| * Dirtbags Host Texas
for Three-Game Tilt
* Beach Took Two of Three from USC Last Weekend
* Pitching Staff Produces Sub-2.00 ERA the First Weekend
February 8, 2007
College World Series (4): 1989, 1991, 1993, 1998 Super
Regionals (2): 2003, 2004
NCAA Regionals (15): 1989, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995,
1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005
Record: 2-1 Big West: 0-0 | Hi
Rank: No.30 (Collegiate Baseball)
vs. Ranked Teams: 2-1
UPCOMING SCHEDULE
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 9 No. 7 TEXAS
Blair Field | 6:30 p.m.
LB: R-Vance Worley (0-0, 1.50) vs.
TX: James Russell (0-1, 2.57)
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 10 No. 7 TEXAS
Blair Field | 2 p.m.
LB: R-Manny McElroy (1-0, 2.84) vs.
TX: Kyle Walker (0-0, 9.00)
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 11 No. 7 TEXAS
Blair Field | 1 p.m.
LB: L-Omar Arif (1-0, 0.00) vs.
TX: Randy Boone (0-1, 4.26)
SERIES NOTES: Texas leads the all-time series 5-2, as
the Longhorns took two of three last year in Austin. LBSU also lost to
to Texas in the 1989 College World Series and Regionals in 1992 and Palo
Alto. LBSU defeated Texas in the 1991 Regional, when the Longhorns were
a No. 1 seed.
ABOUT THE LONGHORNS:
BA: .271; ERA: 4.75; FLD: .981
The Longhorns enter the weekend having already stolen 11 of 12 bags this
season.... Preston Clark has opened the season batting .533, while the
pitching staff has a 4.75 ERA to start the year wit reliever Joseph Krebs
posting a 1-0 record and 1.42 ERA, striking out 10 over 6.1 innings...
Head Coach Augie Garrido has taken Texas to five College World Series
in six years and is the all-time winningest coach in Divsion-I baseball...
Garrido coached former LBSU Head Coach Dave Snow at Cal Poly in the early
1970’s and gave Snow his first coaching job.
PREVIOUSLY AGAINST TEXAS
1B Brandon Godfrey had two hits in the Friday night loss last season that
leftthen-No. 19-ranked LBSU on the field after Texas scored three times
in ninth... Bryan Shaw gave up two hits in the ninth in that contest...
RHP Andrew Liebel gave up an unearned run in Sunday’s finale over
0.1of an inning... Shane Peterson went 3-for-4 with a three-run homer
and drove in four in the team’s only win on Saturday last year...
he also pitched 0.2 shutout innings on Sunday... RHP Vance Worley gave
up six runs over 5.0 innings in the start on Sunday for the loss.
Beach Hosts Texas This Weekend: No. 30-ranked Long Beach State
(2-1) will continue its home schedule this weekend, when they welcome
back longtime CS Fullerton Coach, Augie Garrido, has his No. 7-ranked
Texas Longhorns (2-2) this weekend. The Dirtbags are slated to follow
the same rotation as last weekend, which saw them take two of three from
No. 25-ranked USC,when RHP Vance Worley (0-0, 1.50) pitched six innings
of one-run baseball on Friday followed by a series tying win by JC transfer,
Manny McElroy (1-0, 2.84) on Saturday. On Sunday, senior transfer and
former TCU reliever Omar Arif (1-0, 0.00) took the series clincer with
four, pre-determined shutout innings. Texas’ rotation will feature
James Russell (0-1, 2.57), Kyle Walker (0-0, 9.00) and Randy Boone (0-1,
4.26), as they dropped two of three to San Diego in Austin and beat UT-Arlington
to open up their season. LBSU is slated to begin the season against 11
top-25 programs.
On-Deck: The Dirtbags travel to Rice for a three-game
series in Houston starting on February 16.
Courting the Rankings: The Dirtbags are ranked No. 30 by Collegiate Baseball
in the only pre-season national poll that includes The Beach. LBSU is
ranked to begin the year for the 16th time in the pre-season since 1989.
Anyone Craving a Dirtbag Game?: Season tickets for the 2007 season
start as low as $120 and features games with seven top-30 opponents, including
a three-game series with Texas, Oral Roberts and CS Fullerton and Tuesday
night affairs with local opponents, Pepperdine, UCLA, San Diego State
(and Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn) and Loyola Marymount.
Dirtbags Take Two of Three from USC: Thanks to a stellar
pitching staff, which equated to a 1.73 ERA over three games, LBSU took
two of three from USC to open up the 2007 campaign (L 1-2, W 5-3, W 5-1).
The Trojans pushed across the go-ahead run in the seventh inning on Friday
against the 49er relief core after Vance Worley opened the season with
five shutout innings, he gave up one run over six innings. On Saturday,
Manny McElroy in his first Division-I start, gave up three runs (two earned)
as he pitched into the seventh and at one point retired 14 of 16 batters.
On Sunday, Danny Espinosa provided the pop, blasting a three-run homer
to lead to the series victory. Omar Arif pitched the first four scoreless
innings, while Andrew Liebel picked up his second career save with three
shutout innings to end it. Robert Perry for the weekend batted .545, producing
three-straight multi-hit games.
Shh... It’s a Tie: Long Beach State, after spotting Pepperdine
on February 6 a seven-run advantage after four innings, tallied a four-spot
in the fifth and then had a three-run home run by Danny Espinosa tie it
in the eighth. Due to darkness, thestatistics will not count until it
is made up as part of the Waves’ return trip to Blair Field on April
10. The game will continue with Bryan Shaw pitching in the bottom of the
ninth to Pepperdine. The second game will follow as normal.
Boyd is It Tough: After having arguably the toughest schedule
in Division-I baseball last season, LBSU gets the dubious honor again
as according to Boyds World, the Dirtbags strength of schedule is No.
1 nationally. If mathematics is not your thing, Collegiate Baseball has
nine of The Beach’s opponents in the top-30, led by top-ranked Rice
and No. 7-ranked Texas, while Baseball America has six of LBSU’s
opponents ranked in the top-25 pre-season poll.
And Your Name is?: After seeing 35 players head off to professional
baseball over the last four seasons, this year’s team is very young,
featuring 21 underclassmen. Two of those sophomores, shortstop Danny Espinosa
and righthander Vance Worley, are two of the Big West’s top prospects
for the 2008 draft. Espinosa was the Big West Freshman of the Year, while
Worley was one of the top-30 prospects in the Cape Cod League this past
summer. Another sophomore, designated hitter Shane Peterson, is the program’s
top returning hitter (.328). The pitching staff features seven freshmen
and five sophomores.
Senior Citizens: Senior outfielder Robert Perry is the team’s
most experienced player, having batted over .300 in three Division-I seasons
as a starting outfielder, earning all-conference honors at Santa Clara
and last year at LBSU. Perry is a candidate for the Wallace National Player
of the Year award and last year batted .309 with 33 RBIs. TCU transfer
Omar Arif is slated to be a big part of the pitching staff after three
relief seasons in the Lone Star State, and reliever Andrew Liebel had
a 3.00 ERA in 2006 for LBSU. Second baseman Matt Cline is the returning
starter at second base, while utility infielder AJ Pinocchio will find
time from third to second base.
Junior College Success: Saturday starter Manny McElroy,
a junior college All-American from Bakersfield Community College hopes
to continue the success his junior college predecessors have achieved.
Over the past half dozen years, JC pitchers like Daniel Eisentrager, Jason
Vargas, Marco Estrada, Steve Hammond, Cody Evans and Andrew Carpenter
have also catapuled their status in the draft. The final five all were
drafted in the top-10 rounds.
Nelson Hurts Hamate, Still Plays: Riverside Junior College transfer
Chris Nelson was slated to miss time due to a hamate bone injury suffered
in practice. Nelson instead became a late inning defensive replacement
in the USC series. Nelson, who batted .333 last year, was slated to start
in the outfield. The outfielder situation now is likely to feature: seniors
Robert Perry and Allen Woods, juniors Jason Corder and Kyle Morgan and
freshman TJ Mittelstaedt.
Catching Starts with Defense: Whoever is behind the plate
this season for the Dirtbags, they will be solid defensively. Returning
sophomore Kip Masuda threw out 40 percent of would-be runners in Alaska
and 7-of-17 runners last season. Cal transfer and junior Travis Howell,
threw out 46 percent of runners while a member of the Golden Bears. Howell
threw out two of three base runners the first weekend versus USC.
Major League Talent: Long Beach State Baseball,which
has produced 28 Major Leaguers all-time, had 13 former players in The
Show last year, amongst the most in Division-I baseball. Since 1999, according
to Baseball America’s research, LBSU has had the eighth-most Major
Leaguers (18). The veterans have included 10-year men, Chris Gomez, Steve
Trachsel and Jason Giambi, while the ‘newer’ crop has the
likes of Bobby Crosby, Mike Gallo, Jeremy Reed, Jered Weaver and the newest
Major Leaguer, Troy Tulowitzki.
Organized Talent: As if 13 Major Leaguers is not enough, the
next crop is well on its way as eight former players are amongst their
organization’s top-30 prospects. Not including Rockie shortstop,
Troy Tulowitzki, who is the top prospect in that organization, 2006 first
round pick, Evan Longoria is No. 2 in Tampa Bay and former lefthanded
reliever, Steve Hammond, is No. 7 in Milwaukee. Among others: in the top-20
are Cesar Ramos (No.10 in San Diego), Andrew Carpener (No. 17 in Philadelphia),
Paul McAnulty (No. 18 in San Diego) and Brian Anderson (No. 19 in San
Francisco).
First is Always Best: According to Baseball America,
since 1999, the Long Beach State program has produced the fourth-most
first round picks (Crosby, Weaver, Tulowitzki, Longoria), being only outdistanced
by Stanford (6), Rice (5) and USC (5). The first three have all made the
Majors, while Longoria finished off his first professional season in Double-A.
Post-Season Success: Since the birth of Dirtbag Baseball
in 1989, the program has reached four College World Series, two Super
Regionals and 15 NCAA Regionals. Despite missing the NCAA Tournament for
the first time in six seasons in 2006, the Dirtbags have reached more
College World Series then all but nine other programs since 1989. As part
of Baseball America’s research, they placed the Dirtbags at No.
15 nationally based on the program’s success from 1999 to the present
(the expansion to the 64-team field).
Video Killed the Radio Star: EA Sports came out with
their latest edition of its MVP 2007 College Baseball Game and Angels
rookie and former National Player of the Year (and alum) Jered Weaver
is on the cover. Weaver completed his first Major League season in 2006,
going 11-2 with a 2.56 ERA. Weaver won his first nines starts as a Major
Leaguer.
Dirbags Picked in the Middle of the Pack: According to
the conference’s coaches, LBSU is picked as the fourth-best squad
in the Big West. Baseball America agrees with that assestment, while Rivals.com
has LBSU ranked third.
On the Air and on the Net: Every game this season will be over
the internet at www.longbeachstate.com. The games will also be available
through CSTV’s Gametracker software and CSTV’s Webcast software.
The webcast will be a static camera behind home plate as fans can see
the action at Blair Field (hopefully starting with the Texas series) and
on a given Tuesday night can open their front doors to really feel like
they are at the friendly confines.
Baseball to Endow Scholarship for Coach: The baseball program
is in the process of endowing a scholarship named after former Head Coach
Bob Wuesthoff (1964-69), who led the 49ers to their first conference title
in 1964. The seven-man committee of former players and coaches, led by
LBSU’s first coach John McConnell has already raised $60,000 en
route to $150,000 over five years. Those interested can call (562) 985-4662
for more information.
|
