JUST LIKE W. BEACH PROPHECIES ARE BUSTED AT BLAIR ON A PICTURE PERFECT FRIDAY NIGHT
For their long awaited homecoming the Long Beach State baseball team had several prime objectives for Friday night. Nice weather (sunny and the low 70’s at first pitch), Blair Field in great shape (“that diamond looks like Mount Vernon” a fan would say), a great crowd (2,447, 14th largest ever), five good innings from Vance Worley (7 hits, one ER and a couple of Ks) and trouble for Fullerton ace Wes Roemer (three unearned runs, control out of control, 4 walks and 4 hit batters). As George W said on the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln May 1, 2003, Mission Accomplished. Sadly, that wasn’t the case for W then and it wasn’t the case for the Dirtbags now.
Despite Dirtbagging their way to three runs in their first at bat, Beach miscues gave them all back in the top of the second and then settled down until a slump-busting home run by Shane “Slash” Peterson (Sunday’s secret pitcher) in the bottom of the fifth got the lead back at 4-3. Mission Accomplished…not so fast. Top of the sixth the Titans got three consecutive hits chasing Worley but bringing in usually reliable Andrew Liebel who fanned the next two F hats to hold the contest at 4-4. Nothing good happened to Andrew or the LB offense after that so in the good-news-only tradition of the Dust we end our scoring report at this point and return to game notes and gossip already in progress.
NEW DAY DUST--Peterson was a frustrating 3-for-38 for the season before Friday but is a reliable lefty with a 1.93 ERA in his three starts...a couple of newcomers made actual or imaginary errors that hurt their teams early on…in the first the CSUF replacement second baseman Corey Jones “Ole-ed” a sharp grounder by Godfrey to keep a rally going and LF Teddy Pattock (in just his third start) turned the wrong way in the Titans three run answer inning…sitting back in the press box, the PT’s Bob Keisser and I had our cell phones out but weren’t calling anybody when LB AD VC (Mr. Cegles for those that have trouble with code) popped in…charming and animated as a head hunter should be, Cegles is a poker player that keeps his cards under his vest…”if Ernie Kent leaves Oregon that will put a lot of things in motion” VC opined, and then recited all the possible movements of head coaches and assistants up and down the coast from Gonzaga to San Diego and a few spots in between…back to the miscues of Pattock and Jones, the old baseball axiom “the ball will find you” is sure true but one box seater worried that the Niners were still auditioning in this the series before Big West play begins…”I know that the conference rosters are shorter and it is better to hit a lefty against a righty but…”…Roemer report, the game was his first no-decision and the first time in his three-year career he did not reach the fifth inning…credit the Beach boys for taking more doses than the school nurse gives out—bangs received by Pattock, Espinosa, Cline and Perry…other numbers news…the just approved increase in tution will cost all the ahtletic programs dearly since most LBSU teams were slightly underfunded this year…the president may try to increase the Beach Pride dollars (he’s got a lot of descretion in those matters) but the acadmeic senate is nervious about the effect on the average student….now this note for you hoop fans still looking for controversy…two spots are still being shuffled with some guys batter at bat and some better at glove…behind the plate you have the good D of Travis Howell, the occasional bat of Kip Masuda and recently the appearance of bull pen catcher Brian Capon…take your pick since nobody has a standout swing but have been excellent keeping runners in check and handling the occasional wild things from the pitching staff…the other hot topic is the hot corner where Weathers can platoon lefty-righty…Jason Tweedy is the left-hander, Taylor Krick from the right side and AJ Pinocchio switches…great glove by Tweedy, better bat by Krick…as usual the Beach has the overall program edge over the one-sport wonders on Nutwood…LBSU won the BWC Commissioner’s cup last year, is in second this year and moving up...CSUF is in fifth and not going anywhere…Long Beach got a lot of points by winning the BWC hoops and senior Louis Darby will get the Beach some air time on Thursday in the ESPN Slam Dunk event with the Final Four in Atlanta…tonight’s hurlers are LB lefty Omar Arif (1-3, 3.81) challenged by Jeff Kaplan (3-2, 3.67) ….Kaplan has a good walk to K ratio, 14/25 but has yielded a team high three homers…sitting behind home plate surrounded by scouts was Ex LB Assistant and current CSUN skipper Steve Rousey…”Bobby Braswell is a hell of a coach” Rousey offered to no one in particular…the Mats come here in Mid April…after the Friday loss the D Bag numbers fell some, the bats are now at a coolish .269 and the team ERA grew slightly to 3.67…closing with the Friday scores…Arizona State 10 @ Southern California 0; Fresno State 11 @ Louisiana Tech 8; Nevada 3 @ Hawaii 5; Oral Roberts 3 @ California 8; San Diego 6 @ UNLV 4; San Diego State 21 @ Air Force 10; UC Davis 9 @ Loyola Marymount 3…film at 11—DR. DAN
Despite Dirtbagging their way to three runs in their first at bat, Beach miscues gave them all back in the top of the second and then settled down until a slump-busting home run by Shane “Slash” Peterson (Sunday’s secret pitcher) in the bottom of the fifth got the lead back at 4-3. Mission Accomplished…not so fast. Top of the sixth the Titans got three consecutive hits chasing Worley but bringing in usually reliable Andrew Liebel who fanned the next two F hats to hold the contest at 4-4. Nothing good happened to Andrew or the LB offense after that so in the good-news-only tradition of the Dust we end our scoring report at this point and return to game notes and gossip already in progress.
NEW DAY DUST--Peterson was a frustrating 3-for-38 for the season before Friday but is a reliable lefty with a 1.93 ERA in his three starts...a couple of newcomers made actual or imaginary errors that hurt their teams early on…in the first the CSUF replacement second baseman Corey Jones “Ole-ed” a sharp grounder by Godfrey to keep a rally going and LF Teddy Pattock (in just his third start) turned the wrong way in the Titans three run answer inning…sitting back in the press box, the PT’s Bob Keisser and I had our cell phones out but weren’t calling anybody when LB AD VC (Mr. Cegles for those that have trouble with code) popped in…charming and animated as a head hunter should be, Cegles is a poker player that keeps his cards under his vest…”if Ernie Kent leaves Oregon that will put a lot of things in motion” VC opined, and then recited all the possible movements of head coaches and assistants up and down the coast from Gonzaga to San Diego and a few spots in between…back to the miscues of Pattock and Jones, the old baseball axiom “the ball will find you” is sure true but one box seater worried that the Niners were still auditioning in this the series before Big West play begins…”I know that the conference rosters are shorter and it is better to hit a lefty against a righty but…”…Roemer report, the game was his first no-decision and the first time in his three-year career he did not reach the fifth inning…credit the Beach boys for taking more doses than the school nurse gives out—bangs received by Pattock, Espinosa, Cline and Perry…other numbers news…the just approved increase in tution will cost all the ahtletic programs dearly since most LBSU teams were slightly underfunded this year…the president may try to increase the Beach Pride dollars (he’s got a lot of descretion in those matters) but the acadmeic senate is nervious about the effect on the average student….now this note for you hoop fans still looking for controversy…two spots are still being shuffled with some guys batter at bat and some better at glove…behind the plate you have the good D of Travis Howell, the occasional bat of Kip Masuda and recently the appearance of bull pen catcher Brian Capon…take your pick since nobody has a standout swing but have been excellent keeping runners in check and handling the occasional wild things from the pitching staff…the other hot topic is the hot corner where Weathers can platoon lefty-righty…Jason Tweedy is the left-hander, Taylor Krick from the right side and AJ Pinocchio switches…great glove by Tweedy, better bat by Krick…as usual the Beach has the overall program edge over the one-sport wonders on Nutwood…LBSU won the BWC Commissioner’s cup last year, is in second this year and moving up...CSUF is in fifth and not going anywhere…Long Beach got a lot of points by winning the BWC hoops and senior Louis Darby will get the Beach some air time on Thursday in the ESPN Slam Dunk event with the Final Four in Atlanta…tonight’s hurlers are LB lefty Omar Arif (1-3, 3.81) challenged by Jeff Kaplan (3-2, 3.67) ….Kaplan has a good walk to K ratio, 14/25 but has yielded a team high three homers…sitting behind home plate surrounded by scouts was Ex LB Assistant and current CSUN skipper Steve Rousey…”Bobby Braswell is a hell of a coach” Rousey offered to no one in particular…the Mats come here in Mid April…after the Friday loss the D Bag numbers fell some, the bats are now at a coolish .269 and the team ERA grew slightly to 3.67…closing with the Friday scores…Arizona State 10 @ Southern California 0; Fresno State 11 @ Louisiana Tech 8; Nevada 3 @ Hawaii 5; Oral Roberts 3 @ California 8; San Diego 6 @ UNLV 4; San Diego State 21 @ Air Force 10; UC Davis 9 @ Loyola Marymount 3…film at 11—DR. DAN
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