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Long
Beach State will host NCAA Regionals
over weekend
By
Matt Pearson
Online Forty-Niner
Sports Editor
The No. 12-ranked Long Beach State Dirtbags will play host to one of 16 NCAA
Regionals June 3-6 with LBSU as the top seed followed by USC Trojans, Pepperdine
and Atlantic-10 Champion Rhode Island.
Although the Dirtbags went 12-8 over their last 20 games to end the year, LBSU
stumbles into the weekend losers of three out of their last four games.
On May 25, The Beach fell to USC 5-4 in 11 innings in a game that lasted four
hours and 39 minutes and finished just 18 minutes short of midnight.
Matt Fitts (0-1) picked up the loss for the Dirtbags as he pitched the final
inning and a third before he gave up a one-out walk to Darin Vieira followed
by a double by Cyle Hankerd that scored Vieira to end the game.
The eighth pitcher for the Trojans in the game, Andy Guy (1-0) picked up the
win by pitching two shutout innings.
LBSU re-took the lead 4-3 in the seventh inning thanks to two Trojan errors.
The big blunder came on a potential inning-ending double-play ball thrown away
by USC second baseman Hector Estrella.
Starting pitcher junior Cody Evans pitching four and a third innings, gave
up three earned runs on six hits and had six strikeouts to go along with four
walks. Center fielder Sean Boatright went 4-for-6 with two runs scored on the
day.
The Beach dropped their previous series 2-1 to division rival Cal State Fullerton
to end conference play.
On May 22, the game remained scoreless until the fourth inning when the Titans
struck for two runs. CSU Fullerton put two more runs on the scoreboard in the
fifth, two more runs in the sixth courtesy of a two-run homer by Danny Dorn
and four more runs in the seventh to cap off a 10-0 victory over the Dirtbags.
The win clinched the Big West title for the Titans.
Sophomore pitcher Jared Hughes (8-3) was losing pitcher for LBSU. Despite cruising
through the first three innings, Hughes went five and two thirds innings giving
up six runs on six hits.
Scott Sarver (9-2) had a solid start for the Titans pitching seven shutout-innings
and gave up just four hits for the win.
The Dirtbags’ lone win in the series came on May 21 when they defeated
the Titans 5-1.
LBSU broke a 1-1 tie in the sixth when sophomore third baseman Evan Longoria
made the Titans pay with a two-strike RBI-single following an intentional walk
to junior shortstop Troy Tulowitzki to give the Dirtbags a 2-1 lead.
The score remained the same until LBSU broke the game open with a three-run
eighth inning. Longoria came through once again by driving in two runs and
finished 2-for-4 on the day with three RBIs.
Junior pitcher Marco Estrada (8-2) pitched six strong innings as he gave up
just one run on six hits. Relievers junior Steve Hammond, senior Brian Anderson
and senior Neil Jamison pitched a scoreless inning apiece to preserve the win.
On May 20, the Dirtbags dropped the series opener against the Titans 7-2 in
front of a sellout crowd at Goodwin Field.
Junior Ricky Romero (11-4) had a no-hitter through four and two-thirds innings
and gave up only two runs over eight innings for the Titans.
After giving up four runs in the second inning, junior pitcher Cesar Ramos
(10-6) settled down and retired the next seven batters he faced. Gave up just
one run over the next five innings. But it was not enough as he picked up the
loss.
The Dirtbags begin Regional play Friday at 7 p.m. against Rhode Island at Blair
Field.
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