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Dirtbags
finally beat Stanford to advance
By
Michael Bower
Online Forty-Niner
Three-straight
years of frustration from watching their
season end on Sunken Diamond at Stanford
came pouring out of the Dirtbags' bats in
Saturday's and Sunday's games against the
Stanford Cardinal in the Palo Alto, Regional
Tournament.
The
Dirtbags, behind homers from Troy Tulowitzki,
John Bowker and Sean Boatright, finally
got over the hump by eliminating the top-seeded
Cardinal with an 8-4 win in the Regional
Championship game Sunday in front of 2,209
at Sunken Diamond.
"We've
played well at [Sunken Diamond]. We've never
been blown out…I think Stanford respects
us and we respect them," Head Coach
Mike Weathers said. "This time we got
them, and they've gotten us in the past.
It's awfully satisfying."
The
win completed a three-game sweep of the
regional tournament, and sets the Dirtbags
up to host their first ever Super Regional
starting Friday against the University of
Arizona Wildcats at Blair Field. The Wildcats
upset top-seeded Notre Dame in the South
Bend, Ind. Regional to advance to the best-of-three
Super Regional, where the winner will go
to the College World Series in Omaha, Neb.
The
Dirtbags swept a three-game series earlier
in the year at Blair Field against the Wildcats.
The Dirtbags get to host the super regional
because they were the No. 2 seed in the
Palo Alto Regional while the Wildcats were
the No. 3 seed in the South Bend Regional.
The
Beach (39-19), who came into the regional
on a seven-game losing streak, pounded the
Cardinal (46-14) for 15 runs and 22 hits
over the course of two days. Leading the
way for the Dirtbags was Tulowitzki who
hit three home runs in two days, including
his first multi-homer game on Saturday.
Tulowitzki was named the Most Outstanding
Player of the Regional.
"Right
now I'm going to enjoy it," Tulowitzki
said. "It's unbelievable, but we still
have a lot in front of us."
When
asked about being a Dirtbag Tulowitzki said:
"It's great. It's like a dream. I couldn't
have picked a better place to go to school.
Being a Dirtbag - I love it."
Cesar
Ramos (11-4) pitched 7 1/3 innings giving
up just two earned runs on seven hits and
9 strikeouts to earn the win in the championship
game. Ramos kept the 3-4-5 hitters for Stanford
off balance all game as they went a combined
0-for-9.
"You
got to play well at the right time,"
Stanford Head Coach Mark Marquess said.
"Long Beach did that."
Both
Ramos and Jered Weaver were named to the
All-Regional Team along with teammates Danny
Mocny, Tulowitzki, Boatright and Bowker.
The
biggest win of the tournament for the Dirtbags
might have been a 4-3 thriller Friday against
the St. John's Red Storm, which enabled
the Dirtbags to stay in the winners bracket.
Weathers elected to switch the rotation
around and pitch third stringer Jason Vargas,
and save Weaver and Ramos for Saturday and
Sunday.
Weathers
said he changed the rotation because Weaver
deserved the opportunity to pitch against
Stanford, and Vargas was the only one out
of Ramos and Weaver who would be able to
come back on one day's rest if needed.
Steve
Velazco made the move pay off when he drove
in the game-winner for the Dirtbags in the
bottom of the ninth inning, which set up
what Weaver had been waiting for all year
long - a rematch of last years Super Regional
with the Cardinal at Sunken Diamond.
Weaver
and the Dirtbags snapped Stanford's three-year
12-game postseason home-win streak Saturday
as Weaver hurled eight innings of five hit
baseball, and the offense bashed out 14
hits in a 7-4 win.
Weaver
worked in and out of trouble most of the
day, but made all the big pitches when he
needed to.
"Early
on I got myself into some tough situations,"
said Weaver, who became the 15th pitcher
in Division-I history to reach 200 strikeouts
in a season.
"But
I was able to battle through it. And our
hitters ...they were unbelievable. It was
fun to sit back and watch."
Tulowitzki
hammered out two homers while Mocny joined
in with a shot over the left-field wall.
Bowker also chipped in three hits with two
RBIs. The trio, who hits 2-3-4 in the lineup,
combined to go 9-for-15 with six RBIs and
three homers in the game that sent Stanford
to the losers bracket.
"It's
definitely fun," Tulowitzki said. "I
live about 10 minutes down the road (Sunnyvale),
so I have a lot of friends and family here.
It's exciting."
The
Dirtbags are looking to get back to Omaha
for the first time since 1998, while Big
West Conference rival, Cal State Fullerton,
also won its regional and will take on Tulane
for a chance to return to the CWS for the
13th time in team history. Last years national
champion, Rice, has been eliminated by Texas
A&M.
For
ticket information to this weekends Super
Regional at Blair Field call (562) 985-4949.
Some Super Regional games will be televised
on the two ESPN networks.
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