Long Beach State University Athletics
Dirtbags to Play UCLA; Host Bruins Saturday
3/19/2008 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 19, 2008
LONG BEACH--No. 6-ranked Long Beach State (13-3), winners of four in a row and 11 of their last 12, will play No. 11-ranked UCLA (10-5) in a three-game, two-day series beginning on Friday at 6 p.m. in Westwood. The two teams will then go to Blair Field on Saturday to play in a doubleheader starting at 1 p.m.
The Dirtbags, who are off to their best start since the 2004 Super Regional team, will play 14 times over a 17-day period beginning on Friday. LBSU returns home Monday to host Harvard at 6:30 p.m., before heading to Pepperdine on Tuesday and then to the San Francisco Bay Area for four games and another game in Fresno.
LBSU will send to the hill Andrew Liebel, who was named to Collegebaseballhub.com's regional team of the week following a 91-pitch complete game last Friday, in which he picked up his first win of the year following a six-hitter against USC. Liebel had struck out 11 in his first two starts against No. 6 Rice and No. 7 Wichita State. All three previous starts for Liebel, the Dirtbags won in extra innings. Liebel will be countered by Bruin LHP Tim Murphy (2-0, 2.35).
On Saturday, LBSU will send RHPs Vance Worley (2-0, 3.29) and Jacob Thompson (1-1, 3.97) against RHP Charles Brewer (2-1, 4.85) in game one against Worley, and LHP Gavin Brooks (1-0, 5.79) against Thompson in game two.
UCLA is led by Alden Carrithers .444 average and SS Brandon Crawford's .305 average. The Bruins come in with a .273 average and 4.35 team ERA.
The young season for the Dirtbags has featured a couple of youngsters getting extended playing time. Thompson, a freshman, will be making his fifth start on Sunday, while classmate Jonathan Jones (.286) got back-to-back game-winning hits against USC last weekend, while backup catcher and freshman John Hill is 7-for-14 with six RBIs to start his collegiate career.
OF Jason Corder is batting a team-best .419 on the season after missing the first five games with a knee injury, while 1B Shane Peterson leads the team with 22 RBIs and is batting .410. Sophomore 3B Taylor Krick has taken over the hot corner, batting .350 in 12 starts, while SS Danny Espinosa has a team-best 17 runs and is batting .328.
The Dirtbag pitching staff posts a 2.26 ERA, thanks primarily to their bullpen, which has picked up seven of the team's 13 wins this season. RHPs Nick Vincent and Bryan Shaw have yet to allow an earned run at the back end of a game, while David Roberts (2.00) and Dustin Rasco (2.00) have seen a combined 17 appearances out of the pen.
Sophomore RHP Brett Lorin (0-0, 0.00) is slated to make his first start on Monday after transferring from Arizona and pitching in three games this season, while Harvard has slated Dan Zailskas (0-1, 7.94) to pitch. This will be the first meeting between Harvard and LBSU.
