McELROY IS DA MANNY AS THE BEACH COOLS CAL POLY 8-3 AND STAYS ATOP THE BIG WEST
Manny McElroy doesn’t take anything for granted any more. He said that maybe he did earlier this season after going six plus in an opening weekend win over Southern Cal. Then something happened. He was knocked out early by Texas then suffered mysterious rib/back injury and went on the DL for two months. His comeback started with 2.2 against Oral Roberts (no decision), then a five inning win over CSUN. Against UC Davis McElroy relapsed giving up four earned in less than two innings and got a tough love lecture from Mike Weathers who banished him to Tuesdays. Mission accomplished, Manny gave up a mere two Tuesday night hits in 7 innings against San Diego State, and won the game. Last night he was back to vintage Manny, allowing one unearned run in seven innings while his teammates were scoring in bunches. The latter matter he said, “Gave me a lot of confidence. My slider was really working and I just seemed to be able to hit all my spots.” Closing numbers, #24 Long Beach State (28-14, 8-2) defeats Cal Poly 8-3 with two more to go.
The win over the Mustangs wasn’t a gimme especially since SLO had won 11 of its last 15 games including spanking Fresno State three straight in the Raisin City. McElroy (4-2) scattered eight hits and his only run was unearned after a Niner boot by Jason Tweedy. The Beach scored twice in the first inning with another fire started by the remarkable freshman TJ Mittelstaedt. He led off with a double before Shane Peterson extended his hitting streak to 18 games with an RBI triple then Danny Espinosa’s groundout scored Peterson to stake LB to a 2-0 lead. In the sixth the Niners did it with mirrors scoring five runs with just two hits, a walk and a hit batter. The big blow was a three run double by catcher Travis Howell who said in post-game that he has tried to stop being so mental. “I came in here as a guy that liked to think about things at the plate and Coach Weathers got on me to be more aggressive early in the count.” That three RBI shot he said came when he expected a first pitch fast ball, got it, and drove it to the left center wall. Game over.
CINCO DE DUSTO—that pre-game LF party was former Niner footballer Tim Richmond’s affair…SLO’s super slugger Grant Desme was handcuffed by McElroy who knew of him from their days in Bakersfield…Grant fanned his first two at bats, popped out, singled and flied out for a 1-5 night…the 49ers added their final run in the eighth on a bases-loaded wild pitch…despite some second guessing by the locals Weathers selection of AJ Pinocchio as his DH worked just fine…he had three of Long Beach State’s 11 hits while Mittelstaedt, Perry, Peterson and Howell each had two hits…today’s pitching matchups are SLO’s freshman southpaw Matt Leonard (3-4, 5.19 ERA) against Long Beach State junior reliever turned starter Andrew Liebel (6-2, 2.14 ERA)…with the lefty, expect Krick and some other RH faces to appear…Peterson has leaped to the front of the list for Big West Utility Player of the Year…the Niner pitching staff, 11th in the nation in team ERA at 3.32 and lowered it to 3.29…the Mustangs finished with 13 hits, their fifth straight game reaching double digits in hits...both Vance Worley and Brandon Godfrey are throwing and could be back in two weeks for Riverside...the Tulo triple play got the TBS baseball crew talking about Long Beach’s pipeline to the pros…"Why wouldn't you want to go to school in a place like Long Beach"…Where are they--Tim Hutting, an infielder from the 2003 Dirtbags, is with the Joliet Jackhammers, a team with hot tubs along each foul line… the Most Dreaded initials in college baseball are APR and last week’s report has six programs who will be limited to 10 rather than 11.7 scholarships starting next year for falling below the 925 minimun…Fresno State, New Mexico, Temple, Texas-Arlington, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Texas Tech…LBSU baseball is fine at 939, mens hoops is at 928 but those brilliant male golfers carded a perfect 1000… peace talks underway between the U of SD and San Diego State in the hopes that the #16 Toreros could rent the SDSU yard for a regional…USD has no lights and few seats but they do have a math dept. and know that 71 percent of the host schools win...if it doesn’t work down there the Toreros might become a top seed some where else, like maybe Blair Field…the NCAA, requires that a “host have“200 tickets be available to each of the visiting teams, within a prime location between the first-and third-base lines.”…now to getting an invite LB almost got some help from Pacific but…read on…the BWC Friday scoreboard: Fullerton 12, Santa Barbara 1; Davis 7, Northridge 4; and Riverside 5, Pacific 4…now the rest of that story… Riverside (29-16, 8-2) needed redshirt Mark Samuelson’s double in the 10th inning to overcome a 4-3 deficit before beating Pacific 5-4 in ten …it was UCR’s seventh straight and kept them tied for first with the Beach…SLO and CSUF are tied for third…around the USA it was a rough Friday for teams ranked ahead of the Beach as #7 Arkansas, #9 Oregon State, #12 Wichita State, and #13 Ole Miss all lost to unranked foes—DR. DAN
The win over the Mustangs wasn’t a gimme especially since SLO had won 11 of its last 15 games including spanking Fresno State three straight in the Raisin City. McElroy (4-2) scattered eight hits and his only run was unearned after a Niner boot by Jason Tweedy. The Beach scored twice in the first inning with another fire started by the remarkable freshman TJ Mittelstaedt. He led off with a double before Shane Peterson extended his hitting streak to 18 games with an RBI triple then Danny Espinosa’s groundout scored Peterson to stake LB to a 2-0 lead. In the sixth the Niners did it with mirrors scoring five runs with just two hits, a walk and a hit batter. The big blow was a three run double by catcher Travis Howell who said in post-game that he has tried to stop being so mental. “I came in here as a guy that liked to think about things at the plate and Coach Weathers got on me to be more aggressive early in the count.” That three RBI shot he said came when he expected a first pitch fast ball, got it, and drove it to the left center wall. Game over.
CINCO DE DUSTO—that pre-game LF party was former Niner footballer Tim Richmond’s affair…SLO’s super slugger Grant Desme was handcuffed by McElroy who knew of him from their days in Bakersfield…Grant fanned his first two at bats, popped out, singled and flied out for a 1-5 night…the 49ers added their final run in the eighth on a bases-loaded wild pitch…despite some second guessing by the locals Weathers selection of AJ Pinocchio as his DH worked just fine…he had three of Long Beach State’s 11 hits while Mittelstaedt, Perry, Peterson and Howell each had two hits…today’s pitching matchups are SLO’s freshman southpaw Matt Leonard (3-4, 5.19 ERA) against Long Beach State junior reliever turned starter Andrew Liebel (6-2, 2.14 ERA)…with the lefty, expect Krick and some other RH faces to appear…Peterson has leaped to the front of the list for Big West Utility Player of the Year…the Niner pitching staff, 11th in the nation in team ERA at 3.32 and lowered it to 3.29…the Mustangs finished with 13 hits, their fifth straight game reaching double digits in hits...both Vance Worley and Brandon Godfrey are throwing and could be back in two weeks for Riverside...the Tulo triple play got the TBS baseball crew talking about Long Beach’s pipeline to the pros…"Why wouldn't you want to go to school in a place like Long Beach"…Where are they--Tim Hutting, an infielder from the 2003 Dirtbags, is with the Joliet Jackhammers, a team with hot tubs along each foul line… the Most Dreaded initials in college baseball are APR and last week’s report has six programs who will be limited to 10 rather than 11.7 scholarships starting next year for falling below the 925 minimun…Fresno State, New Mexico, Temple, Texas-Arlington, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Texas Tech…LBSU baseball is fine at 939, mens hoops is at 928 but those brilliant male golfers carded a perfect 1000… peace talks underway between the U of SD and San Diego State in the hopes that the #16 Toreros could rent the SDSU yard for a regional…USD has no lights and few seats but they do have a math dept. and know that 71 percent of the host schools win...if it doesn’t work down there the Toreros might become a top seed some where else, like maybe Blair Field…the NCAA, requires that a “host have“200 tickets be available to each of the visiting teams, within a prime location between the first-and third-base lines.”…now to getting an invite LB almost got some help from Pacific but…read on…the BWC Friday scoreboard: Fullerton 12, Santa Barbara 1; Davis 7, Northridge 4; and Riverside 5, Pacific 4…now the rest of that story… Riverside (29-16, 8-2) needed redshirt Mark Samuelson’s double in the 10th inning to overcome a 4-3 deficit before beating Pacific 5-4 in ten …it was UCR’s seventh straight and kept them tied for first with the Beach…SLO and CSUF are tied for third…around the USA it was a rough Friday for teams ranked ahead of the Beach as #7 Arkansas, #9 Oregon State, #12 Wichita State, and #13 Ole Miss all lost to unranked foes—DR. DAN
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