Two of Long Beach State’s most popular athletic programs are entering the springtime in different ways. Both the men’s and women’s basketball teams are crawling into the spring, and I don’t mean physically. Continuous losses have buried both of these squads, and their final games in the Big West Conference this season may just be the funerals for their frustrating seasons.
But look on the bright side: For every season gone is a new one born, and the baseball and softball teams enter the spring as the centers of attention. Like a baby coming out of a mother’s womb, both of these programs are going to be the apple of most sports fans’ eyes for the next three months.
As usual, the LBSU Dirtbags are projected to be nothing short of spectacular. Picked to finish first in the very tough Big West Conference, this team has a talent-driven lineup full of future major league draft picks, which include juniors Danny Espinosa, Shane Peterson and Bryan Shaw. This team could possibly be as strong as the 2004 team that last won a conference title, but look beyond the west region. This could also be the first team since 1998 to reach the College World Series.
The roster speaks for itself; five players on this year’s roster were draft prospects last year. Espinosa already has enough preseason accolades to cover a wall in his room. The shortstop is a preseason All-American second team selection, was the U.S. team’s starting shortstop this past summer and is a candidate – along with Shaw – for the Wallace Award, given to the nation’s best collegiate player.
Two Dirtbags in a Heisman-like award race means trouble for every other team in the conference.
And when spectators think that it stops with Espinosa, in comes Peterson, the team’s star first baseman. His resume may not be as flashy as Espinosa’s, but it is impressive as is.
Peterson was a 2007 All-Big West first team selection and will be the team’s best returning hitter from last season. He has been a leftfielder and pitcher during his time as a Dirtbag, and managed to be the best utility player on most fields.
Not bad for a former high school soccer player.
And the pitching duo of Shaw and senior Andrew Liebel are not bad, either. A combined 15-5 record and 2.61 ERA average last season proves so.
Besides the players, another reason sits in the dugout with a Dirtbag cap and shades on. He is the team’s head coach who may have had his best season at the helm last year, despite falling early in the NCAA Regionals. Dirtbags head coach Mike Weathers led a core of young players, 21 of them first- and second-year athletes, to a surprising 39-20 record, which included series wins over national powers Texas and Arizona State during the season.
Most fans can consider last season to be common for LBSU to reach the postseason regardless of who is on the team, but that is not the case. Weathers is an improvisational coach and probably could have done that with another team. Ten of his 17 seasons as head coach in collegiate baseball have resulted in winning records.
Softball head coach Kim Sowder, however, does not have that experience edge for her team, but she is learning quickly to make her team a competitor. The 2007 squad was shafted from the postseason and was put behind teams it soundly defeated during the season. With a whole new season to prove doubters wrong, Sowder and company are out to show that the Dirtbags aren’t the only LBSU team that can play the field.
Being picked to finish third in the Big West Conference is not a bad thing considering that five teams from last season made the NCAA Regionals. With freshman pitcher Bridgette Pagano progressing faster than expected, and a number of returning hitters led by senior infielders Jessica Beaver and Whitney Radcliff, winning the conference is not out of the question.
Most of the players on the current roster have been used to Sowder throughout their collegiate careers, and that is a huge factor that the second-year head coach possesses going into this season. Her understanding of her players as an assistant coach and at her current position helps to make a collection of talents into one unit.
I couldn’t call them Dirtbags, but the softball team has similar potential to the boys in black and gold this season, and that is a worthy compliment.
But meanwhile, a fade to just black has made its way to the hardwood for our basketball programs. Losing more often than winning takes the gold out of anything, and LBSU basketball remains very optimistic about next season.
But like I mentioned earlier, both teams are entering the spring still reeling from the winter storms that dampened their records. A little sunshine from Dirtbag heaven would be nice, and the softball team’s return to the postseason would be another pretty sight.
