Long Beach State University Athletics
Dirtbag Baseball begins 2010 season on Friday
2/15/2010 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Feb. 15, 2010
Long Beach, Calif. -
Complete Baseball Release in PDF Format 
Leading Off
A late change in the schedule led to an interesting opening week for the Dirtbags, as they team with rival Cal State Fullerton to host a four-team round robin instead of the traditional three-game series. Long Beach State starts off the season by hosting Pepperdine at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 19 and then will take on the upstart Oregon program on Saturday, Feb. 20, with both games at Blair Field. The Dirtbags will then move to Goodwin Field for their final game of the first weekend, taking on the Titans at 1 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 21. The Titans will face the first two teams in the opposite order before hosting The Beach, and Oregon and Pepperdine will play on Sunday in Malibu to complete the set.
Playing The Field
What a difference a year makes ... Long Beach State returns seven position starters from their 2009 team and returning 78% of the team's at-bats from last year. That experience is personified in three seniors, four juniors and three sophomores that saw time in over 30 games last year. Senior Steve Tinoco returns as the team's batting leader with a .343 average last season, and fellow senior TJ Mittelstaedt, 2009's leading home run, RBI and triple man is also back. Among the juniors, Jordan Casas' 22 stolen bases led the 2009 squad, and Devin Lohman's 61 hits led the Dirtbags last season. In fact the only position where the 49ers don't return a regular is at third base, which looks to be filled by Joey Terdoslavich, a transfer from Miami (Fla.) who sat out last season as a redshirt.
On The Mound
Long Beach State loses 15 pitchers from the 2009 team, but still has plenty to look forward to in 2010, in particular for the rotation, bringing back two returning starters in Jake Thompson and Andrew Gagnon. Thompson, who has spent the last two years in the rotation, comes back looking to anchor the rotation with a power fastball and excellent control, evidenced by his 13 walks over 85.0 innings in 2009. The junior will be pushed by Gagnon, however, as the former 10th round draft pick is also looking to take an increased role after earning the Sunday starter's spot last year. Long Beach State also returns a pair of seniors in David Brown and Jason Markovitz, who have 70 appearances between them, and sophomore Josh Corrales, who picked up a save over 20.1 innings as a freshman last year. Looking to fill in are junior college transfers Branden Pinder, Troy Watson, Cris Trout, and Kenny Arnerich, as well as freshmen Nate Underwood, Eddie Magallon and Jordan Mejia.
Home Sweet Home
Be on the lookout for some small changes and some major ones at Blair Field, as Long Beach State and the Dirtbags make the field their permanent home, as Long Beach State assumes operations from the City of Long Beach as part of an extended lease with the city. The Dirtbags, despite having played their home games at Blair since 1993, will now be able to call Blair Field their true home, practice at the facility, and will be the primary tenants of the historic facility. The arrangement allows the Long Beach State to make much-needed improvements to the infrastructure of the facility, as well as make additional touches that will be beneficial to the program and should also increase the enjoyment of the fan experience at what has already been named "one of the 10 best college baseball facilities" in the nation by Baseball America.
Catching The Show
Speaking of Blair Field, fans can expect another great schedule from the Dirtbags, as Long Beach State continues to face one of the strongest schedules in the nation. In non-conference play, Long Beach State starts off this weekend with No. 34 Pepperdine and Oregon, and will also host Washington and No. 27 Wichita State for weekend series before the start of Big West play. The Big West is again shaping up to be one of the best conference in the nation, and Long Beach State will play Pacific, UC Santa Barbara, No. 7 UC Irvine and No. 3 CS Fullerton at home while shoehorning in one extra series with No. 25 Stanford in the middle. In all, the Dirtbags will play 15 teams that received votes in the preseason polls for 2010.
Keep Running
The Dirtbags utilized their characteristic small ball style as well as tremendous team speed to go to work on the school's all-time stolen base record in 2009. Over the course of the year, Long Beach State stole 118 bases in 54 games, holding second place in the stolen base record book, and just six shy of the school record set in 1980 over the course of a 68-game season. Jordan Casas led the team with 22 steals, though six players reached double digit steals, and every player that played in at least half the team's games had five steals, making the record a truly team effort that ranked among the nation's best.
Watching the Weather
Head Coach Mike Weathers is approaching two major career milestones in 2010. With 12 wins, the skipper picks up win number 300 as the head coach of the Dirtbags. Additionally, 33 wins over the course of the season will tally up to 600 career wins for Weathers in his 20th year as a head coach of the Dirtbags, Utah and Chapman.
Buck's Back The Dirtbag coaching staff will have a new, yet familiar, look in 2010 after the return of Troy Buckley as the pitching coach. Buckley returns to the program after two years as the Minor League Pitching Coordinator for the Pittsburgh Pirates. His return brings the experienced eye of one of baseball's most respected pitching coaches, as well as the coordinator of some of Long Beach State's best pitching staffs, including the 2004 rotation of Jered Weaver, Cesar Ramos and Jason Vargas who are all in the MLB along with the 2005 squad that led the nation in ERA.
That's a Wrap
With injuries to a large part of the starting lineup through the last part of the year, Long Beach State finished the 2009 season with a 25-29 record, finishing in a tie for fifth place in the conference and missing the playoffs for the first time in three years. The Dirtbags hit .289 on the season with seven players batting over .300, led by Steve Tinoco at .343. The Dirtbags held a 24-20 mark with three weeks to play, but injuries to five members of the starting linuep over the final ten games contributed to the team's final mark.
