Long Beach State University Athletics
Dirtbags head to USC, Cal State Northridge this week
4/23/2012 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 23, 2012
Long Beach, Calif. -
Complete Dirtbags Weekly Release 
Leading Off
Another series win kept the Dirtbags in a two-way tie for first-place in the Big West with CS Fullerton as Long Beach State hits the road for four games this week. The team starts with a trip to USC for a 6 p.m. game at Dedeaux Field. Long Beach State will then play three games at CS Northridge, starting with a 3 p.m. game on Friday before two scheduled 1 p.m. starts on Saturday and Sunday. All Dirtbag games can be followed through live audio or Gametracker at www.longbeachstate.com.
Dejá Vu
In a strange twist of fate, Long Beach State and UC Irvine played a nearly identical series to the 2011 version at Anteater Ballpark with both being very memorable. Andrew Thurman matched Matt Summers' 2011 feat by no-hitting Long Beach State in the Friday night contest, but then the Dirtbags matched 2011 by coming back to win the next two games to take the series, with the Sunday win going to Shawn Stuart. The Dirtbags fell behind early in Saturday's game, but Long Beach State pulled even with two runs in the eighth inning and then scored on a Matt Duffy RBI single to win the game 4-3 in the bottom of the ninth. On Sunday, Brennan Metzger's three doubles helped the Dirtbags pull back another deficit in a 5-4 win.
Scouting USC
Long Beach State and USC met in the fourth game of the season, with the Trojans winning 4-2 at Blair Field. In the season since, the team's have had opposite seasons. The Trojans had a strong non-conference, but have since gone 5-9 in Pac-12 play. Senior Matt Foat is the leading hitter for the Trojans, batting .391 with 21 RBI on the season, leading the team in both categories. USC leads the all-time series 42-78.
Scouting Cal State Northridge
In the second season under head coach Matt Curtis, the Matadors have improved and currently stand in fifth play in the Big West at 4-5, having taken a series against Cal Poly and a game off of both UC Santa Barbara and Cal State Fullerton. Cal Vogelsang is the top everyday player for the Matadors with a .297 average over 35 games. The Dirtbags were swept in the team's last trip to Northridge back in 2010, but hold a 67-57 lead in the all-time series.
In Buck We Trust
After one season under head coach Troy Buckley, the Dirtbags lowered their team ERA from 4.67 to 3.55, and the starting pitchers are again impressing in 2012. Long Beach State dots the league leaders in many of the top pitching categories. All three pitchers are under 3.00 on the season, with Stuart leading the way at 2.28 in 5th place in the Big West. All three are in the top ten in opponent batting average, with Stuart's .209 4th, Strufing's .226 8th, and Anderson's .242 9th. Anderson is 6th in innings pitched at 61.2 and ninth in strikeouts with 44.
The Hard Way
With four doubles last week, senior Brennan Metzger tied Dan Twiss for the fourth-most in a LBSU career with 46 total. Doubles is just one category where Metzger is climbing the ladder; after getting hit by a pitch on Sunday against Cal State Fullerton from Koby Gauna, Metzger passed Jeff Jones for the second-most HBP in school history, and he currently has 49 in his career. The senior has started every game in 2012, and should reach the Top 10 in games played this weekend and the Top 5 in games started by the end of the year.
Schedule Strength
Long Beach State, as usual, as one of the toughest schedules in the nation, and enterered conference play having had the No.1 non-conference strength of schedule in Boyd Nation's SOS rankings. To date, only UCLA has a tougher schedule as of April 23. Only four opponents on the Dirtbags schedule thus far are outside the Top 100 in the RPI (San Diego State, UCR, UCSB, LMU). The Dirtbags received votes themselves to start the season, and 11 of the 18 teams on the schedule were either ranked or receiving votes in at least one poll, including four other Big West schools.
This and That
Long Beach State had 10 former players on opening day rosters, and Adam Wilk was promoted soon after to give the Dirtbags 11 major leaguers, the most on active rosters ... The Dirtbags are the second team at Long Beach State who played the nation's toughest non-conference schedule, joining the Men's Basketball team that advanced to the NCAA Tournament ... Brennan Metzger has started every game at center field for Long Beach State ... Matt Duffy, Ino Patron, and Jeff McNeil have played in every game ... Long Beach State has never lost a game in 14 innings (3-0) ... The last two times the Dirtbags have been shut out, it has been in a no-hitter ... In the interest of empirically testing uniform luck, LBSU media relations presents the inaugural Uni Watch: Pinstripes (3-4); Black (3-9); White (3-0); Gray (3-4), Gold (6-2).
