season featured three potential top round picks in next week's amateur draft on June 6 and 7; Evan Longoria (.353, 11 HR, 43 RBIs), the nation's top position player and likely a top-five overall pick; and righthanders Andrew Carpenter (7-4, 2.91) and Jared Hughes (8-4, 3.67). They also featured four position players and seven pitchers that were underclassmen. Freshman reliever Bryan Shaw featured a 2.25 ERA in 22 appearances, while freshman utility player Shane Peterson batted .328, second-best on the team to Longoria, who led the team in average, homers and RBIs. Longoria also hit the most home runs by a Dirtbag since Jaeme Leal's record 24 in 1999.
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