Dirtbags Welcome Northwestern To Open 2025 Season

WHAT'S COMING UP FOR THE DIRTBAGS
GAME 1
Northwestern (0-0) at Long Beach State (0-0)
Friday, Feb. 14 • 6 p.m.
Long Beach, Calif. • Blair Field
Probable Starting Pitchers • Kellan Montgomery (LBSU) vs. Crawford Wade (NW)
Live Stats // ESPN +

GAME 2
Northwestern at Long Beach State
Saturday, Feb. 15 • 4 p.m.
Long Beach, Calif. • Blair Field
Probable Starting Pitchers • Josh Donegan (LBSU) vs. Garrett Shearer
Live Stats // ESPN +

GAME 3
Northwestern at Long Beach State
Sunday, Feb. 16 • 11:30 a.m.
Long Beach, Calif. • Blair Field
Probable Starting Pitchers • TBA (LBSU) vs. TBA (NW)
Live Stats // ESPN +

FIRST PITCH
The 71st season of Long Beach State baseball begins this weekend when the Dirtbags host Northwestern.

Friday's opener begins at 6 p.m. Former LBSU head coaches Dave Snow and Mike Weathers will throw out the first pitch.

Saturday's middle game starts at 4 p.m., and Sunday's series finale gets underway at 11:30 a.m.

On Sunday, it is Bark at the Park, as fans can bring their dogs to Bohl Diamond at Blair Field. Postgame, kids will be able to run the bases. Schedule posters will be given out on all three days.

All three games will be streamed on ESPN+, and Matt Brown and Cody Yates will be on the call.

SCOUTING THE WILDCATS
Northwestern went 18-34, 4-20 last season in the Big 10. During the preseason, Bennett Markinson was named to the D1Baseball To 50 Catchers list. He ranked 18th nationally in ABs/K among qualified hitters (12.6) last season. The senior led Northwestern in batting average (.337), OPS (.903), on-base percentage (.408), hits (68), and multi-hit games (20) in 2024.

AGAINST THE OPPONENT
Long Beach State and Northwestern are playing baseball for the first time this weekend.

MONTGOMERY NAMED TO PRESEASON ALL-CONFERENCE TEAM
Long Beach State's Kellan Montgomery was named to the 2025 All-Big West Preseason Team.

Montgomery went 3-4 as a junior with a 3.95 earned run average last season. He ranked 71st in Division I in games that started at 15. The 6-0 righthander led the club in innings pitched (86.2) and was fourth in the Big West in the category. He struck out 73, the second most on the team and 10th in the Big West. Montgomery walked only 20 as opponents hit .260 against him, finishing 93rd in Division I in strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.65).

Montgomery was named Big West Conference Pitcher of the Week on Feb. 26, 2024, after throwing seven innings in the Dirtbags' 4-1 victory over Omaha on Feb. 25. He allowed four hits, one unearned run, and struck out seven as Long Beach State completed a sweep of the Mavs. Montgomery did not give up a walk, throwing 93 pitches and 65 strikes against Omaha.

He was ranked 96th in D1Baseball.com's Top 150 starting pitchers earlier in the preseason.

As a team, Long Beach State tied for eighth in the Big West Preseason Coaches' poll with Cal State Fullerton (36). UC Santa Barbara (99) was picked first in the poll.

THE SCHEDULE
Long Beach State's 53-game schedule features 30 Big West Conference games. 23 non-conference games will be against opponents from five different conferences: Big 10 (4), West Coast (2), WAC (2), Big 12 (2), and American (1).

The preseason national polls rank big West foes UC Santa Barbara and UC Irvine. UCSB's highest ranking is 22nd in three of the five polls. UCI is 24th in the Baseball America Preseason Top 25. Oregon State is the lone independent on the LBSU schedule, and the Beavers are ranked as high as No. 7 in the five preseason polls.

~#LongBeachBuilt~

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Players Mentioned

Josh Donegan

Kellan Montgomery

Long Beach State University Athletics