Dirtbags Baseball - Long Beach State 49ers

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Monday, May 17, 2004

Bob Keisser Musings on Dirtbags-Titan Series and the Post Season

Bob Keisser writes in the Long Beach Press-Telegram this morning:

"News: Dirtbags and Titans, once again and forever.

Muse: The only thing more de rigueur in baseball is that the Yankees will have the largest payroll in the major leagues. On a collegiate level, the annual showdown has the same kind of emotional investment as Yankees-Red Sox.

You start with the fact that since Long Beach State turned its baseball program around in 1989, the rivals have won or shared the Big West regular season title seven times each, and that doesn't include divisional titles won in 1997 and 1998, the only years the conference had postseason tournaments.

Then mix in the perfect 39-39 record between the two teams since 1989. Saute that with large crowds the three largest for a three-game regular season series in Blair Field history were turned in by the pair. Four of the top seven Blair single game marks were also Dirtbag-Titan scrums.

It may be hyperbole to say the 2004 showdown is any more meaningful than any other, but there are other a lot of issues for both clubs.

Fullerton (33-20) was 15-16 going into conference play and fell out of the rankings, but they've gone 18-4 since and bring a two- game lead into the series at Blair, meaning the 49ers need to sweep the series to claim the title and automatic berth. If the Titans win the title, they'll get an automatic bid to the postseason and will submit a bid to host a NCAA regional.

The 49ers (36-13), meanwhile, are looking for their first back-to- back Big West titles since 1993-94; are on a pace for the most wins since 1998 (43); and have a pitcher, the unbeaten Jered Weaver, who already has set multiple school records and is a candidate to be the national player of the year and first pick in the amateur draft.

It's a bit of oddity for the Dirtbags that there's an upside to Fullerton's resurgence. They took two of three in the nonconference series earlier and a credible Fullerton team improves the Dirtbag RPI, the formula that accounts for strength of schedule.

If the 49ers win two of three next week, their RPI will improve even though they didn't win the league title. And if Fullerton is a host, the West could wind up with four sites among the 16 sub-regionals (Dirtbags, Stanford and Arizona State being the others).

That could leverage the usual NCAA bias when it comes time to assign super-regional pairings."

Read the entire article here.

posted on 5/17/2004 by Jeff Agnew

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