No. 17 Dirtbags Travel to Oklahoma for Season Opener

2/16/2017 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Friday, February 17
Long Beach State at Oklahoma
Time: 2 p.m. (PT)
Location: Norman, Okla. (L. Dale Mitchell Park)
Listen: KBeach Radio | Live Stats

Saturday, February 18
Long Beach State at Oklahoma
Time: 12 p.m. (PT)
Location: Norman, Okla. (L. Dale Mitchell Park)
Listen: KBeach Radio | Live Stats

Sunday, February 19
Long Beach State at Oklahoma
Time: 9 a.m. (PT)
Location: Norman, Okla. (L. Dale Mitchell Park)
Listen: KBeach Radio | Live Stats

OPENING WEEKEND
• Due to heavy rain in the forecast for Southern California, the season-opening series was moved from Long Beach out to Norman, Okla. This will be a rematch from a series last year, played Mar. 12-13 at L. Dale Mitchell Park.
• Long Beach State won that series in Norman last season, taking both games of a Saturday doubleheader before dropping the series finale on Sunday. Darren McCaughan won Game 2 of the series and will make his second consecutive Opening Night start this weekend for the Dirtbags.
• This is the third time during Troy Buckley's tenure that the Dirtbags have opened the season on the road and the first time since LBSU visited No. 2 Vanderbilt to start the 2013 season.

SCOUTING THE SOONERS
• Oklahoma will have to replace its top three hitters from a team that went 30-27-1 a season ago. The most notable departure for the Sooners is All-American shortstop Sheldon Neuse, who led with team with a .369 batting average and 10 home runs. He also had a team-best five saves, a 4-1 record and a 1.40 ERA in 14 relief appearances on the mound. OU will also have to overcome the loss of outfielders Alex Wise (.304, 39 R) and Cody Thomas (.299, 6 HR).
• The Sooners do return senior infielder Jack Flansburg (.278, 29 RBI) and sophomore outfielder Steele Walker (.290, 17 2B), along with six arms who started at least one game last season. OU's expected weekend rotation started a combined 16 games last season, led by nine from sophomore righthander Jake Irvin.
• After winning two of three games in Norman last season, LBSU owns a 4-1 edge in the all-time series with Oklahoma.

LOOK WHO'S BACK
• Several position players return in 2017, giving the Dirtbags one of their deepest, most versatile lineups in recent memory. Starters return at seven spots across the diamond, with just the left side of the infield (SS Garrett Hampson and 3B Zack Domingues) needing to be replaced from last year's squad.
• LBSU had eight All-Big West selections last season and five of them return: junior C David Banuelos, senior 1B Daniel Jackson, junior OF Brock Lundquist, junior DH Luke Rasmussen and junior SP Darren McCaughan, who was the Big West Pitcher of the Year in 2016.
• With so many hitters returning, the biggest question marks are with the pitching staff, under the direction of new pitching coach Dan Ricabal who came to the Beach from LMU. McCaughan will anchor the rotation, but senior Dave Smith is the only other pitcher with Division 1 starting experience. • Sophomore closer Chris Rivera was a Freshman All-American last season, leading the Big West with 13 saves a season ago. He and senior Josh Advocate will be key arms at the back end of the Dirtbags bullpen, which was a strength last season.

WELCOME TO THE BEACH
• Incoming pitchers will necessarily need to make a major impact this season, and a handful will be competing for weekend starting spots. Transfers AJ Jones and John Sheaks bring experience and will be in the mix to start games, as will highly touted LHP Ryan Mauch, who will miss the first few weeks of the season recovering from injury.
• SS Markus Montelongo has big shoes to fill at shortstop, replacing Big West Defensive Player of the Year Garrett Hampson, who was a third round pick in last year's MLB Draft. INF Laine Huffman and Ramsey Romano will vie for playing time at third base.

BLAIR FIELD RENOVATIONS
• The ongoing improvements at Blair Field took a major step forward during the offseason with the construction of the Troy & Danyll Tulowitzki Batting Facility along the right field side of Blair Field.
• Also constructed during the offseason was the Jered Weaver Bullpen beyond the fence in right field. There was also an update to the Dirtbags locker room which includes new lockers, general maintenance and repairs and new designs and graphics on the interior walls to honor the history of Long Beach State Baseball.
• The renovation efforts began prior to last season with the installation of a new outfield fence. The old dimensions of 348-387-400-387-348 were reduced to a slightly more hitter-friendly 335-380-393-380-330 moving from left to right field. The result was an increase in home runs hit at Blair Field from four in 2015 to 23 last season.

USA BASEBALL
• LBSU head coach Troy Buckley was announced as a pitching coach for the 2017 USA Baseball Collegiate National Team this summer. This will be Coach Buckley's first coaching stint with Team USA, becoming the third straight Dirtbags head coach to work with the Collegiate National Team.
• Buckley will join former Dirtbags head coach and LBSU Hall of Famer Dave Snow as a pitching coach with the Collegiate National Team. Coach Snow worked as a pitching coach last season, and 2017 will be his fifth time coaching with the CNT in his career.
• The Dirtbags have also had a player on each of the past two Collegiate National Teams. In 2015, shorstop Garrett Hampson was selected and last summer Darren McCaughan was a pitcher for Team USA. LBSU has had 12 players selected to the Collegiate National Team in its history.

LB IN MLB
• For the seventh straight year, Long Beach State had more players in the major leagues than any other college or university. There were 13 former Dirtbags who played in the Major Leagues in 2016 and the all-time total for Long Beach State is 46 big league representatives.
• When the Chicago Cubs won the World Series, first base coach Brandon Hyde became the third former Dirtbags player in as many seasons to win a ring. Matt Duffy and the San Francisco Giants won the World Series in 2014 and Jason Vargas and the Kansas City Royals were World Champions in 2015.
• It was a very productive year for former Dirtbags in the big leagues, led by Toronto Blue Jays starting pitcher Marco Estrada, who was named to his first All-Star Game last season.

WE ARE THE DIRTBAGS
• The OFFICIAL nickname of the Long Beach State baseball program is the Dirtbags.