YOUNG DIRTBAGS DEAD EVEN IN THE BIG WEST HOME STRETCH AS HUNGRY AGGIES ARRIVE
When the Dirtbag baseball team (now 20-20) made the trip to Stockton a week after the Tigers mauled Fullerton for two of three, the homeboys bus ride north was, well, sort of nervous. The ride home was almost giddy after the season’s best offensive effort, 34 runs, three wins and moving above .500 in conference, (7-5). With the team batting average up to .297 and deadly on the base paths (88 steals compared to opponents 29) the future is right in front of the 49ers, fourth in a conference that sent four to post season the last two seasons.
With all due respect to our UC Davis visitors, they are the BWC last- place team (1-11, 7-32) and even though Davis made the NCAA’s last season, I worry for the Aggies particularly Saturday night when there will be 1,000 swinging and swaying likenesses of Evan Longoria all around the yard. As the stat geeks will tell you quickly, Evan went 3-5 last night with 4 RBIs and a home run. The Saturday night occasion is a marketing promo bobblehead doll giveaway so don’t be late. (I hope to put mine on one side of my Misty May with Bob Maxson on the flank.)
Back to the future it’s another TGIF-AW, (Thank Goodness it’s Friday with Adam Wilk) the big lefty is 6-1, 2.42 and will be playing his ace status against UCD’s Dane Quist, (2-3, 6.65). Jake Thompson (3-5, 4.64) is against Scott Lyman (0-1, 6.91) on Saturday and Drew Gagnon (3-5, 5.50) is working the bump for the Beach Sunday against Scott Chew (1-5, 4.38).
NAME DROP DUST--Beach softball, won their series with Fullerton and Kim Sowder and her kids play at UCR this weekend…Cal Poly is the run-away leader but the Niners are one game behind Fullerton in third... the BWC’s excellent softball RPI should squeeze three teams into the playoffs…tennis and golf, who have won their respective Big West titles, use their invites next weekend as the coaches try to fine tune their lineups and avoid the dreaded injury bug…tennis plays SEC toughie LSU (13-10) and golf plays in the 21 team West regional at Tempe…good golf by fresh-faced freshman Lee Lopez and senior and a half Kay Hoey and who knows …golfers who need a pre-party Saturday keep that wallet in your plaid pants because some of the kids hanging out in front of Smooth's are the banqueting members of the men’s and women’s golf teams…
In BWC baseball UC Irvine is ranked nationally from first to sixth, and historic power Fullerton (who could knock out UCSB this weekend) outscored Davis 22-1 last weekend …the real scrap is the fight for third place between the Beach and Cal Poly who comes to Blair the next to the last weekend of the season just before the Bags play their final three on Nutwood…where will they be---after 10 years at Long Beach State, marketing boss Tim Dickson will be leaving to accept a position in the athletic department of his Alma Mater, The University of the Pacific…title and salary upgrade…he will be External Affairs/Major Gifts Director…mid-week misery for both UCD and LB.. Joe Kohan hit a walk-off single to right field to cap a two-run ninth-inning rally and lift Nevada to a 3-2 victory over Davis Tuesday and a Tuesday night UCLA grand slam in the first inning proved too much for the Dirtbags to overcome, falling 7-5…Derek Legg was two-for-four but Johnny Wholestaff struggled from the mound…
Around the league this weekend CSUN at UCI, UOP at UCR, USF at SLO, and UCSB at CSUF…on the BWC stat leader board, bull pen aces, Born, Ruiz and Carrillo make the league top ten list as does fast as the wind base stealer Jordan Casas…nobody else...now ask me who goes post-season, well the US tax code is 3.7 million words , 17,000 pages and I would need all that and more to make a prediction…health is one issue and roster changes are another…the F word is in a fight to host and the D Bags, after last season, say they would prefer to travel, anywhere, but not host…ex Bag Danny Espinosa ranks among Carolina League leaders in nearly every offensive category, including OBP (2nd, .494), doubles (t-2nd, 8), stolen bases (t-2nd, 7), walks (4th, 14), OPS (5th, 1.019) and batting average (6th, .339)...the 21-year-old has reached base safely via hit, walk or HBP in 18 of 19 games this season…that is a classic Dirtbag stat line
Classic Dirtbags part two, super fan John Connolly is on the DL for a while at LB Memorial…John recently retired from Boeing as the master airplane maker in the Western World and almanac on all things Boston, food, drink and baseball…at the AI they are running his tab and keeping his bar stool shined…best wishes Boston John—DR. DAN
With all due respect to our UC Davis visitors, they are the BWC last- place team (1-11, 7-32) and even though Davis made the NCAA’s last season, I worry for the Aggies particularly Saturday night when there will be 1,000 swinging and swaying likenesses of Evan Longoria all around the yard. As the stat geeks will tell you quickly, Evan went 3-5 last night with 4 RBIs and a home run. The Saturday night occasion is a marketing promo bobblehead doll giveaway so don’t be late. (I hope to put mine on one side of my Misty May with Bob Maxson on the flank.)
Back to the future it’s another TGIF-AW, (Thank Goodness it’s Friday with Adam Wilk) the big lefty is 6-1, 2.42 and will be playing his ace status against UCD’s Dane Quist, (2-3, 6.65). Jake Thompson (3-5, 4.64) is against Scott Lyman (0-1, 6.91) on Saturday and Drew Gagnon (3-5, 5.50) is working the bump for the Beach Sunday against Scott Chew (1-5, 4.38).
NAME DROP DUST--Beach softball, won their series with Fullerton and Kim Sowder and her kids play at UCR this weekend…Cal Poly is the run-away leader but the Niners are one game behind Fullerton in third... the BWC’s excellent softball RPI should squeeze three teams into the playoffs…tennis and golf, who have won their respective Big West titles, use their invites next weekend as the coaches try to fine tune their lineups and avoid the dreaded injury bug…tennis plays SEC toughie LSU (13-10) and golf plays in the 21 team West regional at Tempe…good golf by fresh-faced freshman Lee Lopez and senior and a half Kay Hoey and who knows …golfers who need a pre-party Saturday keep that wallet in your plaid pants because some of the kids hanging out in front of Smooth's are the banqueting members of the men’s and women’s golf teams…
In BWC baseball UC Irvine is ranked nationally from first to sixth, and historic power Fullerton (who could knock out UCSB this weekend) outscored Davis 22-1 last weekend …the real scrap is the fight for third place between the Beach and Cal Poly who comes to Blair the next to the last weekend of the season just before the Bags play their final three on Nutwood…where will they be---after 10 years at Long Beach State, marketing boss Tim Dickson will be leaving to accept a position in the athletic department of his Alma Mater, The University of the Pacific…title and salary upgrade…he will be External Affairs/Major Gifts Director…mid-week misery for both UCD and LB.. Joe Kohan hit a walk-off single to right field to cap a two-run ninth-inning rally and lift Nevada to a 3-2 victory over Davis Tuesday and a Tuesday night UCLA grand slam in the first inning proved too much for the Dirtbags to overcome, falling 7-5…Derek Legg was two-for-four but Johnny Wholestaff struggled from the mound…
Around the league this weekend CSUN at UCI, UOP at UCR, USF at SLO, and UCSB at CSUF…on the BWC stat leader board, bull pen aces, Born, Ruiz and Carrillo make the league top ten list as does fast as the wind base stealer Jordan Casas…nobody else...now ask me who goes post-season, well the US tax code is 3.7 million words , 17,000 pages and I would need all that and more to make a prediction…health is one issue and roster changes are another…the F word is in a fight to host and the D Bags, after last season, say they would prefer to travel, anywhere, but not host…ex Bag Danny Espinosa ranks among Carolina League leaders in nearly every offensive category, including OBP (2nd, .494), doubles (t-2nd, 8), stolen bases (t-2nd, 7), walks (4th, 14), OPS (5th, 1.019) and batting average (6th, .339)...the 21-year-old has reached base safely via hit, walk or HBP in 18 of 19 games this season…that is a classic Dirtbag stat line
Classic Dirtbags part two, super fan John Connolly is on the DL for a while at LB Memorial…John recently retired from Boeing as the master airplane maker in the Western World and almanac on all things Boston, food, drink and baseball…at the AI they are running his tab and keeping his bar stool shined…best wishes Boston John—DR. DAN
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