Long Beach State University Athletics
Dirtbags Wrap Homestand Tuesday Night vs. UCLA
5/3/2016 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Complete LBSU Game Notes 
| UCLA Game Notes
Tuesday, May 3
Long Beach State vs. UCLA
Time: 6 p.m.
Location: Long Beach, Calif. (Blair Field)
Listen | | Tickets
LAST TIME OUT
• Long Beach State recorded its first sweep of the season after missing their first five opportunities to do so. The key in finishing off Cal Poly was the work of Tanner Brown, who was one out shy of a complete game in Sunday's finale, allowing just one run in the first inning and just five hits on the day.
• That built off the success of Saturday starter Darren McCaughan, who was perfect through 4.2 innings and tossed eight scoreless frames in a 2-0 Dirtbags win in the middle game of the series.
• The Dirtbags opened the series with their best offensive performance of the year, putting up 14 runs on 21 hits (both season highs) to turn a 3-0, first-inning deficit into a 14-3 laugher. Daniel Jackson set a new career high with four hits in the victory.
• The sweep extended the LBSU winning streak to five and moved the Dirtbags into third place in the Big West standings, just 1.5 games behind leaders Cal State Fullerton.
SCOUTING THE BRUINS
• LBSU took the earlier meeting between these teams, winning 10-1 in Westwood back on Feb. 23. Lucas Tancas had a home run and five RBIs in that win, Garrett Hampson scored a career-best four times, and Jeff Nellis hit a big fly as well.
• The Bruins enter the contest a game under .500 both overall (20-21) and in Pac-12 play (10-11), on the heels of a series loss at Utah over the weekend. UCLA is now just 6-13 in away games this season.
• This will be UCLA's 10th game against a Big West opponent this season, and the Bruins are 2-7 in the previous nine games against Cal Poly, CS Fullerton, CSUN, LBSU and UCSB.
• DH/OF Eric Filia leads the team with a .327 AVG and 31 runs scored. He also has a .451 OBP thanks to a team-best 33 walks. DH/OF Kort Peterson and 1B Sean Bouchard share the team RBI lead with 31 apiece and Peterson has added eight stolen bases and four triples.
LUKE WARM
• Sophomore DH Luke Rasmussen has been on an absolute tear lately. He's on an eight-game hitting streak and has reached base safely in 14 straight games. He has also recorded multiple hits in each of the last five games, coinciding with a five-game winning streak for the Dirtbags.
• Rasmussen had the go-ahead RBIs in all three games vs. Cal Poly over the weekend, and has driven in a run in six consecutive games. Over the last five games, he is batting .591 (13-for-22) with nine RBIs, four runs, four doubles, a stolen base and a slugging percentage of .773.
• He is also the team leader in home runs (5), RBIs (33) and doubles (11).
K's FOR DAYS
• Junior RHP Austin McGeorge has been a strikeout machine out of the Dirtbags bullpen, striking out 61 batters in 35.1 innings of work. That's a rate of 15.6 strikeouts per nine innings and McGeorge has struck out 44% of the batters he's faced this season.
• The Anaheim, Calif. native is second in the Big West in appearances with 23 games this season out of the bullpen. He has compiled an ERA of 0.76 with two saves, allowing just a single run in three of his 23 trips to the mound.
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 he recorded a hit in each of his first five games this season.
• The first baseman stayed hot, hitting .395 in his first 13 games, making 12 starts. He has now recorded enough at bats to qualify as the team's leading hitter (.326 AVG) and he's also second on the team in home runs (4) and fourth in RBIs (18).
• Jackson also established a new career best with a four-hit game on Friday against Cal Poly, scoring twice and driving in a pair as well.
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 .385 with a 1.085 OPS through 29 games this year, making 22 starts behind home plate. He also recorded his first career home run vs. Columbia and now has three dingers, ranking fifth on the team in RBIs with 16.
• Banuelos also has seven multi-hit games on the year and five multi-RBI games. He's reached base safely in 17 straight starts, reaching base multiple times in 14 of those games. During the Cal Poly series, he started all three games, matching his career high with three hits in the opener.
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.
• On May 1, Long Beach State held a special groundbreaking ceremony to begin construction on Phase II of the renovations. The second phase is a $2.8 million project to construct a new batting facility along right field and a three-mound bullpen beyond the right field fence.
• The Troy & Danyll Tulowitzki Batting Facility and the Jered Weaver Bullpen are expected to be completed in November of this year.
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.
• Marco Estrada (TOR) and Pinder (NYY) brought the 2016 running total of Dirtbags in the MLB to 10, with Jared Hughes (PIT) also set to return to the big league roster soon.
WE ARE THE DIRTBAGS
• The OFFICIAL nickname of the Long Beach State baseball program is the Dirtbags.
