By snoadmin
The No. 16-ranked Dirtbags hosted a NCAA Regional as the top seed at Blair Field last weekend, but were eliminated by UCLA, 7-4, on Sunday night. Needing to defeat the Bruins twice to reach the Super Regionals, the Dirtbags (39-20) ended their season against a UCLA squad the Dirtbags had swept during the regular season.
Long Beach State lost the first game of the double-elimination tournament 4-1 to Illinois-Chicago. The Flames were swept by the Dirtbags at Blair Field last year, but a combined one-hitter by two Flames’ pitchers left LBSU at the brink of elimination.
The Dirtbags, however, rebounded and defeated Pepper-dine 6-3 on Saturday. The victory was highlighted by Andrew Liebel’s complete game.
A double-header Sunday afternoon featured a rematch between the Dirtbags and Illinois-Chicago, with the winner advancing to play UCLA in the evening. LBSU was able to extinguish the Flames this time, winning 4-3 due to six strong innings by pitcher Omar Arif.
UCLA’s complete game was too much for the fatigued Dirtbags, who jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning. They were unable to add any more offensive firepower, being held scoreless the final six innings, despite receiving multi-hit efforts from shortstop Danny Espinosa and outfielder Robert Perry.
The Dirtbags finished 21-11 at Blair Field this season, headlined with a season-high 13-game winning streak – fourth longest in school history. Three players – catcher Travis Howell, designated hitter Shane Peterson and Perry – were selected to the Big West All-Conference Team. Perry was also selected to the tournament’s All-Regional Team, along with first baseman Brandon Godfrey.
The Dirtbags are expecting a tremendous number of players to return for next season, as 31 players consisted of freshmen, sophomores and juniors. Despite the early elimination, head coach Mike Weathers told LongBeachState.com. that the team had “a great turnaround from last year.”
“I thought coming out and scoring three runs in the first showed a lot of heart on our part,” Weathers said through the LBSU athletics Web site. “When you are in that elimination game, playing two a day, it’s not that easy.”
Dirtbags by the Numbers
Overall Record: 39-20Conference: 15-6Non-Conference: 24-14Home: 21-11Away: 18-9
All-Conference First Team: Travis Howell, Robert Perry, Shane Peterson
All-Regional First Team: Brandon Godfrey, Robert Perry
Season Runs Leader: Robert Perry (50)
Homeruns Leader: Danny Espinosa (7)
Pitching Leader: Andrew Liebel (9-3, 2.84 ERA, 59 Strikeouts)
