Dirtbags Baseball - Long Beach State 49ers

Welcome to Dirtbags Baseball Blog! The blog is interactive. At the end of each article is a link that says "Click here to read comments posted by others or to post your comments." Please feel free to click this link and add your own comments. This link also takes you to comments that have been left by others. You need to register with Blogger to leave comments, which is free (there is a link on the comments page to do this).
RSS Feed

Thursday, April 08, 2004

This from an article in the Long Beach Press-Telegram on the opening of the Big West Conference race today:

"Five of the eight Big West teams won 20 or more games in nonconference play, topped by Cal Poly SLO's 28, one more than the Mustangs won all last year. UC Irvine has the best won-loss percentage (.769), going 20-6 plus a tie. And Long Beach State has the most wins (8) against ranked opponents.

Cal State Fullerton , a preseason top-10 team, was the choice of the conference coaches to win the regular-season title with Long Beach State second. Not really a surprise. Between them, the Titans and Dirtbags have won (or tied for) 14 of the last 15 regular- season championships. The only time since 1989 one of them didn't win was two years ago, when Northridge finished two games ahead of the runner-up Dirtbags and Fullerton finished in a tie for fourth.

Today's Big West openers:

Long Beach State (20-8) at Northridge (13-18), 3 p.m.; Fullerton (16-16) at Pacific (15-15), 6 p.m.; UC Santa Barbara (20-10) at UC Irvine (20-6-1), 6 p.m., and Cal Poly SLO (28-8) at UC Riverside (20-13).

The Dirtbags come in ranked eighth on the ESPN poll and with a pitching staff that UCI coach John Savage termed "the best in the country.'

It begins with Weaver, already a five-time Collegiate Baseball Player of the Week this season. He's struck out 10 or more in a game in seven of his nine starts, including a school-record-tying 16 Wichita State batters March 24. He is averaging a shade under 14 strikeouts per nine innings.

Back of Weaver is sophomore left-hander Cesar Ramos (5-2), who has a 1.77 ERA, then left- hander Jason Vargas (3-5). The bullpen closer is Neil Jamison (1-0), with a 2.03 ERA and eight saves in 13 appearances.

The Dirtbags are experienced everywhere except second base, where T.J. Bruce has been filling in for injured Chuck Singer [actually Sindlinger] but is hitting just .125, and third base, where Weathers has done some juggling, trying to find a capable bat among Danny Mocny (.255), Tito Cruz (.267) and Bruce.

First baseman Mike Hofius (.287) has the team RBI lead with 19, one more than shortstop Troy Tulowitzki (.296) and three more than catcher Brad Davis (.304). Weathers has depth in the outfield with John Bowker (.322), Josh Buhagiar (.317), Travis Udvarhelyi (.274) and Steve Velazco (.261). And he's still trying to work Sean Boatright into the DH mix, along with Vargas. Boatright, who had been ticketed to play right field until injuring his arm the first weekend, is just 2 for 14."

Read the entire article here.

posted on 4/08/2004 by Jeff Agnew

Comments: Post a Comment