SOFTBALL PUNCHES POST SEASON TICKET; BAGS KEEP THE DREAM ALIVE AND THANKS A MILLION PAUL GOYDOS

For years one of the biggest events in our town was the annual Iowa picnic, in fact many old timers used to call this town Iowa by Sea. Now the Beach, at least Beach Softball, is headed to Iowa as the number 14 national seed in the NCAA’s Iowa City Regional. LBSU earned their lofty seeding, and avoided traditional trips to UCLA or Fresno, by racking up an impressive 39-15 record and the Big West championship.

Former coach Pete Manarino called this year’s invite “the best draw ever”. He should know having taken five of his teams to the College World Series in 1986, 1990, 1991, 1992 and 1993. And his star shortstop from 1989 to 1992, the current Beach head coach Kim Sowder. "I'm very excited to get the number one (regional) seed," Sowder told the celebrants Sunday night at Legends, "I think that we've earned it with the schedule we've played along with the success that our team has had this season."

Creighton (49-15) is the Niners first game opponent. The Bluejays went into the semifinal game at the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament and had their ace, two-time MVC Pitcher of the Year Tara Oltman working but could not pitch around three infield errors and lost to Drake. The 49ers had the top strength of schedule in the nation entering conference play with wins over national-seeds Texas A&M, Northwestern and #1 national seed Florida. The host Iowa Hawkeyes will play Missouri in the second game Friday. The winner of the Iowa City Regional will face the winner of the Tuscaloosa Regional in the Super-Regionals the following weekend for the right to go to the ladies CWS in Oklahoma City.

Meanwhile their diamond buddies known as Dirtbag baseball (30-18, 11-7 in the BWC) won three of four last week and are now on their final road trip of the season working this weekend to keep their post season dreams alive at Cal Poly Friday through Sunday. The all righty pitching staff remains a puzzle. Senior Andrew LIebel (7-2, 1.69 ERA) is lights out with back to back gems, veteran Vance Worley is struggling, and Coach Weathers himself went out to visit rookie Jake Thompson who does Sundays. “I told him to be his own man, really to be his own pitching coach.” That’s a tough assignment, SLO as a team is hitting .303 and loaded with left handed bats.

All of this out of town travel complicates life on Saturday night. Between cell phone updates and game tracking on the internet most of the 49er royal family will be in the Pyramid for the 14th Annual Jewels of the Night festivities that begin with a Silent Auction at 5:00 PM followed by the most diverse feasting you will ever see, entertainment by the Stone Soul Band and then the wildly popular live auction items. Funds are all for the good cause of scholarships and support for 49er athletes.

Our closing note is a salute to Paul Goydos, LB lid in front of America all weekend in his battle for the PGA Players championship. He lost in sudden death to Sergio Garcia but his modest persona won the hearts of the nation. Oh yes there was the consolation cash of $1.026 million. Goydos is a different kind of pro golfer, he doesn't have a club contract because he likes what he plays and his closet is a selection of brands from high schools where he subbed, Poly, Jordan, Wilson and of course his alma mater, Long Beach State. He studied finance and somewhere along the line, modesty. "Sergio played better than everybody else, look at the stats," the gracious Goydos said. "I'm glad that's rewarded."—DR. DAN

WHAT A DIFFERENCE A DAY MAKES—NOT AS PRETTY BUT THE BAGS, 10-8 WINNERS AND 30-17, LOVE THE VIEW

A Tale of Two Cities (1859) is the renowned historical novel by Charles Dickens with a plot that centered on the years leading up to the French Revolution. On a night when the fireworks began a bit early, Blair Field was the setting for a tale of two very different baseball games. Friday was a taut 2:12, 3-0 suffocation of the Dirtbags enemy of the week, UC Santa Barbara, with the combatants combining for ten hits. Fast forward to last night and the Gauchos and the Dirtbags slugged each other around for 18 runs on 27 hits, ran through 12 pitchers and one manager. That would be UCSB’s veteran skipper Bob Brontsema who got his fuse lit in the third on an out call at the plate, and exploded in the fourth, with a no out call at the plate.

We shall attempt to explain with the help of the winning pitcher, set up guy David Roberts and his coach Mike Weathers. “We knew we took a blow early (two SB runs in the first) but this team is beginning to fight back,” Roberts offered. The Weatherman’s version, “I felt good when both teams had to go to the pens in the fourth because I knew we had a better set of guys.” Brontsema’s exclusion prevented his post game interview but likely his opinions made him turn red about the blues. It appeared to many in the stands that an out call on Gaucho Patrick Rose heading home could have gone either way and really opened up the contest. Instead UCSB settled for one run and a 3-0 lead. The Beach struck for an answering single run in their third but the Gauchos, who came into the weekend with 30 wins and a three way tie for third in the Big West, got two more in the fourth to up their advantage to 5-1 thanks to a triple by unheralded Brian Gump. The brawl at Blair however was just underway with that disputed check swing call that kept Tweedy’s at-bat alive. Brontsema view of the 2-2 pitch did not agree with the men in blue and he was ejected by home plate umpire Dennis Smythe. Tweedy then doubled as part of a four run outburst that tied the game at 5-5. So what to do next, ell LB got cranking again. The Dirtbags broke the tie in the bottom of the fifth on an RBI single up the middle from Tweedy and consecutive infield singles with the bases loaded plated two more Beach runs. At the end of five, Long Beach held an 8-5 advantage. UCSB fought back in the top of the sixth, with three scores to re-tie the affair at 8-8 and the kids in the 2074 crowd getting anxious about the fireworks show. Good news for the homeboys however was that LB scored twice in the bottom of the seventh inning when with Jones on first, Shane Peterson doubled to right field to put Long Beach up one, 9-8. Then with two-out Danny Espinosa laced an RBI single into left field to lengthen the Dirtbag lead to two, 10-8. Putting another Shane Peterson pitching experiment behind them (he got nobody out for the second game this week) Roberts got rid of his five batters and Nick Vincent his six to pick up the save and mess up the Big West standings. Fullerton lost to Cal Poly 11-4 and UC Riverside fell to UC Davis 6-5 thus moving the Beach up to a tie for second with UC Riverside. All three teams, including Fullerton, have six conference losses. There will be a test later.

END DUST—With just a week of bull pens Peterson was ineffective from the mound but drove in the go-ahead run in a two-run seventh inning as…the Niners have now hit the 30 win plateau (30-17, 11-6 Big West) and won another series… Worley did not get out of the and is a puzzle considering he began the year 3-0…the mound matchup today features another UCSB lefty, Chuck Huggins (7-2, 4.04) going up against improving LB youngster Jake Thompson (2-4, 4.20).one SB mom got an early start on her special day when two uniforms escorted her out…all I heard was a minor rag on Espy as “program”…heard worse and will again…for the record the other Big West scores were UC Davis 6, UC Riverside 5; Pacific 10, UC Irvine 9 (10); CSUN 5, USC 4; and Cal Poly 11, Cal State Fullerton 4…meanwhile tonight at 7-ish at Legends the Big West Champion women’s softball team will await the ESPN-U telecast of their NCAA field and where everybody will play…LB bid to host but…Ashley Weber's second-inning RBI triple was the difference in a great pitching battle between Brooke Turner and Alyce Jorgensen to end the regular season as the 49ers prevailed 1-0….Turner outdueled Joregensen and the Long Beach State's freshman star extended her own shutout record with her 17th of the year…she is 26-4 on the year and feeling better thanks to an injection that cooled off a hot nerve in her back…striking out seven batters, Turner benefitted from error-free defense behind her, scattering four hits on the way to the win. Prior to the game, the 49ers also paid tribute to the team's four departing seniors, Jessica Beaver, Brooke LeSage, Franciska Morlet and Lacy Tyler---last add looking good, LB alum Paul Goydos took the lead Saturday at the PGA Player’s championship wearing the inter-locking LB baseball hat for all the world to see…and a happy Mother’s Day to all here, around and up there—DR. DAN

THE BEACH COUNTS ON CORDER AND LIEBEL IN A MUST WIN SHUTDOWN OF SANTA BARBARA

The ever changing Dirtbag baseball experience has some constants and last night the remarkable Andrew Liebel (the family doesn’t like Damian Devil, Count Dirtbagula or similar monsters of the night who eat opposing batters) was constant again. And quick. And a friend to fans and infielders. A mere 2 hours and twelve minutes after he began, Liebel had put the 30-win and very game Gauchos down 3-0 and helped the Beach boys up their record to 29-17 and now all alone in third place in the Big West standings… A week ago, Liebel worked a crisp 2:35 at Davis while Jason Corder belted his 12th homer of the season. Corder hit his 13th last night--a crusher that hungover golfers at Big Rec’s number 14 likely found this morning. Granted the hit parade was only slightly longer than Tuesday’s three-hit vic over Fresno, five knocks including the Big Fly from the 6-2, 205 Cal transfer; but Liebel won a first-class pitcher's duel with Santa Barbara starter Mike Ford who also allowed only five hits. The difference was two fold, a lot of glove love from the Dirtbag double pay guys (three twin killings) and the one bad pitch Ford gave up to Corder in the third. UCSB fell to 30-18 overall, 9-7 BW and is joined in a fourth place tie with Davis and UCI.

The scoring summary is short and sweet, at least for the homeboys who feel a sense of urgency in these final days of the 2008 campaign. The Dirtbags jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the first when Jonathan Jones, nearly decapitated Ford with a single through the box. Tinoco blew a bunt but Corder's infield grounder advanced Jones to second setting up cleanup hitter Shane Peterson for his 44th RBI when he singled opposite field. In the third with two outs, Tinoco singled and unlike the timid USC coach Mike Gillespie SB skipper, Bob Brontsema of the Gauchos pitched to Corder and he sent the Rawlings orb deep into the night. Corder's shot broke a tie with Gaucho left fielder Mike Zuanich for the Big West lead. The rest of the night belonged to Liebel and the defense. ”Andrew works so fast,” Weathers would comment post-game ”that our defense really gets into a rhythm.” In the fourth, Liebel got his three outs on just four pitches but the web gems on defense (three double plays, a 5-4-3, and two 6-4-3s) combined with the amazing arm of Travis Howell (he has nailed 17 of 34 would be stealers) to break the Gaucho heart.

BIG BANG DUST--Liebel faced only three batters over the minimum and recorded his second consecutive complete game shutout…write that down pro scouts…SB’s Mario Hollands (6-2, 2.97) battles Dirtbag Vance Worley (5-3, 4.40) a bit up and down of late…his first win was over Wichita State but he pitched well against Rice…effective at USC then a CG 10-3 win over UCLA, problems at Cal and UCR, another CG in a 5-1 vic over UCI but troubled in 3.2 at UOP and effective until the seventh at Davis …Liebel threw 73 pitches over the first five but only 36 over the final four innings…”we had him down for about 15 more pitches, but I was glad to see him finish.” Weathers noted…the game time did not please any of the blue and greys and the guys in white shirts…the white shirts, the concessionaires, that hope fireworks and Mother’s Day will up the sales totals…more Corder time, he is the eighth LBSU player to hit 20 or more home runs in his career…the tin man, Steve Tinoco, had two of the Dirtbags five hits…Ford (5-4) went all eight innings for the Gauchos, striking out eight… LB, 18-5 at home this season, travel to SDSU (not Frat Row we hope) Tuesday for a six p.m. first pitch and then head up the Central Coast to Cal Poly next weekend…new on the golf front is an Eastern guy, William Poutre, formerly the top guy at the University of Hartford…he was selected as the America East Conference Coach of the Year in 2006 and 2007…his 2007 recruit class included the No. 51 and No. 115 recruits in the Golfweek World Junior Rankings….the tennis team threw out the first pitch last night, but the No. 37-ranked Niners lost to No. 28-ranked Denver in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at UCLA….on the campus diamond Long Beach earned its 18th trip to the NCAA Regionals Friday with a 5-0 win over Pacific in game two of a DH…despite healing from a groin pull, Brooke Turner added to her win record…she and team mates will TV huddle with ESPNU Sunday at 7 p.m. for their destination...around the rest of the Large West the favorites all advanced, Fullerton played tag with SLO but ended up on top 6-4, Irvine dumped Pacific 9-1, and Riverside came back to beat UC Davis 7-6—DR. DAN.

BEACH WEEKEND: KILLER 'Ts", BIG WEST BESTING AND SURVIVING MVBs

Mother Nature, Father Weathers and the Big West Schedule Maker all got on the same page by the end of April and for Long Beach baseball the result was that the amazing Dirtbag Dream Machine is back on the road to the post season.

For a while it looked like the Beach boys had blown an engine, flattened four tires, and couldn’t find enough change in the sofa to fill up the gas tank. Mother’s effort was to turn up the heat home and away which in part was responsible for melting eight of their last ten opponents including sweep weekends over Northridge and Pacific. Father Weathers played tough love and Russian Roulette with his batting order and his bats and despite some more injuries, it worked out. Corder went down, Corder went up. Rylan was on the bench, then in the interview circle after a four hit effort. It is true that the winning came over the bottom dwellers of the conference so we’ll credit the schedule maker for giving the homeboys a breather when they needed it.

So this weekend they should get back at least one competitor from the disabled list, Brandon Godfrey, but in his absence sub Rylan Sandoval has jumped into the .300 club hitting .319 overall and .450 in conference games. The Killer Ts have also produced when it matters, with BWC numbers like .346 for TJ Mittelstaedt, .348 for Steve Tinoco and .448 for Jason Tweedy. “Gosh I got to wonder,” Weathers sighed, “how much more we would have won if Tweedy hadn’t been out 18 games with that hand injury?”

With no mid-week game to tire the youngsters, LB takes the bus and three bats up to Davis for a weekend with the formerly first place Aggies. “I limited them to two bats to keep things simple (the 33 TPX is hitting .376) but we added one more” Weathers quipped. Lots of ball to play but for the moment the Niners are still tied for first in the loss column. The beauty contest of the polls and RPI will play into the NCAA selection process but where you finish in your own league is very important.

HOT SPOT DUST—They ran a great MPSF tournament, and played one good game, but the third-ranked Long Beach State men's volleyball team woke up Sunday still praying for the 2008 NCAA Division I Men's Volleyball Championships coveted at-large bid. They got it and start tonight (Thursday) at 8 p.m. in the Bren Event Center on the campus of UC Irvine. The Niners (23-6) rematch with red hot Pepperdine, just 16-10, but featuring a healthy wonder from down under, 6-7 Australian Olympian Paul Carroll. The other semifinal will pit No. 1 seed Penn State (28-1) against No. 4 seed Ohio State (20-7).

Two other hot spots on the Beach docket are women’s tennis and softball. Breezing through three mercy ruled 4-0 wins at ritzy Indian Wells, senior tennis star Stephanie Bengson got a visit from mum and dad, tied the school-record for combined wins and helped her team to earn another automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament in two weeks. LBSU also reached the NCAAs in 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007.
Last of the good news gang is women’s softball (38-12) who broke records and upped their lead in the Big West to three games. Jessica Beaver became the all-time career leader in RBI (112) and pitcher Brooke Turner threw her 15th shutout of the season as Kim Sowder’s club swept Riverside. These Sweethearts of Swat play their final regular season series on the road this weekend at old rival Fullerton and then hope to host a NCAA Regional.

Now direct and unedited from Baseball America your weekend wrap-up-- “25. LONG BEACH STATE Last Week: 3-1. Overall: 26-15, 8-4 in Big West. (10-9 vs. Top 25). Weekend Series: 7-3. The Dirtbags got two walk-off wins to sweep their second straight series against one of the Big West's bottom-feeders. They trail first-place Cal State Fullerton by just 1.5 games. Sr. 2B Jason Tweedy (3-for-4, 3B, 3 RBI) led a 10-hit attack Friday in support of Sr. RHP Andrew Liebel (7 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 6 K). Tweedy was one of four Dirtbags to record three-hit games in Saturday's slugfest, and he singled and scored the winning run on an error in the bottom of the ninth. Jr. 3B Rylan Sandoval (4-for-5, 2 2B, 2 RBI) led a 16-hit barrage Sunday, and So. DH T.J. Mittelstaedt singled home the winning run in the bottom of the 11th.” So #25 in BA with more 25’s in Rivals and ESPN, Collegiate Baseball in at #29 and NCBWA likely in the low twenties.

Last add- hoop happiness. Dan Monson stopped by baseball with four kids in tow, including baseball named youngsters Maddox and McGuire, and was glowing about plucking a pair of coveted Connecticut prep school scorers for next year. T.J. Robinson (6-7, 210, St. Thomas More) signed first and then lured Larry Anderson, 6-6, 215, via Jordan High and Winchendon Prep to pass on Xavier and come to the Beach. "We feel these two really add athleticism and qualities to our basketball program that we were lacking this year," said Monson. Amen Brother.—DR DAN

ON NFL DRAFT DAY BASEBALL AT BLAIR, 14-13 DIRTBAGS, AND NO EXTRA POINT WAS BLOCKED

On an April afternoon hot enough to melt your sneakers, Mike Weathers wasn’t all that disappointed that for his 49er baseball team the shoe was finally on the other foot. “We have had a lot of games where our pitchers had to carry our hitters but today the shoe was on the other foot.” Make that feets, or even feats, because when you realize that the Pacific Tigers came to the yard in a hitting mood and put up crooked numbers in the second, fourth, fifth and ninth innings just surviving 14-13 deserved a sigh of relief.

It took all of seven Dirtbag pitchers to get the Beach over the hump against a no-quit Tiger team that came off the mat with eight unanswered runs in the middle innings to lead 10-6 after just five. At that point both UOP and LB traded knockout punches for the rest of the four hour drama and in the end the 49ers upped their season report card to 25-15 overall, 7-4 in the Big West and tied for first in the loss column.

What was left of the dehydrated Dirtbag fans thought that it was over when the Niners exploded for five runs in the bottom of the eighth highlighted by a Jason Corder three-run homer over the boards in straight away center. That made the score 12-10 and even his Cal transfer pal Travis Howell got into the extra base action. Although he labored stretching a stand up double into three bases, once he got his breath the big catcher did earn an RBI for driving in Rylan Sandoval who had doubled and stole third on another one of those suspicious Tiger arms. Three run lead, at home, no problem. Houston Bob we do have a problem. Down 13-10 entering the top of the ninth inning, the Tigers faced the task of collecting three runs against previously unhitables Nick Vincent and Bryan Shaw. Nick had allowed just two runs on the season with opponent's batting a miserable .115. But these are the hungry and no-quit Tigers. Leading hitter Adam Ching, Mike Walker and Nick Longmire all singled off Vincent who was pulled for Shaw who was clobbered on his first pitch for a game-tying double along the chalk rightside. Exhale, in the ninth the Beach parlayed a Tweedy single, a Tinoco sac and a blast through second by Peterson that was ruled an error. Final, 14-13, and no folks, we didn’t block the extra point.

SUNDAY MY DUST WILL COME—Brian Martin finished the day 3-for-4 with three RBI and two runs scored, for the Tigers...Corder who leads the BWC in slugging got HR number 10 in the third to go with his bang in the eighth…SID reports that he is the first Dirtbag since Evan Longoria in 2006 to hit double digits, and just the second player since 2002 to reach 10…his 18 career home runs is ninth all-time…now for those who like to worry, the signature win for the Tigers this season came back on March 21 when Pacific scored nine runs in the fifth inning to shock then No. 17 Stanford 10-6 at Sunken Diamond…the heroes that day were relief pitcher Larry Holscher who earned the win, junior Cole Akins who picked up the save and J.B. Brown who drove in three…more SID stuff…a farm report on former Dirtbags…Mike Gallo has a 2.16 ERA in relief at Double-A New Hampshire... Jeremy Reed, .323 for Triple-A Tacoma with a four-hit day Thursday... Neil Jamison, 1.93 ERA for Double-A San Antonio.... Steve Hammond is 2-1 with a 3.42 ERA for Double-A Huntsville... Jared Hughes 1-3 record and 3.48 ERA in four starts for Single-A Carolina... Cesar Ramos is 2-2 overall, 4.26 ERA on the Padre farm... Carlos Muniz has not allowed a run in five appearances in Triple-A New Orleans…you can track the big leaguers yourself…soft sided news…Brooke Turner struck out 11 Highlanders in game one to hold on for a 2-1 victory, and Bridgette Pagano smacked a two-run homer to help put Long Beach State softball ahead for good in a 4-3 win in the second game against UC Riverside. Turner's 11 K's gave her 198 on the season, setting the Beach single-season record….Turner has posted double-digit strikeouts for the seventh time this season...Now my Saturday iPhone Out of Town BWC scoreboard: UC Irvine 11, New Mexico 6; Northridge 14, Riverside 5; UC Davis 3, Fullerton 2; and UCSB 8, Cal Poly 4… Corder on his key homer in the eighth, "I was looking for something up in the zone, and frankly I was very surprised he came over the plate.”… In a spacious yard that amaze visitors the media guide will remind you that the wide open spaces develop good characters….the career home run leader is Jeff Liefer (30) and the single season champ was Jaeme Leal (24)…Jason Giambi flashed his HR power after he got big, I mean got to the big leagues…five current MLB Bags--Crosby, Tulo, Bowker, McAnulty and Longoria all led the team in big flys in their best years...give the critters some cash and play the SPCA 50/50 today—DR. DAN

BEACH BOYS PARTY, TWIST THE TIGERS TALE AND JOIN THE JAM FOR SECOND IN THE BIG WEST

Happy Days are here again, or at least they were on Friday night when all the usual Dirtbag suspects gathered at Blair for a 10-3 win over Pacific, a 21st birthday celebration, and all the Big West party guests getting tight. We explain. The wire to wire win upped the LB record to 24-15, 6-4 in the Big West, tied for second with UCSB, UC Davis and UC Riverside, all one game behind Fullerton in the loss column. The defeat dropped the Tigers to 8-29, 2-11with their seventh consecutive loss. The birthday celebrant was Danny Espinosa who turned 21 and went 2-for-3 with a double, triple and two walks. Other stars include starter and winner Andrew Liebel (5-2, 2.20 and six Ks), the T boys, Steve Tinoco, 2-3 with two runs scored, Jason Tweedy, 3-4 and three RBIs and TJ Mittelstaedt, 2-4 and two RBIs. That offense allowed Weathers to work his picket fence offense with scores in each of the first four frames.

“We did a pretty good job,” the skipper would say post-game, “but their walks (ten on the night) helped us. Six of our runs came from guys who walked.” Obviously the leading LB hitter, Shane Peterson (.372), was someone that former Toronto and Stanford star Ed Sprague wanted to be careful with. Petey got two of the free passes but still hit his sixth homer, a three-run shot in the fourth that sent UOP starter Tyler Waldron to the showers. The same Beach partiers go to work again today featuring red hot Vance Worley (5-2, 3.44) against UOP’s Mark McCain (1-3, 3.81). Missing again will be Brandon Godfrey who hurt his shoulder in practice on Wednesday causing Weathers to comment, “we won’t have him the rest of the weekend and I doubt he will be ready for Tuesday.” At that comment the press corps, me, Mark the broadcaster and Bob from the big city paper, did a triple take before Weathers remembered this next week has no mid week game. “Gee “the skipper said sheepishly, “I would have been here by myself at 3 on Tuesday and wondered where everybody was.”

SCATTERED DUST—Top-seeded Long Beach took the first step toward defending its position as three-time defending BWC tennis champion with a 4-0 victory against No. 8 UC Riverside Friday morning and took on UC Santa Barbara this morning…No. 2 seed UC Irvine faces CSUN in the other semi… for his16th-straight start Liebel pitched into the seventh…ironically that streak started at Pacific April 27 of last season…before that he was went 9-3 in 54 career relief appearances….Father Know’s Best…Shane Peterson’s pop Brad, in shorts during freezing temps, kept a promise to his kid by wearing long sleeves and long pants Friday night…we have to keep an eye on Brad since his passion in life is batting practice which is no longer the practice for the Beach…”I still go early and watch the other team take batting”…and yes the Bags are still rotating the two 33 and 34 TPX bats…keeps things simple is the word from the clubhouse…since the R boys, Roberts and Rasco, worked scoreless eight and nine expect closers Bryan Shaw (0.52) and Nick Vincent (0.96) to be on the board at least by Sunday…catcher Travis Howell flashed the good D again when he threw out two would-be base stealers….he has nailed 14 of 25…an added attraction for the Saturday, May 10 game against UCSB will be a post game fireworks show , sponsored by the City of Long Beach, there for the start time has moved to 6 p.m….Pacific's leading hitter, shortstop Adam Ching, went 0-2 and his averaged dropped to .299 leaving the Tiger starters without a .300 hitter…a volleyball salute to a fan with the screen name of “qwerty”…Thursday night the Pepperdine students decided to take over the end bleachers and when the LB students decided to go down there and mute their taunts (with taunts of their own) game management kicked the locals back to mid court…none of these seats were reserved so qwerty, with his Dirtbag baseball tee on, stood like that unknown rebel in Tiananmen Square through all 32 service errors…tomorrow the NCAA will give the Niners another chance as an at large since they won the regular season and finished 23-6…or they won’t, taking both Pepperdine and BYU…as web wit Go Beach says, “You live by the serve, you die by the service error.”…our last add is our reminder for the Joe Jost's bartender reunion after today’s game... Ken Buck is donating all proceeds to LBSU athletics…so slide on down to 2803 E. Anaheim St. for a special, pickled egg and a schooner…all sorts of celebs from ageless Keith Cordes to aging Dan Smith, Doug Shea and countless other guys who drank and spilled more than they sold—DR. DAN

NAME DROPPING AND MANNING UP: TALES FROM DIRTBAGS AND TIGERS ON A MUST WIN WEEKEND

It is spring and on many college campuses back in my day a little streaking was a favorite with the kids. Then again, I suppose, it depends on what kind of streak you are on. For tonight’s guests from bucolic Stockton, the University of the Pacific baseball Tigers, color them unhappy streakers. The striped ones come in having lost six in a row and frankly are tired of opposing ranked teams like Cal, Fullerton and Long Beach.

Assembled in the other dugout, (assuming the plumbing works this weekend—if not on folding chairs out front) is a team that has seen the dark side of streaking up close and personal. On March 25 the Beach lost a 7-5 game to Pepperdine, the front end of a never to be repeated ten game road trip. Five more losses followed before an Andrew Liebel win at UCR, then another streak of four more beat downs. Unlike the contestants in that UFC deal, college teams can’t just “tap out” and go home. You play on. Fueled by some chicken soup for their Dirtbag soul (and no batting practice) last weekend LB pounded Northridge. They clearly need more of the same this weekend because the rest of the schedule has the three teams ahead of the Niners in the Big West, Davis, UCSB, and of course Fullerton. Toss in Cal Poly and mid week tests with Fresno, SDSU and the 2007 NCAA champs Oregon State, you gotta believe that every W is precious. End of sermon, now back to your regularly scheduled baseball game.

END DUST—In case you want to win a bar bet with one of those Joe Jost’s alumni mixologists coming in tomorrow (including old FBI guy Keith Cordes), ask them the last time UOP beat LB at Blair…it was a cool ten years ago in 1998, the last year the Niners made Omaha…back then the Tigers won 5-1 on a get-away Sunday in what would be a 43 win LBSU season which ended up in Rosenblatt with the elimination of Florida State and Miami…ASU ended the dream…in their last four contests UOP pitchers have been hit hard three times, 14, 15, and 11 runs allowed, then played CSUF tight in a 2-1 loss last Sunday…now some gems from the Pacific players blog done by Tiger BWC scholar athlete Brett Manning….”we couldn't get the hits we needed in key situations down the stretch…but the parents had another great BBQ after Sunday's game”…then before their fund raising golf tourney, “the weather was sunny, but a little chilly with the wind blowing. Bobby Wheeler had the big shot of the day getting a hole in one and a good chunk of change in his pocket for it”…then this note about playing at SLO, “our weekend was spent at gorgeous Shell Beach taking on Cal Poly…we stayed at The Cliffs Resort, right on the beach with breakfast every morning looking out over the ocean and the beach about 100 yards from our hotel. We went down in the mornings and explored the tide pools just below our hotel. We caught some crabs, saw a bunch of starfish and an eel” …now aren’t those kids a better read than BAs and ERAs?...required basketball note, Tricia Cullop, a popular LB women’s hoop assistant some years ago, continues to climb the coaching ladder and was just named head coach at Toledo…Joan Bonvicini, is a finalist along with Cori Close for the UCSB job and, if she gets it, expect Millikan’s star senior to switch from Arizona to Goleta…the volley lads wait until Sunday for a mercy vote after serving up a mess last night to Pepp

Now baseball and nothing else…UOP had no mid weeper but the Niners did losing to ninth-ranked San Diego…tomorrow is the Salute to the Services Day and Sunday the Salute to Animals Day…free admission tomorrow to any public safety worker or the military…in the BWC loss column the Niners are just one behind Fullerton (9-3), UC Santa Barbara (6-3) and UC Davis (6-3)…UCSB is at Cal Poly and Fullerton will host Davis…tonight’s mound match-up is Tyler Waldron (2-4, 4.74) challenging Andrew Liebel (4-2, 2.04) and hopefully his offense…LBSU's team ERA is 3.11, Pacific's 6.51 but the LB stats are eye-popping the third-best ERA in the nation and the fewest walks allowed per nine innings in the land…Liebel is 28th nationally in ERA and 23rd in strikeouts per nine innings (8.14)…in just BWC games resurgent Brandon Godfrey is hitting .379, Steve Tinoco, .364, Danny Espinosa, .343, and Peterson, the BWC POW leads the club in overall average (.373) and RBIs (39)…Jason Corder has nine home runs, a .325 average and 36 RBIs…our closing number is still pitching, LBSU is 18-1 when leading after six innings so score early and often—DR. DAN