The Long Beach State Dirtbags will host the Cal State Fullerton Titans this weekend in an All-Big West Conference Super Regional The Dirtbags enter with a 41-18-1 and went an impressive 20-4 in Big West conference play. Long Beach went 4-1 in the Regional round losing to Texas with two victories over both San Diego State and Texas while losing to the Longhorns once. Cal State Fullerton enters with a 37-21 overall record while they went 15-9 in Big West conference play. The Titans dominated the Stanford Regional defeating BYU once and the Cardinal twice to advance to the Supers.
The Dirtbags are led on offense by Ramsey Ramano who is hitting at a .325 clip while picking up two homers and 38 RBI. The top power hitter is Lucas Tancas who has nine homers while hitting .311 with 36 RBI. Dave Smith leads the Dirtbags on the mound with a 9-1 record and a 1.32 ERA in 16 appearances (13 starts). Chris Rivera leads the team in saves with 12 and a 1-2 record with a 2.67 ERA in 25 starts.
Leading the Titans is Scott Hurst at the plate with a .333 batting average with a team high 12 homers and driving in 39 runs. The key with Cal State Fullerton is the strength of their pitching staff which has been led by Colton Eastman who has battled injuries this year which has limited him to seven appearances (six starts). He has accumulated a 1-0 record and a 1.38 ERA. Another arm to watch is Connor Seabold who is 11-4 with a 2.91 ERA. The backend of the bullpen features Brett Conine who has 14 saves in 29 appearances while having a 1.56 ERA.
I think the Cal-State Fullerton Titans pitching staff will carry them to the College World Series as I believe the Fullerton offense will out hit the Dirtbags but I will be surprised if Long Beach gets swept.
