Long Beach State University Athletics
Long Beach State begins conference play against UC Riverside
4/2/2009 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 2, 2009
Long Beach, Calif. -
Complete Baseball Release in PDF Format 
Leading Off
It's spring break! And in keeping with past tradition, the Dirtbags will take a midweek trip. The team starts the week with a roadie against Santa Clara, and then plays a fourth game this season against the Cal Bears, this time travelling to Berkeley after the home series earlier in the year. After those two contests, Long Beach State returns to the friendly confines of Blair Field to get started on Big West play. The Dirtbags begin the week in the middle of the pack in the Big West. This is through no fault of their own - the team got the first bye week in the nine-team league, and will go through Big West play with no break now, picking up 8 straight weekends against the California-based conference.
Running Past The Rebels
Long Beach State stole 14 bases and relied on three strong starting pitching performances to take down UNLV for the team's first sweep and series win of the year. Adam Wilk got things started for Long Beach State on Friday night, making a quality start while the team hit their way past UNLV for a 7-4 win. Jake Thompson followed with an 8 inning shutout outing, helping The Beach collect their first shutout of the year. Finally, the Dirtbags pounded out 13 runs for a 13-4 win in the series finale on Sunday to improve to 10-12 on the year.
Scouting Santa Clara
Santa Clara comes into Tuesday's contest with a sub-.500 record, entering at 10-11. The Broncos had suffered series losses to Oregon and San Jose State, but recently won six straight before getting swept in their opening West Coast series against LMU. Geoff Klein is Santa Clara's biggest weapon, hitting .384 with 27 RBI, easily outpacing the rest of his teammates in both categories. All-time, Long Beach State trails 4-7-1 to Santa Clara, but this is just the second time that the teams have met in the past 20 years.
Scouting Cal
Cal comes into the week with a 14-10 record. The Bears picked up three of those wins earlier in the season, as Cal came to Blair Field as the first home opponent for Long Beach State and defeated the Dirtbags in each game. Mark Canha, who had a big weekend in that series continues to lead the team in hitting at .411, while Brian Guinn is just behind him at .390.
Scouting UC Riverside
UC Riverside has jumped out to a 16-6 start, and continues to hover just around the outside of the Top 25. Notable wins for the Highlanders include victories over Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, a non-conference win over Oklahoma State and a Friday night win in the team's conference opener against Cal State Fullerton. Tony Nix holds a .430 batting average and ranks second in the Big West with 12 doubles on the season.
Long Beach State vs. the Highlanders
A long-time series, the Dirtbags hold a 45-26-1 all-time record against UC Riverside. In the Dirtbag era, Long Beach State is ahead 19-7, despite a 2-1 series loss on the road last year against the Highlanders. Long Beach State took the first game of that series behind solid pitching from Andrew Liebel.
Keeping It Small
Dirtbag Baseball has always been about doing the little things, and Long Beach State has filled its quota this year. Following the three-game series with UNLV, the team ranks in the nation's top 15 both in stolen bases and sacrifice bunts, moving runners over any way possible. The Dirtbags are ninth in the country at 2.45 steals per game, and 11th in sacrifice hits with 28 on the season. Following with the team success, the Dirtbags have eight players ranked nationally in both categories.
