Long Beach State University Athletics
Long Beach State Begins Four-Game Road Swing at USC
4/19/2016 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Tuesday, April 19
No. 17 Long Beach State at USC
Time: 6 p.m.
Location: Los Angeles, Calif. (Dedeaux Field)
Listen | | Live Stream
LAST TIME OUT
• For the eighth time in nine weekend series, the Dirtbags were able to win more games than their opponent, but once again LBSU came up one win shy of a sweep over visiting UC Irvine.
• Friday's game was a pitcher's duel that went to 12 innings, and a walk-off single from Eric Hutting with the bases loaded scored the winning run to make the Dirtbags 3-1 in extra inning games this season.
• Brock Lundquist and David Banuelos each went yard and Darren McCaughan threw a career-high eight innings in a comfortable 8-3 win for Long Beach State.
• In Sunday's finale, the Dirtbags mustered just two hits in a 7-2 loss, falling to 0-5 in games when going for a weekend sweep.
SCOUTING THE TROJANS
• USC enters Tuesday's night on a five-game skid, ending up on the wrong side of a three game sweep at Oregon last weekend. The Trojans were close in all three contests, but came up short to fall four games under .500.
• The Trojans are now just 4-10 away from home this season, but one of those wins came at Blair Field back on Mar. 1. It was a sloppy game from both teams, with three errors committed on each side, but the visitors prevailed thanks to 15 hits and a five-run second inning. Five players had multiple hits in that first meeting, led by four from LF David Oppenheim.
• USC has been solid offensively with four players hitting .328 or better this season. AJ Ramirez is the leading bat in the lineup, hitting .366 with a team-high 27 RBIs and .561 slugging.
• Timmy Robinson leads the team with six home runs and 10 doubles, and is also tied for the team lead with six stolen bases on the year. He's one of five Trojans with three or more home runs.
DAMN, DANIEL
• Junior Daniel Jackson missed the first 18 games of the season recovering from a shoulder injury, but returned with a bang against Columbia on Mar. 19 in his season debut, hitting a go-ahead, two-run single in the victory.
• Jackson followed that up with a two-run home run the next day, part of a three-RBI game vs. the Lions and recorded a hit in each of his first five games this season for a .571 batting average.
• The first baseman stayed hot, hitting .395 in his first 13 games, making 12 starts. He has three home runs and 11 RBIs in 55 at bats, slugging .545 so far this season.
BANNY BEING BANNY
• Sophomore catcher David Banuelos has really improved his offensive numbers this season. After hitting .118 in 18 games as a freshman in 2015, he is hitting .373 through 23 games this year, making 16 starts behind home plate. He also recorded his first career home run vs. Columbia and now has two dingers and is third on the team with 13 RBIs.
• Banuelos also has five multi-hit games in his last seven starts, and going back over his last 10 starts, he has 13 RBIs on five extra-base hits, going 15-for-28 at the plate.
• Fueling that production is his ability with runners in scoring position. Banuelos is hitting .500 in those run-producing situations, and is also batting .542 with runners on base.
PITCHING FACTS
• Sophomore Darren McCaughan has been fantastic this year, making quality starts in seven of his eight trips to the mound this season. He boasts an ERA of 1.78 and opposing batters are hitting just .178 against him. He has set his career high in strikeouts three times this season, most recently in a 10-strikeout performance at CSUN. He threw seven shutout innings allowing just three hits to earn Big West Pitcher of the Week honors for the first time in his career.
• Austin McGeorge struck out seven consecutive batters against Nebraska, throwing five scoreless innings from the 8th-12th, to finish with a career-high nine Ks. McGeorge has been a reliable late game set-up man for head coach Troy Buckley, making a team-high 18 appearances, producing a 0.90 ERA in 30.0 innings with a remarkable 53 strikeouts.
• The LBSU bullpen has been solid this season, throwing 23.1 innings before allowing its first earned run. Relievers have thrown 115.2 innings with a 2.02 ERA, surrendering 84 hits and 39 walks while recording 13 saves and 129 strikeouts.
RANKINGS UPDATE
• The Dirtbags entered the national Top 25 rankings on Mar. 14 after going 3-1 vs. Fresno State and Oklahoma. Baseball America ranked Long Beach State at No. 24 in the country and D1Baseball.com's poll had LBSU at No. 22 in the nation. Two weeks later, LBSU moved up as high as No. 16 in the D1Baseball poll and No. 17 in the Baseball America rankings.
• It is the first time Baseball America has ranked the Dirtbags in the Top 25 since the final poll of the 2008 season.
GREAT EXPECTATIONS
• Long Beach State was picked to finish third in the Big West by the conference's coaches, anticipating a healthy jump from last season's sixth-place finish. Interestingly, the Dirtbags were also given three first-place votes, just one fewer than preseason favorite, and defending champion, Cal State Fullerton.
• The Dirtbags had two players--junior shortstop Garrett Hampson and sophomore starting pitcher Chris Mathewson--earn Preseason All-American accolades going into the 2016 campaign. It's the first time a Beach player has earned that distinction since Danny Espinosa in 2008.
A NEW BLAIR FIELD
• The 2016 season will be the first played at a modified Blair Field. The multi-phase renovation project began in January of this year with the construction of a new outfield fence that is closer to the batter's box. The old dimensions of 348-387-400-387-348 have been reduced to a slightly more hitter-friendly 335-380-393-380-330 moving from left to right field.
• The new fence is part of the initial phase of the renovations, which will also include a new state-of-the-art batting facility down the right field line, new bullpens behind the outfield walls, a new home clubhouse, grandstand renovations and much more. The estimated total cost of the project is $17 million.
LB IN MLB
• For the sixth straight year, Long Beach State had more players in the major leagues than any other university. The 2015 total for Dirtbags in the bigs was 16, up from 14 players in 2014.
• Branden Pinder became the 46th former Dirtbag to get the call, having a productive year in the bullpen for the New York Yankees.
• After the Kansas City Royals claimed the World Series title, Jason Vargas became the second straight Dirtbag to win a world championship ring. Third baseman Matt Duffy won a ring with the San Francisco Giants in 2014.
• Playing his first full season in the majors in 2015, Duffy finished second in National League Rookie of the Year voting, finishing behind Kris Bryant of the Chicago Cubs.
• The 2016 MLB season began with eight former Dirtbags on Opening Day rosters, with plenty more waiting in the wings either on the DL or in Triple-A. Troy Tulowitzki launched the first home run of the 2016 season for Toronto, and Duffy had a homer and 4 RBIs in his Opening Day.
WE ARE THE DIRTBAGS
• The OFFICIAL nickname of the Long Beach State baseball program is the Dirtbags.
