For 49ers, '95 was a very good year

In 1995, the Cal State Long Beach baseball team completed another successful season under head Coach Dave Snow.

The self-proclaimed Dirtbags finished with an overall record of 39- 25-1 (.602), and a national ranking of 16th, 17th and 22nd by Collegiate Baseball, Baseball America and Baseball Weekly, respectively.

The team started off slowly, and was on its way to setting a new school record for errors in a season when Snow held a two-hour-plus team meeting. The results came quickly, with a 14-9 victory over UC Santa Barbara.

After that, the wins just kept on coming. An 11-game winning streak followed, including sweeps over UNLV and Pacific. This surge guaranteed the 49ers second place heading into the Big West Conference tournament.

The Cinderella team got a quick wake-up call in the first game of the tournament with a 13-8 loss to Nevada-Reno.

The loss appeared to fire up the Dirtbags, as they won their next two games, defeating UNLV 5-3, and getting their revenge on Nevada-Reno 2-0.

The wins gave the team a shot at crosstown rival Cal State Fullerton. An 8-4 defeat brought conference title hopes to an end for the 49ers, but the second-place finish in the strong Big West Conference secured a berth in the NCAA tournament for the fifth consecutive year.

The 49ers did not make it out of the NCAA West Regional, losing to USC. The Trojans eventually fell to College World Series champions Cal State Fullerton. Although the 49ers did not go far in the tournament, one could hardly say that the season was an unsuccessful one.

The attendance at Blair Field set new records for the second-straight year. The 49ers played before 31,721 fans in 39 home games, including CSULB's largest single-game crowd of all time (2,285) vs. Nevada in the Big West Conference tournament.

In June, several 49ers were drafted by professional baseball teams, including third baseman/outfielder Jeff Liefer, who was selected by the Chicago White Sox with the 25th overall pick. Liefer, who led the 49ers in 11 offensive categories last season, becomes CSULB's 41st player drafted into the big leagues, and third first-round pick in coach Snow's seven-year career with the team.

Other 49ers who were drafted this summer include: Kirk Pierce, catcher (9th round, Philadelphia), Scott Rivette, starting pitcher (11th round, Oakland), Gabe Gonzalez, relief pitcher (16th round, Florida) and Jason Minici, left fielder (19th round, Cleveland).