By: Ben Fadden
The Long Beach Regional will be taking place at Blair Field from June 2- June 5. The four teams in the tournament are Long Beach State, Texas, UCLA, and San Diego State.
The #1 seed is the Long Beach State Dirtbags. Their season record is 37-17 and 20-4 in Big West play. This is Long Beach’s first time hosting since 2008. This is also the first time that the Dirtbags have won 20 conference games in a season since 1998. The Dirtbags first game is against SDSU on Friday at 8 p.m.
The #2 seed in this regional is the Texas Longhorns. They are 37-22 on the season, and they lost in their conference game 6-5 to Oklahoma State. The Longhorns are without Coach Garido this year, but have still stayed in it to be able to go to a regional. Texas got swept by UCLA earlier in the season, and they have to face them again on Friday in their first regional game. This game starts at 4 p.m.
The #3 seed in the Long Beach Regional is the UCLA Bruins. John Savage’s team had a record of 30-25, and 19-11 in conference play during the season, finishing third in Pac-12 play. This will be the Bruins 9th postseason appearance since 2006. This is their 21st ever NCAA postseason birth and 9th under Head Coach, John Savage. The Bruins will be the third seed for the first time since 2004.
The #4 seed in the regional is San Diego State. This is their 4th conference championship in last 5 years. They beat Fresno State 5-3 on Sunday to capture the Mountain West title. SDSU had a record of 41-19 on the year which is the third time in the last 4 seasons that they have had at least 40 wins. The Aztecs first matchup in the regional is Long Beach State. The Aztecs beat the Dirtbags both times this season. San Diego State’s first game vs Long Beach State is at 8 p.m. on Friday. This game will air on ESPN 2.
Players to Watch
Long Beach State
Ramsey Romano: .338 avg, 2 HR, 36 RBI
Lucas Tancas: .312 avg, 9 HR, 34 RBI
David Banuelos: .303 avg, 7 HR, 28 RBI
Dave Smith: 1.55 ERA, W-8, L-1, 37 SO, 75.1 IP
Darren McCaughen: 2.66 ERA, W-8,L-2, 94 SO, 108.1 IP
John Sheaks: 3.97 ERA, W-7, L-3, 46 SO, 77 IP
Texas
Kacy Clemens: .319 avg, 11 HR, 48 RBI
Austin Todd: .296 avg, 1 HR, 19 RBI
Zane Gurwitz: .292 avg, 2 HR, 13 RBI
Beau Ridgeway: 1.90 ERA, W-1, L-2, 35 SO, 47.1 IP, 11 SV
Morgan Cooper: 2.32 ERA, W-6, L-3, 103 SO, 81.1 IP
Nick Kennedy: 2.82 ERA, W-8, L-1, 57 SO, 51 IP
UCLA
Sean Bouchard: .305 avg, 9 HR, 43 RBI
Daniel Amaral: .286 avg, 1 HR, 21 RBI
Brett Stephens: .279 avg, 2 HR, 21 RBI
Griffin Canning: 2.34 ERA, W-7, L-3, 111.1 IP, 134 SO
Scott Burke: 2.55 ERA, W-0, L-3, 42.1 IP, 46 SO
Jon Olson: 2.91 ERA, W-7, L-1, 77.1 IP, 77 SO
San Diego State (SDSU)
David Hensley: .376 avg, 3 HR, 31 RBI
Danny Sheehan: .354 avg, 6 HR, 51 RBI
Tyler Adkison: .349 avg, 15 HR, 62 RBI
Alan Trejo: .336 avg, 4 HR, 35 RBI
Andrew Brown: .333 avg, 3 HR, 37 RBI
Logan Boyer: 1.46 ERA, 12.1 IP, 13 SO
Jorge Fernandez: 2.66 ERA, W-3, L-1, 44 IP, 32 SO
CJ Saylor: 2.78 ERA, 13 SV, 35.2 IP, 47 SO
Marcus Reyes: 2.98 ERA, W-4, L-2, 51.1 IP, 37 SO
Jacob Erickson: 3.69 ERA, W-5, L-2, 46.1 IP, 33 SO
