Long Beach State University Athletics
Dirtbags to play four non-conference games this week
4/30/2012 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 30, 2012
Long Beach, Calif. -
Leading Off
Long Beach State plays four of its six remaining non-conference games this week, hosting No. 10 UCLA on Tuesday at Blair Field before playing a non-conference split series with Loyola Marymount from Saturday to Monday. Saturday's game with the Lions will start at 5:30 p.m. on Blair Field. The teams will play at 3 p.m. on Sunday at Page Stadium, and then return to Blair Field on Monday to close the series with a 6:30 p.m. start. All Dirtbag games can be followed through live audio or Gametracker at www.longbeachstate.com.
Back On Top
Long Beach State picked up its sixth straight weekend series victory, winning two of three on the road at CS Northridge to improve to 11-4 in the Big West and take a half-game lead in the standings over Cal State Fullerton. The Dirtbags pounded out 15 hits in Friday's win, then fell in 12 innings on Saturday before rallying with a 12-3 victory on Sunday with a pair of home runs, one each from outfielder Josh Guerra and catcher Kellen Hoime.
Scouting UCLA
No. 11 UCLA remains a contender in the Pac-12 race, sitting two games behind Oregon in the standings with one month to play. The Bruins are 28-12 overall, and have a pristine RPI of 4. The Bruins have bounced back from the loss of first-round draft picks Gerrit Cole and Trevor Bauer to be in the race for a national seed, and are led by a strong offense that has three players hitting over .350: Tyler Heineman (.389), Jeff Gelalich (.382), and Cody Keefer (.369). UCLA leads the all-time series with the Dirtbags 57-39, and won the first game between the teams earlier this season at UCLA.
Scouting Loyola Marymount
Loyola Marymount stands 9-6 in West Coast Conference play, part of a wide-open race for that league's title. The Lions defeated Long Beach State 5-4 on the road at Page Stadium in the last meeting between the teams two weeks ago. Trevor Megill has been the top starter for the Lions with a 2.88 ERA and a 4-5 record, and has 59 strikeouts over 65.2 innings pitched. Zac Fujimoto leads the offense with a .306 batting average. This is the first weekend series with LMU since the teams played three in 1984 in what was also a split series. A regular mid-week partner, the Dirtbags lead the all-time series 81-47.
Breakout!
Freshman outfielder Josh Guerra was named the Big West Player of the Week after another outstanding week in Big West play. Cracking the starting lineup three weeks ago, Guerra had six hits against Cal State Northridge, slugging 1.000 and driving in six runs with a double, a triple, and a home run against the Matadors while helping the offense lead the team to a sixth straight series win. Guerra was the first Dirtbag position player to win the weekly honor since Joey Terdoslavich in 2010. Guerra is hitting .385 in conference, and has driving in eight runds for the Dirtbags.
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, with a team ERA of 3.12. 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 2.32 in 5th place in the Big West. All three are in the top ten in opponent batting average, with Stuart's .211 4th, Anderson's .232 8th, and Strufing's .238 10th. Anderson is 8th in innings pitched at 66.1 and tenth in strikeouts with 46, while Stuart is fifth in strikeouts with 53.
Night and Day ... Or Big West and Not ... And Other Split News
Long Beach State has totally turned around the team hitting in Big West play, improving what is still an overall mark of .257 to a league mark of .282, led by Senior Brennan Metzger, who is hitting .429 in Big West games. He is one of four players hitting over .300 for the team in conference, leading a surge for the Dirtbags in offense, as the team ranks third in the league in hitting in balance to the team's league-best 2.41 ERA in conference play. In more inexplicable split information, the Dirtbags are now 13-6 in the sunshine and 8-14 at night.
