Long Beach State University Athletics
@LBDirtbags Road Trip Wraps Up At USC
3/31/2014 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 31, 2014
ROAD TRIP WRAPS UP AT USC
The @LBDirtbags will wrap up their nine-game road trip with a midweek contest at local rival USC. The Dirtbags and Trojans will square off for the second time this year at 6 p.m. on Tuesday. USC comes in to the game at 13-13 overall but has lost its last three in a row and six out of its last 10 games. Earlier in the season, the Dirtbags edged USC for a 2-1 win.
BUCKLEY GOING FOR 100TH WIN
Long Beach State head coach Troy Buckley will be going for his 100th career win this week. Buckley owns a 99-94 record in his fourth season at the helm of the Long Beach State program. With a 2-1 start to the Big West season last week, Buckley also improved to 44-34 in Big West games.
PRIGATANO IS @LBSUATHLETICS ATHLETE OF THE WEEK
Junior Richard Prigatano had a big week in leading the Dirtbags to a couple of wins and a 2-1 start in Big West play. He scored five times during the Dirtbags Big West opening series at Cal State Northridge and drove in five more runs. He hit .455 last weekend with a double and triple while also drawing a pair of walks.
DIRTBAGS PLAYING WITH THE SLIMMEST OF MARGINS
Call it a barnburner, nailbiter or any other cliché you can think of. Long Beach State has had nine of its last 11 games decided by a single run. In those games, the Dirtbags own a 4-5 record. It all started with a three-game series against Indiana, in which the Dirtbags walked off twice with wins of 4-3 and 2-1. They also dropped an extra inning 2-1 game to Indiana in the middle of the series. Next was a narrow 4-3 loss at LMU, followed by a 3-2 win and a 6-5 loss at Cal State Fullerton. The nailbiting run continued with a 2-1 loss at UCLA last Tuesday and remained into the opening weekend of Big West play. The Dirtbags started the weekend off with a 10-5 win but had to come back for a 4-3 win on Saturday and then fell 6-5 to end the series on Sunday. To add to the high drama of one-run games, LBSU has had the tying run in scoring position in each of the last three games it has lost. Against UCLA, the tying run was on third with the go-ahead run on second and the bases were loaded when Sunday's game ended in a 6-5 loss.
MORE ON PRIGATANO'S BIG WEEK
Richard Prigatano had a weekend to remember at Cal State Northridge and part of it made its way into the Long Beach State record book. Prigatano stole four bases during his monster Friday afternoon game to tie the Dirtbag record for stolen bases in a game. Only one other Dirtbag has swiped four bags in one contest (Rolando Avila in 1994). Prigatano also had four RBI in the game and scored four times. With Tuesday's game at UCLA included, the junior right fielder had .467 with six RBI on the week and extended his hitting streak to 12 games. He also got it done on the defensive end, gunning down a baserunner trying to get first to third on a base hit into right.
DOUBLE DIGIT HIT STREAKS
Richard Prigatano's 12-game hit streak is the second double digit hit streak for the Dirtbags this season. Freshman Garrett Hampson strung together a 10-game hitting streak from Feb. 25-Mar. 15 to boost his batting average over 100 points to .343. When the streak started, Hampson was hitting .233. Prigatano's current hit streak reaches all the way back to Mar. 9 against Utah Valley. He is .378 on the streak and has driven in nine runs. He now leads the team with 21 RBI and is just two short of his career-high (23 RBI in 2013).
MILLISON GETTING FIRST START OF 2014
Senior Ryan Millison will start the game on the mound for the first time this season and for the fifth time as a Dirtbags. The righty started four games last year after transferring from Sierra College. This year, Millison has been an effective reliever, making 10 appearances out of the bullpen for 13.2 innings. He has allowed just two runs to cross the plate, which is the lowest among all Dirtbag pitchers, for a 1.32 ERA. Opposing batters are hitting just .196 against him.
DIRTBAGS IN THE MLB
The Long Beach State Dirtbags have 10 former players on a Major League Baseball Opening Day roster to open the 2014 season. A few more are also on 40-man rosters but will not start the season in the majors. Long Beach State has had more alumni in the majors in each of the last four seasons than any other college or university. Last season, 14 Dirtbags played in the majors with Atlanta's Joey Terdoslavich and Oakland's Shane Peterson making their major league debuts. Over the years, 44 alumni of the Long Beach State baseball program have made their way up to Major League Baseball.
Here is a list of this year's Dirtbags on Opening Day rosters:
Danny Espinosa (Washington National)
Marco Estrada (Milwaukee Brewers)
Jason Giambi (Cleveland Indians)**starting the season on the DL
Evan Longoria (Tampa Bay Rays)
Cesar Ramos (Tampa Bay Rays)
Bryan Shaw (Cleveland Indians)
Troy Tulowitzki (Colorado Rockies)
Jason Vargas (Kansas City Royals)
Nick Vincent (San Diego Padres)
Jered Weaver (Los Angeles Angels)
YES, WE'RE REALLY CALLED THAT
The OFFICIAL nickname of the Long Beach State baseball program is the Dirtbags.
