FORTY FLUSHES FOR THE MONTH OF MARCH NOW IT’S 0-0 AND STRICTLY NINER NICE

Welcome to The Australian Rules Good News Only April First Edition of Diamond Dust. Nothing but nice stuff since (at least in Australia) the non-conference-death-month of March is over! So sit back, relax and feel the positive flow as the beloved Dirtbags 12-15 overall get a fresh start tied for first (at 0-0) in the Big West.

Our goal tonight is to flush all of that bad karma from the past four weekends (losing two of three or three of three from Baylor, Texas, Wichita State and Fullerton) down that toy toilet. And, like Icarus rising for the ancient Greeks, we will test our wax wings in a 21 game tour of guys pretty much our own size. Tonight the Beach boys will try to kick some sand on # 36 UC Irvine (18-10). Our Orange County writing pal Barry Faulkner doesn’t expect anything but praise to come out of Irvine this weekend, saying in his column, “the UC Irvine baseball team will do it's best to let sleeping Dirtbags lie this weekend.” See everybody is being nice, even folks with 18 wins like the Eaters or Pacific (16-7), UC Riverside (14-9), Cal Poly San Luis Obispo (16-13) Northridge (15-14) or even fellow not quite over .500. UCSB (9-10). Most of those teams lare a mirror image of the vintage Dirtbags--little-ball, scrap-and-claw style used at CSUF and that Eater skipper Serrano brought with him after eight seasons on Nutwood. Even the folks at Riverside are proud to “play the short game, hit and run and bunt...be a tough out.” See imitation is the most sincere form of flattery.

UCI leads the BWC in sac bunts (45), sac flies (14) and batters hit by pitch (51) (and they haven’t even played against Ja, whoops, thought you had me there.) Nice only. Jared Hughes (4-1, 3.23) gets his usual Friday start and will face Justin Cassel (3-4, 4.22) in what the marketing mavens call the Black & Blue series, a competition created to enhance the rivalry between the two schools. It is sponsored by Duke’s of Huntington Beach where the winning alums gets free appetizers for a year instead of a that lousy Lexus that goes to the winner of the UCLA/USC rivalry. I think.

MORE HAPPY DUST-- Cassel gave up five runs on nine hits in 7.1 innings against Arizona Friday…he fanned only three but after zero stolen bases Saturday, the Eaters responded with six against the Wildcats Sunday…the closer is again Blair Erickson who has nine saves this season and a 3-0 record…Spike McDougall has an eight-game hitting streak and put up a pair of multiple-hit games last weekend...now about this so-called slump, the LB spin doctor will tell you that “Dirtbag lore teaches us that Long Beach State baseball has traditionally been slow starters en route to return trips to Omaha and the College World Series. In 1998, the team started the season 2-8-1 before reeling off 12 in a row. In 1993, LBSU was 12-12 before winning 16 of 19. And finally in 1991, the 49ers were 5-8, before winning 20 of 21"….see happy days are just around the corner…and recruits still love the Beach...El Camino CF Chris Fox has offers from UCSB, LMU, and UCLA but seems to favor Long Beach…quick as a, er, ah Fox, Fox has 13 stolen bases and great pitch selection...he walked four times in 141 at-bats last season but has 14 walks in his first 76 at-bats this season, is batting .355 with a team-high 14 RBIs out of the leadoff spot….back to the present, the pen is picking up…Brett Andrade pitched 2.2 of scoreless relief Sunday followed by former Sunday starter Vance Worley, 1.1 shutout innings…meanwhile the Bag freshmen continue to produce...the top two hitters are frosh Shane Peterson at .435 and Kip Masuda .419 plus Peterson has a 1.54 ERA when Slash takes to the hill of thrills

More good news Thursday afternoon from Niner turned Angel Jered Weaver who gave up just two hits in five scoreless innings, striking out four and walking one in beating the SF Giants who get more air time on 60 Minutes than Baseball Tonight….and our final pleasant thought is that old skipper Dave Snow has locked in on Evan Longoria like a Fullerton fastball, but not on the noggin…Dave’s employer, the Colorado Rockies, have the second overall pick in the June draft, and after the Rockies enjoyed their first pick last year, Troy Tulowitzki, they may go for another Niner…Denver = nice altitude for a hitter--DR. DAN

UNDER DOGS, TOP CATS, TALL TALES, AND SHORT SOFTBALLERS

Just put my income tax in the mail and that means I am in the mood for more creative writing, another session of notes on my napkin.

The first item is underdog, as in George Mason who say they are an underdog with a capital U. That spirit of fighting the rich and famous used to be the motto around Long Beach State when I first came to town in 1975 but with selective success I fear that some LBSU teams feel that they are over-dogs, expecting others to clear the sidewalk when they walk down the street. It just ain’t so.

Niner baseball of course is off course enough that they need to find that old time grit and gristle that branded the team in the early 90’s. Seven losses in a row should make that easy to understand. I felt that women’s volleyball began its decline on a rainy Friday back in December 2001. The team was loaded, just beat Arizona in the NCAA semis, and had a chance on a Saturday to play the richest and most famous college in the land, Stanford. What happened between that Thursday win and Saturday’s Stanford sweep?

Well they have this volleyball association awards luncheon on the Friday between the semis and the finals and the Beach was knocked off their psyche sidewalk just missing the coach of the year and player of the year awards. Despite as talented a team as the Beach has ever had the program was in a funk, lost three straight that black Saturday afternoon and haven’t had a December to remember since. That’s IMHO as the web savvy say, in my humble opinion.

MIXED DUST—Our pal David Pylman swears that he wasn’t surprised that they had to evacuate the San Diego basketball palace when a bomb sniffing dog alerted, yes on a hot dog cart. He also connected with a former Niner assistant hoop coach Bill Nepfel who is at USF now and on the NCAA Basketball Rules Committee.

Niner softball keeps playing toughies themselves but the combination of Junior pitcher Michelle Turner and a pair of pint size toy cannons, Breezy Goad and Kourtnee Gervasi sure are fun to watch such as in Saturday’s upset of #16 Northwestern. Pete’s sweethearts of swat open Big West play at Northridge this weekend while the baseball bunch starts conference at home against Irvine.
More Mason notes. GMU that is the former employer of Joe Harrington who I feel had more to do with righting the Niner hoop ship than Seth Greenberg. The current Colonial’s coach Jim Larranaga said of his team. "They function like a family, they'll care about each other, they'll be close to each other, they'll come by my house.”
Wicked chatter from CSUF’s cyber guys who were bragging about all the Titan fans wearing Orange last weekend. “May I suggest that all Long Beach State fans NOT wear their orange jumpsuits to this weekend's games. “ Ouch. He goes on to characterize their “hot co-eds” who attend baseball games as "investors". “These are women who know CSUF has a great baseball program and if they hook up with a player at Fullerton and can stay with him and get married the potential of them "marrying a lottery ticket" is there”.

Back to ladies volleyball you can see the LB team at work for three hours per day afternoons in the Gold Mine. My sources say to expect some new talent from Europe and a couple of walk-ons from name schools to help out this Fall.

Closing quote from correspondent Randy who watched that Oakland Regional Final between UCLA and Memphis and came away with this gem, “It’s too bad somebody had to win.” –DR. DAN

BASEBALL LOSSES CAST A SPELL OVER LB BUT VOLLEYS AND SOFTIES ARE A PLUS

I didn’t personally see Vanna White turning letters at Blair Field last weekend but I am told that you can’t spell “pride” without R-P-I, or for that matter, R-I-P. The word games were played among the 49er faithful, some of whom said win or lose you play the best to build your RPI (a ratings index) for NCAA selection committees in late May. Others say you play for pride every game. A third group was discouraged to the point that they were almost ready to write RIP on the 2006 season.

After a promising start, (a season-opening sweep of USC, another over Illinois-Chicago and a 9-4 record), the three losses to Wichita State leveled the Beach record at 12-12 and marked the worst stretch of LBSU weekend baseball since 1988. Not since then has a Niner team lost more than two consecutive weekend series—they lost back to back weekends in 2004, 2001, 1991, and 1990. 1988 you will recall was that long dark season of 14-45 that turned around a year later with season one of Dirtbag ball under Dave Snow—50 and 15.

So other than pride what are all of these word games about. You might wonder why we just used R-P-I and R-I-P, but that is in part because the Dirtbag D, as in defense, featured quite a few Es as in errors. On Sunday the Beach had a nice little lead then three errors led to six un-earned runs, all of this happening in the friendly confines of their home field as oppose to, say the notoriously unfriendly spaces they will visit at Fullerton this weekend. Pack your earplugs and smuggle in your beer.

BRACKETLESS DUST--The tonic for the baseball disappointment was a stop by the Pyramid to observe the inside job by senior Duncan Budinger who tied his career-high with 28 kills while hitting .590 as #3 Long Beach State rolled to a 30-16, 30-26, 30-27 win over No. 11-ranked Ohio State. The tweaked lineup of Budinger and Robert Tarr on the outside and Kevin Cape in the middle has been sensational. Add guys like All-American setter Tyler Hildebrand and versatile Paul Lotman and this team seems to have the magic combination at just the right time. Northridge comes in Friday night.

Friday afternoon LBSU takes on Ohio State for a softball double-header and will once again feature a big name in pitcher Michelle Turner who won both ends of a double header last weekend and perhaps the best name on campus, freshman hitter Breezy Goad who leads the team with a .339 average. A 5-2 pocket rocket out of Norco, Breezy is the kind of athlete that makes games fun.

Our closing quote today comes from ex Dirtbag and AL Rookie of the Year Bobby Crosby speaking to the South Florida Sun Sentinel on that World Baseball tourney. Six years ago, when the A's shortstop was still at LBSU, he played on a Team USA club that beat Cuba. So watching a Dream Team collection of Team USA players fail to qualify for the semifinals of the inaugural World Baseball Classic was particularly hard on Crosby. "Yeah, I was disappointed," he said. "I was pretty surprised they lost. I expected they would get farther than that, but it's not something where I'm ashamed they didn't get there. It's nothing like that."—DR. DAN

SATURDAY’S HISTORY LESSON NOT A PLEASANT MID TERM EXAM FOR THE DIRTBAGS

After considerable research using the latest in CIA spy satellites we can confirm that the only other place where there are more singles than those coming out of the Wichita State dugout is closing time at the USO club in downtown Baghdad. In two days and 28 hits, the Shockers have 25 singles. Ugly--well you dance with what brung you and to the chattering black and gold hats in the left field bleachers they just love a weekend at the Beach.

Yesterday was more competitive than Friday but the end marked the worst stretch of LBSU weekend baseball since 1988. Not since then has a Niner team lost more than two consecutive weekend series—they lost back to back weekends in 2004, 2001, 1991, and 1990. 1988 you will recall was that long dark season of 14-45 that turned around a year later with season one of Dirtbag ball under Dave Snow—50 and 15.

Ironically what started out well for the Niners with two scores in the second turned sour in the sixth, hopeful with a five spot in the seventh, and then tragic when the pen collapsed in the ninth. The Shocker slashers once again were Josh Workman and Damon Sublett (both 3-for-4). The Beach just couldn’t get to WSU starter Rob Musgrave until the seventh then worked over reliever Noah Krol who faced four batters in the seventh inning, allowing three earned runs on two hits. Hutson, Touchatt and Sublett kept the Beach boys in check the rest of the way. The bright spots for the Bags were freshmen Kip Masuda and Shane Peterson--three hits a piece—but the meat of the order, Longoria, Boatright and Bradley were a combined 2-12. Andrew Carpenter started strong—fanning five over the first four innings—but somehow in the sixth it all went away. Four straight singles and suddenly the Shockers had a 5-2 lead. Shane “Slash” Peterson's RBI single in the second gave LBSU a 1-0 lead, following a leadoff double by Sean Boatright, his first hit after missing three weeks of the season. A hit by pitch with the bases loaded made it 2-0 but the inning ended as did a number of others with stranded runners (9 for the day.)

Today the Niners will try to salvage something sending Vance Worley (1-4, 5.24) against Kris Johnson (2-0, 6.14). After that a week at the drawing boards with no Tuesday contest then the trip behind the Orange Curtain to Cal State Who next weekend. Pack your earplugs and smuggle in your beer.

SUNDAY MY DUST WILL COME—The tonic for the baseball disappointment was a stop by the Pyramid to observe the inside job by senior Duncan Budinger who tied his career-high with 28 kills while hitting .590 as #3 Long Beach State rolled to a 30-16, 30-26, 30-27 win over No. 11-ranked Ohio State…Long Beach hit an impressive .485 (59-12-97) in the match, including a .692 in game one…Budinger hit .590 (28-5-39) while Robert Tarr hit .520 (14-1-25) with 14 kills…All-American setter Tyler Hildebrand, who moved into the No. 2 spot all-time in career assists this weekend, finished with 52 assists, three digs and a team-high four blocks…Paul Lotman added eight kills and a team-high nine digs… long distance dialing, a faithful reader wanted to know how Sac State was doing, the new employer of Don Barbara…this weekend was another rough one, lost two of three to Utah Valley State, dropping an 8-0 on Friday and splitting on Saturday--7-1 win and 6-5 loss…last add Utah Valley, their softball bunch is playing a double dip themselves against Niner Michelle Turner and company on campus today…Turner pitched a perfect game over Mercer at the LBSU Invitational last Friday and was named Big West Conference Pitcher of the Week…it was the seventh perfect game in school history, and came with a career-high 11 strikeouts…WSI btw won their basketball contest yesterday making a famous BB alum, Paul Wight (aka Big Show), happy…he played BB at Wichita State in the early 1990's…next to excitement at the Eck (ask Oracle about this matter--hint--on deck circle) his patented Chokeslam aka Showstoppa is a Midwest favorite…

We close with another bit of disturbing history, Saturday was the first day in my memory when the Beach was the only Big West school to lose...check out the scoreboard…Pacific 10, California 3, Santa Barbara 13, TCU 3; UC Irvine 10, Oral Roberts 7; Northridge 6, LMU 3; Fullerton 5, Arizona 3; Cal Poly 5, Washington 4—DR. DAN…

NOTHING GREEN WAS GOOD AS SHOCKER PITCHING SERVES THE BEACH A BAGEL

You know it ain’t a good night when they don’t run out of free tee shirts. When your all world third baseman goes 0-4 with two strike outs and makes his second error of the year. When a pro scout on hand says that most of the 14 weak singles that Wichita State had would have broken a wood bat. When the first five visitors scores all came with two outs. When the visiting hecklers start asking for Joe to pitch. Enough of that misery, we start at zip-zip today and it can’t get no worse.

For you stat collectors #23 Wichita State upped their record to 18-3 after they scored three times in the first and Shocker starter Travis Banwart pitched the best game of his career and put the first shutout on the Beach since a 10-0 meltdown at CSUF on May 22. For Jared Hughes first inning issues rose again. He got the first two guys out then hit a batter (one more coming later) and then gave up three singles and eventually three runs. It was his first loss of the year but the skipper said that “after the first he still gave us a chance to win.” JH’s line was five runs (four earned) on 8 hits, striking out 3 and walking one (109 pitches). It was his second career loss to the Shockers and Banwart, who pitched 7 strong and beat JH last year up there. Two guys had two hits a piece but with bonehead base-running-too it was too little too late.

BRACKLESS DUST--Knowing that Mike Weather’s lineup card has as many names scratched out as your NCAA March Madness bracket, we thought we might pass along these fairly recent budgets for big and small time basketball teams…revenues and then expenditures, Arizona $16. 6 mill in and $4.1 out; Murray State 959,000 in and $1.7 mill out; Pacific $1.4 in and $1.4 out…Today the Shocker stopper, er ah, starter is lefty Rob Musgrave 4-0, 0.98 and like his counterpart Andrew Carpenter (3-1, 2.28) the apple of the pro scouts eyes….Sunday it will be Kris Johnson (LHP, So., 2-0, 6.14) vs. Vance Worley (RHP, Fr., 1-4, 5.24)…meanwhile at the Mid, four players tallied double figures in kills as #5 Long Beach (16-6) defeated Rutgers-Newark 30-20, 27-30, 30-21, 30-22 last night…Duncan Budinger led the way with 14 kills, Francisco Valdez added 13, Teddy Liles and Robert Tarr each had 12 and Tarr added 10 digs for a double-double…tonight action resumes when .BYU and Rutgers-Newark play at 5:30 PM and the Nines take on Ohio State at 7:30 PM… don’t expect Mike Gallo to stay out late for his 29th birthday party on April 2, that’s the day before the Astros' opener. "I'm just still trying to find that arm slot," he told Houston media, "maybe my arm strength isn't there yet." Playing for his great grandparent’s home country Italy in the World Baseball Classic last week Pepe was missing the pep when he gave up two runs over two-thirds of an inning against Venezuela, but threw 1.3 scoreless innings of relief against the Dominican Republic…last add ex Bags, Jered Weaver had his best spring outing with five innings of two hit work for the Angels against Oakland yesterday...the Dirtbags current losing streak continues (six of its last nine)….today’s matchup looks to be a good one with RHP Andrew Carpenter (3-1, 2.28) for the Dirtbags and RHP Rob Musgrave (4-0, 0.98) at 2 p.m. In the series finale LHP Kris Johnson (2-0, 6.14) will start against LBSU RHP Vance Worley (1-4, 5.24)…so how popular is WSU back home in Kansas…well Dorothy I hate to tell you this but it will still take an act of the Kansas legislature to force KU and KSU to play the Shox in basketball….the bill tries again this year but you sooner see nine runs scored on a wet Friday night than that happening…hummm.. scoreboarding around the Southland…CSUF 6, Arizona 4; California 3, Pacific 1; LMU 10, CSUN 0; TCU/UCSB ppd; Irvine 9, Oral Roberts 8; Oregon State 4, USC 1; and Dartmouth 3, Pepperdine 2…closing quote from Augie Garrido, “"I think last week, what occurred happened as a result of the first of the season,…Baseball is like money, you can't go out and put 100 percent into practice and get 100 percent back right away. If you put 100 percent into practice you're lucky to get 5 percent in development…the players finally understand the importance of letting go of what happened last week and building off of that and learning from the bad things that happen.”—DR. DAN

WICHITA STATE MARCHES INTO BLAIR BRAGGING ABOUT THE MISSOURI VALLEY

“We're really proud of what we've done, and we weren't going to let a bunch of people around the country who haven't seen us make us feel any different," Wichita State coach Mark Turgeon said of the conference. "We know what we have and it's pretty special." Time out. There is a new American Idol in Shocker City and for the moment the venerable and feisty Gene Stephenson has to take a back seat to the basketball coach whose team knocked off Seton Hall Thursday. Ironically it seems only yesterday when we sat in the palatial boosters lounge at WSU and listened to the Shocker baseball family complain that the diamond program was being asked to fund football and basketball. Today the guys in spikes have the stage to themselves when they make their first serious road trip to face the #21 to 27 Dirtbags (12-9) in just slightly warmer than Wichita weather.

With a 17-3 record all the Shock starters have great numbers and tonight the best record on the Beach Jared Hughes (4-0, 3.40) takes on Travis Banwart (4-1, 3.5.) The Niners are off to a struggling start at 12-9 but have played the baddest and the best. Local officials like to remember that “in 1998 LBSU opened 2-8-1 before reeling off 12-straight and the school’s last College World Series appearance, while in 1997, the team started off 8-11 before winning eight straight. That brings you up to now when this series continues with the Shoxs leading 15-13. WSU won the last meeting, but before that the Dirtbags had won nine in a row. This season other than splitting single games with Kansas State and Oklahoma WSU has had a Charmin schedule (squeezably soft) featuring Vulcans, Hatters, Colonels and the like. This season Shockers have a 2.75 ERA, hit a lusty .336 and opponents are batting .218. Two of the black and golds are hitting over .400, Josh Workman .413 and Damon Sublett, .405. Meanwhile the Beach is still searching for those weapons of mass destruction and as a team is hitting a modest .276 with a 3.44 team ERA. Evan Longoria leads with .382 but freshman Shane Peterson likes being in the lineup and the left-handed pitcher-slash-designated hitter-slash-leftfielder is batting .346 with a .615 slugging percentage in nine games this season. Masuda, Bradley, Cline and Cruz are the other Niners over .300.

GREEN DUST--The journey to the tourney is over. basketballs back into the cage, coaches back to the drawing boards and the searching for new threads on those computer chat rooms…So now Niner-ville can turn back to the outside fun and games and the LBSU version of “Guess who’s going to be athletic director”…this time President Alexander has the process on double super secret probation—any leaks and you go off campus…in men’s volleyball the brain trust has tweaked the lineup to feature the hitting of both Duncan Budinger (26 kills beating USC) and Robert Tarr (21 kills)…Niners have won three of their last four and have the v-ball elite--BYU, Ohio State and Rutgers coming for matches at 5:30 and 7:30 tonight and tomorrow...off campus, NFL referee Charles Stewart told the LB Century Club of a run in with former Ram Coach Chuck Knox. “One time he kept hollering at me, “Are you blind, are you blind, are you blind?” Stewart finally turned to the coach and said, “Did I hear you say something to me?” at which time Knox didn’t miss a beat and replied, “Not only are you blind, I guess you are deaf too.”…and yes there was a former Cal State San Bernardino coach who moved to D 1 and quickly got his team to the Big Dance…that would be John Margaritis and his UC Riverside women's basketball team, who beat you know who…around the Big W this weekend, Fullerton @ Arizona, Oral Roberts @ UC Irvine, Loyola Marymount @ Northridge, Pacific @ California, TCU @ UC Santa Barbara, and UC Davis @ Portland…last night Irvine scored five runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to snap a tie and beat Oral Roberts, 7-2…March sadness in Iowa…ex LB boss Wayne Morgan loses his job in the Iowa State boardroom and Iowa loses on the court to Northwestern State on an Aaron Nixon-like buzzer beater three in the corner…Wayne is taking the fall for an AD that approved that non-conference game scheduling arrangement…but the parting gift is nice, about $1.5 million—DR. DAN

WICHITA STATE MARCHES INTO BLAIR BRAGGING ABOUT THE MISSOURI VALLEY

“We're really proud of what we've done, and we weren't going to let a bunch of people around the country who haven't seen us make us feel any different," Wichita State coach Mark Turgeon said of the conference. "We know what we have and it's pretty special." Time out. There is a new American Idol in Shocker City and for the moment the venerable and feisty Gene Stephenson has to take a back seat to the basketball coach whose team knocked off Seton Hall Thursday. Ironically it seems only yesterday when we sat in the palatial boosters lounge at WSU and listened to the Shocker baseball family complain that the diamond program was being asked to fund football and basketball. Today the guys in spikes have the stage to themselves when they make their first serious road trip to face the #21 to 27 Dirtbags (12-9) in just slightly warmer than Wichita weather.

With a 17-3 record all the Shock starters have great numbers and tonight the best record on the Beach Jared Hughes (4-0, 3.40) takes on Travis Banwart (4-1, 3.5.) The Niners are off to a struggling start at 12-9 but have played the baddest and the best. Local officials like to remember that “in 1998 LBSU opened 2-8-1 before reeling off 12-straight and the school’s last College World Series appearance, while in 1997, the team started off 8-11 before winning eight straight. That brings you up to now when this series continues with the Shoxs leading 15-13. WSU won the last meeting, but before that the Dirtbags had won nine in a row. This season other than splitting single games with Kansas State and Oklahoma WSU has had a Charmin schedule (squeezably soft) featuring Vulcans, Hatters, Colonels and the like. This season Shockers have a 2.75 ERA, hit a lusty .336 and opponents are batting .218. Two of the black and golds are hitting over .400, Josh Workman .413 and Damon Sublett, .405. Meanwhile the Beach is still searching for those weapons of mass destruction and as a team is hitting a modest .276 with a 3.44 team ERA. Evan Longoria leads with .382 but freshman Shane Peterson likes being in the lineup and the left-handed pitcher-slash-designated hitter-slash-leftfielder is batting .346 with a .615 slugging percentage in nine games this season. Masuda, Bradley, Cline and Cruz are the other Niners over .300.

GREEN DUST--The journey to the tourney is over. basketballs back into the cage, coaches back to the drawing boards and the searching for new threads on those computer chat rooms…So now Niner-ville can turn back to the outside fun and games and the LBSU version of “Guess who’s going to be athletic director”…this time President Alexander has the process on double super secret probation—any leaks and you go off campus…in men’s volleyball the brain trust has tweaked the lineup to feature the hitting of both Duncan Budinger (26 kills beating USC) and Robert Tarr (21 kills)…Niners have won three of their last four and have the v-ball elite--BYU, Ohio State and Rutgers coming for matches at 5:30 and 7:30 tonight and tomorrow

Off campus, NFL referee Charles Stewart told the LB Century Club of a run in with former Ram Coach Chuck Knox. “One time he kept hollering at me, “Are you blind, are you blind, are you blind?” Stewart finally turned to the coach and said, “Did I hear you say something to me?” at which time Knox didn’t miss a beat and replied, “Not only are you blind, I guess you are deaf too.”…and yes there was a former Cal State San Bernardino coach who moved to D 1 and quickly got his team to the Big Dance…that would be John Margaritis and his UC Riverside women's basketball team, who beat you know who…around the Big W this weekend, Fullerton @ Arizona, Oral Roberts @ UC Irvine, Loyola Marymount @ Northridge, Pacific @ California, TCU @ UC Santa Barbara, and UC Davis @ Portland…last night Irvine scored five runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to snap a tie and beat Oral Roberts, 7-2…March sadness in Iowa…ex LB boss Wayne Morgan loses his job in the Iowa State boardroom and Iowa loses on the court to Northwestern State on an Aaron Nixon-like buzzer beater three in the corner…Wayne is taking the fall for an AD that approved that non-conference game scheduling arrangement…but the parting gift is nice, about $1.5 million—DR. DAN

BRACKETS ARE BUSTED AS THE BEACH HANGS UP THEIR HOOP HOPES

The journey to the tourney is over. The basketballs at Long Beach State go into the cage, the coaches go back to the drawing boards, and the fans will have to find other topics in those computer chat rooms. The Beach was better but in the end not good enough to go on. No NCAA, no NIT, nada post-season.

So now Niner-ville can turn back to the outside fun and games of baseball (just a notch above .500 at (12-9), softball (at .500, 12-12) plus tennis and golf doing quite well but playing to tens of fans. Oh yes, there is the LBSU version of “Guess who’s going to be athletic director” but this time President Alexander has the process on double super secret probation—any leaks and you go off campus.

We can talk about last weekend and next. The bright spot for baseball came on Saturday in Austin, Texas. The numbers were fascinating. Andrew Carpenter worked 115 pitches to the defending national champion Longhorns, (in 87 degree weather, 5700 in the house) and the Dirtbags beat UT 5-3. On Friday they had a lead and lost and on Sunday they had a lead and lost.

Another famous diamond name comes up this weekend when red hot Wichita State (17-2) is at Blair for the Friday to Sunday series. So far the Shockers have been feasting on the Sisters of the Poor and the Niners have been tough at home so both sides will learn a lot about each other.

In men’s volleyball the brain trust has tweaked the lineup to feature the hitting of both Duncan Budinger (26 kills beating USC) and Robert Tarr (21 kills). They Niners have now three of their last four and have the volleyball elite coming to visit this weekend in the Active Ankle Tournament on Friday and Saturday Nights. The visitors are from BYU, Ohio State and Rutgers with matches at 5:30 and 7:30 each night. Rutgers vs. Long Beach in the late match Friday and Ohio State vs. LBSU same schedule on Saturday.

CATCH-UP DUSTING— Back on campus with the wet set, ladies water polo beat UC San Diego to snap a three-game slide and returns Saturday hosting UC Irvine for a contest at noon at the campus pool.

Back off campus, NFL referee Charles Stewart braved a tougher crowd than any pro linebacker last week when he guest speakered at the LB Century Club. A sampling of his insights--Coach with the worst sideline language today, Tampa Bay’s Jon Gruden. Old timer’s division, former Ram Coach Chuck Knox. “One time he kept hollering at me, “Are you blind, are you blind, are you blind?” Stewart finally turned to the coach and said, “Did I hear you say something to me?” at which time Knox didn’t miss a beat and replied, “Not only are you blind, I guess you are deaf too.”

More official comment. It seemed to me that the refs swallowed their whistles in the Big West tourney, very few fouls, lots of held balls, and frustrated coaches. The players didn’t mind and for the Niner men it meant an almost unconscious session of three-point shooting in wins over Fullerton and Irvine. Nice to whip the local rivals but alas that effort, and winning the NCAA scoring title, wasn’t enough to interest the NIT.—DR. DAN

NINER MEN’S BASKETBALL: IT’S NOW OKAY TO LET THE COMPANY COME IN

If you need a measure of how much Long Beach State’s men’s basketball team has improved talk with Nancey Kredell. She’s not a coach, not a broadcaster, not a writer, not a pro scout, not even a basketball parent. Nancy is a full time 49er fan with a special passion for men’s water polo.

Nancey is the mom of one of those calendar-quality men’s water polo stars of a few years back, Chi Kredell, who collected All American awards, Olympic medals and pro paychecks before retiring to play cops and robbers in LA. Mom Kredell however still gushes over the pool poloists and that’s where the basketball connection comes in. “You know that we have a wonderful new men’s water polo coach”, Nancy told me, “his name is Gavin Arroyo and he was at our last men’s home basketball game with 17 recruits.”

I gulped but then realized that Gavin likely knows what he is doing. The guy was a two-time member of the U.S. Men’s Olympic Water Polo team, an assistant coach at the UC Berkeley and the head coach for the Olympic Club of San Francisco men’s team. In the past men’s hoops was so bad that a coach would rather take recruits duck hunting with Dick Cheney. Not any more.

Last Saturday Aaron Nixon scored 24 points and Shawn Hawkins 19 and came from way behind to out-scored UC Irvine 53-27 in the second half and win the game by 20, 93-73. That got the Beach boys a ton of confidence and a first round bye in the Big West tourney underway this weekend in Anaheim. The 90 points also gives Long Beach the 2006 regular season NCAA scoring title at 83.7 per game, ahead of--drum roll please-- Duke. The first contest for the team is Thursday at 6 p.m. Win and play on.

The kinder, gentler side of the BWC party, the ladies division, also has a Long Beach flavor and that would be the Niners of Mary Hegarty who beat Irvine 67-65 and proudly own half of the Big West Conference crown with UCSB. These Niners get a free pass until the semi finals on Friday at 2:30 after which you can go across the street and visit with Mickey and Minnie then come back for the Niner men’s semi final (we hope) that evening and keep the same parking place.

OUTDOOR DUST—Spring means those major league millionaires have to go back to work and that would include former Dirtbag all-world pitcher Jered Weaver. His Angel coaches love his fastball but worry about how it gets to the plate, “an extreme, across-the-body motion that could be more taxing on the arm,” according to MLB.com. His team’s pitching coach Bud Black believes the motion gives the 6-foot-7 Weaver an advantage “because hitters aren't used to the ball being delivered from such an odd angle.”

The in-town diamond news comes from softball that has played in tourneys at UNLV, San Diego, UCSB and Arizona and now gets host their own. The field includes Mississippi State, Mercer, UCLA and Syracuse with games all weekend at Mayfair Park in Lakewood. No conflict with the Dirtbags who are searching for their lost offense at Texas.

Last add spring swingers, the 49ers women’s tennis team goes to Riverside Friday on a ten match win streak after blowing out UC Irvine and Pacific last week Insider say they won’t lose any conference matches this season and probably not many sets.—DR. DAN

RED CARPET IS OUT, TROPHY POLISHED, AND THE WEEKEND WINNER IS

…

Welcome to the Oscar afternoon edition of the Dirtbag baseball award show. Your nominees for best team in the Blair Field division this weekend are: The Long Beach State 49ers out of the rough and tumble Big West and Directed by a distinguished and graying Coach Mike Weathers. They took the Friday night honors 3-2 despite some scary moments. The second nominee is or is the Baylor Bears out of the rough and tumble Big 12 conference directed by the distinguished and graying Coach Steve Smith. Baylor had some scary elements themselves but in the last scene on Saturday they came out of the dark and dank cellar to run off with a 5-3 win squaring this important non-conference series at one game apiece.

The unlikely named hero for Baylor was not a new car but a 5-10 freshman, Beamer Weems, who drove a seventh-inning RBI single over a drawn-in infield, broke a 3-3 tie and set up a rubber match today for the bragging rights for this weekend’s series. For the visitors it was a shocking comeback, five unanswered runs and a defeat of #16 Long Beach State. The homeboys had some good fortune early when the scored three unearned runs in the bottom of the fourth collecting three RBI singles after a boot and a bang (translation for Barbara Hughes (Jared's Grannie who writes me from Alpharetta, Ga.)--an error and a hit batter. BU added an insurance run in the eighth and the Niners hang doughnuts, (zeroes) the rest of the way. And now the envelope, but not so fast, we still have a nice head to head this afternoon featuring a pair of promising right-handers, Tim Mathers (0-2, 2.08) with good work but no decision against SF Austin and Arizona State and Vance Worley (1-2, 3.86) and winner last Sunday over UI-C.

WHO ARE YOU WEARING DUST—tough with a lead, since the start of the 2002 season, Baylor is 128-6 when leading after eight innings, 57 of their last 58 such games…bright spot for the Beach boys were part time starters Matt Cline and Jose Hernandez, two hits each...Andrew Carpenter's (now 2-1) saw his 17 inning scoreless streak came to an end in the sixth as three-straight singles cut the LBSU lead to 3-1...in the fourth following a leadoff error by second baseman Kevin Russo. Hernandez and Jordan Struble came through with RBI singles to make it 2-0. Cline added an RBI single to give the Dirtbags a 3-0 lead, good bat work but all the runs in the inning were unearned…next up for the Dirtbag’s is the short trip up the hill to Loyola Marymount on Tuesday at 2 p.m., coaches show Wednesday and then the airplane to Austin Thursday for a set with clearly unhappy Texas, losers of two straight so far at UNLV….

how important is today’s outcome to the visitors. Coming in to the series the Waco Tribune chatted with Bear skipper Smith and he said, “It would be a significant accomplishment for us to win the series. LBSU has some really good pitchers and Evan Longoria”…same sense of importance for the Beach boys…as noted below the Titans are struggling at Rice, and the coaches maybe second guessing…that walk off homer on Friday by Rice may have been a goof by Horton and his clipboards… Rice announcers noted that Owl stud Rodriguez was hitting just .192 vs. RHP but George left in his lefty Estes where Rod was 11-20 and then the homer, game over…speaking of that CSUF bunch, many season ticket holders on the first base side are grumbling about the hard edged heckling of some newcomers in the upper rows…”I expect that at Goodwin Field but we don’t need that here”

…good news dept. the 49ers swept all six singles matches in straight sets and claimed a 7-0 women’s tennis win over Pacific on Saturday afternoon and in Irvine the ladies held on for a 67-65 win for a share of the BWC crown and the men just spanked the Anteater gents behind Aaron Nixon (24)and Shawn Hawkins (19) in a 93-73 win that makes the Beach the 2006 NCAA D-1 scoring champions…take that Duke…on the .BWC baseball scoreboard--Cal Poly 8, San Diego 5; Oklahoma 7, Riverside 4; Oklahoma State 8, Northridge 2; Oral Roberts 8, UC Davis 6; Rice 6, Fullerton 2; Irvine 5, Sac State 4; UCSB 4-0 LMU 3-2 (Game 1 went 11 innings)—DR. DAN

BAGS BEAT BAYLOR 4-3 AND NOW THIS WORD FROM THE HORSE (HIDE’S) MOUTH

It’s the first Saturday in March and time that we had a chat with Mr. Baseball. No, not one of those infomercial guys, the real baseball used last night at Blair Field where, depending on whether you read the Baylor website “A bad-hop single broke a 3-3 tie in the bottom of the fifth and that run stood as No. 16 Long Beach State edged Baylor 4-3” or the Long Beach version “Evan Longoria went 3-for-3 and Jared Hughes (4-0) picked up his fourth win of the season as No. 15-ranked Long Beach State (10-5) held on to defeat No. 22-ranked Baylor (7-3) 4-3 on a chilly Friday evening.”

Mr. Baseball however offers his own version of events and we will turn today’s Dust over to him. Yes there was bump in the dirt in the fifth, but how can you blame me for bouncing around after what they did to me earlier. First that big tall guy for Long Beach said be wanted to “elevate the ball” in the first inning and darn near put me in the parking lot. In the second inning the Baylor guy has his own wild thing. In the third they sent me all over the yard, that Longoria guy bangs me off somebody’s body, then the Bears throw the ball to hard and gravely open spaces instead of soft gloves and finally the pitcher doesn’t even throw the ball and LB gets a run on a balk. Not my fault and not my fault that Hughes puts me on the unis of two Bears but somehow the home team escaped real damage. From then on I was tired and cold and just wanted to get back in Larry Randall’s ball bag to rest and stay warm. That’s why I let the Beach get those two double plays and seven strike outs; enough was enough for this old ball.

SUNNY DAY DUSTING—notwithstanding all that mystical musing above, the truth is that Baylor is jinxed, even their talented SID Larry Little (LA Tech grad and a master of making great looking media guides) says so… the Bears have “now lost seven one-run decisions in 13 all-time meetings against Long Beach State (10-5), including five of seven meetings at Blair Field”…of course Larry has to dig deep when you have a to sell a shortstop named Beamer Weems….more bad Bear luck occurred when Hughes plunked two guys loading the bases with no outs but Longoria and Cruz tricked the visitors with a hesitation throw to the plate for one out by Evan and then an arm fake to first by Cruz before he rifled it back to third to catch and Bear runner and base coach maybe napping…more Beach good luck was sticking with Hughes when as Coach W would say, “he didn’t have everything he needed”, noting that “the big fella kept is in the thing and showed signs of maturity”…the clip boards also got great work out of soph closer Donnie Hume who earned save number four punching out pinch hitter Seth Hammock and Kevin Sevigny with the game on the line…of course that was after Hume put runners on at first and second with no outs…BU starter and loser Ryan LaMotta came in optimistic, “I like pitching at Long Beach State because they've got a big ballpark…I think their ballpark will play to our strengths because we're more of a gap hitting team instead of a power hitting team.”…okay I will forward that note to Andrew Carpenter who uses five pitches including a wicked slider to close those gaps…finally, rounding up a Friday night in the Big West…Gary Daley Jr. and Rocky Roquet combined on a three-hit shutout No. 30 SLO defeated No. 25-ranked San Diego 4-0...in Irvine Anteater starter Justin Cassel struck out a season-high nine batters to lead the Anteaters to a 3-1 win over Sac State…Riverside fell 1-0 at #25 Oklahoma in 10 innings...CSUN's Paul Wilson had a three run dinger but the Mats lost to Oklahoma State, 10-3…lastly the F hats, Josh Rodriguez hit a walk-off home run in the bottom of the 10th inning as No. 4 Rice toppled the Titans, 3-2, in Houston….and both of last week’s visitors won, UCLA winners 7-2 at NC State and Illinois Chicago beat Ole Miss 4-1…be kind to your horsehide--DR. DAN

TOP TWENTIES TANGLE AS BAYLOR AND THE BEACH BATTLE AT BLAIR

Deuces are wild, that favorite scoreboard saying, becomes reality this weekend when number 23 Baylor (hitting a less than robust .225) visits Long Beach for one of those rare top twenty college baseball match-ups. The homeboys come in at number 15 but still in shock after watching a UCLA reserve hit a two run homer; out of Blair; at night; on a wet night. There is no time for backward glances because this Bear team mirrors the Beach with stout pitching, defense and comes in off their most successful eight-year run in the program's 100-year history punctuated by a 2005 College World Series appearance.

The BU-LB meeting is the fourth annual match-up but likely the last for a while. The Niners (9-5) dropped their Tuesday tune-up 6-3 to the Bruins at home while Da Bears (7-2) edged Texas State 4-3 but the Beach boys have won five of its last seven, and lead the overall series 9-3. Once again the radar guns and pro scouts will be out in force for another pitching showcase, starting with tonight’s battle between Big West win leader Jared Hughes (3-0, 3.65) tangling with Baylor’s Ryan LaMotta (2-1, 5.23). Saturday afternoon perhaps the hottest arm in the nation, two-time Big West Pitcher of the Week Andrew Carpenter (2-0, 1.29) goes up against BU lefty Cory VanAllen (1-1, 4.50) and then on Sunday Vance Worley (3.86), winner for the first time last weekend, faces Baylor’s Tim Matthews (0-0, 2.08).

Of course pitchers don’t hit against each other so the “facing up” will be in the form of folks like Dirtbag Evan Longoria with his seven multi-hit games, .439 average, .756 slugging percentage, .586 on-base average and the Bears Zach Dillon, on base safely in 17 consecutive games dating back to last season, one walk in eight of nine games this season and his team’s leader with eight two-out RBI.

DIAMOND DRYING DUST—Like UPS, Jared Hughes has adjusted his delivery to improve service to the plate…pop Bill says the kid has changed his stride and got rid of a ”flying open” arm or something like that…result, better accuracy and his stats speak to that success….Mr. Carpenter off of his one-hit shutout of Illinois-Chicago earned a second BWC Pitcher of the Week honor…1.29 ERA and lots of national press…against Baylor the Beach leads the all-time series 9-3…Mr. Lamotta became the 15th pitcher in Baylor history to record at least 200 strikeouts with his first strikeout of the 2006 season…where are theys-the Marlins starter against powerhouse U of Miami was old Bag Jason Vargas…he pitched two shutout innings, giving up a walk and a single and striking out four on 31 pitches…Jason told the Miami Herald, ''I tried to throw down in the [strike] zone . . . it was good getting back in the battle again…hitters are hitters, no matter what level you're at.” ,,,he’s the leading candidate to grab the third spot in the Marlins' rotation…it was a fund raiser for UM and a crowd of 4,501 showed up in Jupiter, nice idea…

Dillon's two-out RBI triple in the 7th provided the eventual winning run as Baylor edged Texas State 4-3 Tuesday night...Texas State is now 3-10 and the rest of the Baylor W’s have been over lesser lights, Stephen F. Austin, Texas Arlington and that 1-2 mark against Arizona State…Tuesday’s Dust on Dirtbag depth, missed one of the steady outfield workers, Allen Woods out of Lakewood H.S. and Golden West …knowing these coaches, expect as much running around the bases as that Lancaster housewife did in her solo drive-along in that LA Sheriff’s car… …hoop happenings, in front of his Grandpa Connie Hawkins for the first time since high school, senior Shawn Hawkins scored eight of his 17 total points in overtime to as LB’s men’s basketball team escaped with an 82-76 victory over Riverside last night—the women’s tennis win streak hit nine matches in a row when the 35th-ranked Niners defeated conference rival UC Irvine 6-1...the net set is part of that full sporting menu on Saturday when they host the Pacific at 1 pm at the 49er Campus Courts, a short helicopter ride from the Bren Center where both men and women of hoop play with your clone sitting here at Blair for baseball…the rest of the Jumbo Jerry’s (Gordie Verrell’s term for the Big West conference)… UC Santa Barbara at LMU; Riverside at Oklahoma; Don Barbara’s Sac State Hornets at Irvine; Northridge at Oklahoma State; Fullerton at Rice and San Diego at Cal Poly--DR. DAN