Long Beach State University Athletics
Dirtbags Set to Play USC This Weekend
3/12/2008 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 12, 2008
Complete Release in PDF Format 
LONG BEACH--No. 7-ranked Long Beach State (9-3), following a 3-0 loss to Western Illinois on Tuesday, will play the University of Southern California (9-5) in a three-game series starting on Friday at 6:30 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m. at Blair Field. Saturday's game will be at 1:30 p.m. at Dedeaux Field in Los Angeles. LBSU has won seven of their last eight.
The Dirtbags continue to rely on it's pitching, posting a 2.19 ERA overall and impressive 0.22 ERA from its relief core. The team's relievers have allowed just one earned run all season, striking out 47 and walking just nine over 40.2 innings. The only run given up came on March 2 in the team's sweep of Wichita State. Three relievers have at least one save, led by closer Bryan Shaw's three, while Nick Vincent is 3-0 out of the pen.
Taylor Krick leads the team with a .393 average, while freshman catcher John Hill is batting .429 with game-tying RBIs in two of his three games. He had two walks on Tuesday after getting two hits on Sunday at Hawaii.
USC leads the all-time series 74-35, but LBSU has won five out of the last six regular season meetings. Since 1989, USC leads 34-24.
The pitching match up will feature RHP Andrew Liebel (0-0, 1.16), looking for his first win after 32 strikeouts and 23.1 innings of work over his first three starts in the opener, against LHP Tommy Milone (2-0, 2.00). On Saturday, RHP Vance Worley (2-0, 3.38), who struck out 11 in his last start at Hawaii in a win, will take on RHP Kevin Courtne (1-0, 2.84). In Sunday's finale, freshman RHP Jake Thompson (1-1, 3.63) will look to rebound after not getting out of the fifth, against RHP Ryan Cook (2-1, 3.43).
USC is coming off an 11-3 loss at No. 13-ranked UC Irvine on Tuesday, after they swept Winthrop last weekend. OF Roberto Lopez is batting a team-best .463, while OF Anthony Vasquez is batting .387. USC has a .301 team batting average, a 3.88 team ERA, but a .953 fielding percentage, as they have already allowed 16 unearned runs.
The Trojans also feature a player that skipped his senior year of high school in catcher and current sophomore Robert Stock. Thompson skipped his senior season at Wilson High to enter as a freshman in 2008 at LBSU.
