Series Preview: Dirtbags @ Pacific, 4/5-7

Twelve second scouting report on Pacific.

Overview

It’s been awhile. In my absence the Dirtbags have had their souls crushed by San Diego State, received a kick to the groin from Cal State Fullerton, and played a solid series in their conference opener against Cal State Northridge.

The Pacific Tigers, meanwhile, played poorly to begin the year, poorly against Creighton, and assembled a local little league all-star team to play Fullerton in their stead last weekend. I don’t really hold the contempt for Pacific that my rhetoric may reflect, but as I’ve said on multiple message boards “good luck in the WCC next year, Tigers.” (I frequently follow this up my lamenting about how I wish the Big West could find a tenth school. Apparently, beggars can be choosers)

What's at stake

You’ll notice even before I stopped writing altogether, I stopped mentioning the Dirtbags RPI numbers (currently #138, 36th in SoS, 1-8 record against teams in the top 25, and an overall “RPI record” of 8.3-16). That’s because any hope the Dirtbags had of grabbing an at-large regional bid has long since disappeared. Sure, there’s a chance LBSU could go on a tear and post a record of 27-3 the rest of the way, but in that scenario they’d probably simply win the conference’s automatic bid anyway.

And that’s what’s at stake. The 2-1 Dirtbags will have to win the Big West to be playing June baseball this year, so from this point forward just about every series is a must-win, and this weekend may be a “must-sweep”. Taking only two out of three wouldn’t be crippling to the Dirtbags’ conference hopes, but would likely reflect a talent-gap of a team that simply can’t win a 27-game conference season.

As for Pacific, they’re going to do their best to keep their net runs in the –30 range for the series. I swear to God, if they win this series, there will be bloodshed.

Tale of the Tape

Pitching Match-ups

Friday: RHP Shane Carle (3:35 ERA, 33:12 K:BB, 43 IP)  vs. LHP John Haberman (8.44 ERA, 15:8 K:BB, 21.1 IP)

Carle has been the Dirtbags’ top pitcher all season and should continue to be so. The occasional blow up has kept his ERA in the less-than-outstanding range, but typically he’s been a good bet to get a quality start.

John Haberman has pitched better than his 8.44 ERA indicates but still, his ERA is 8.44. Seriously, guys.

Saturday: LHP Jake Stassi (2.73 ERA, 19:11 K:BB, 29.2 IP) vs. RHP Michael Benson (3.43 ERA, 11:13 K:BB, 42 IP)

Stassi has been one of the surprises of the season for the Dirtbags as he continues to offer consistently solid outings. Since a shaky three-inning start against Arizona State back in early March, Stassi has gone three straight outings of six-plus innings while allowing only one run.

Benson is somewhat of the antonym of Haberman. His performance this year has been slightly less impressive than his decent ERA would imply, though last season he was easily the Tigers best pitcher.

Sunday: RHP David Hill (4.55 ERA, 20:16 K:BB, 31.2 IP) vs. TBA

David Hill has settled into the Sunday role nicely, thus far, pitching two consecutive quality starts against Big West opponents. It’d be unfair to expect much bigger things out of him for this season, but his ceiling is sky-high.

The Sunday starter for the Tigers will likely be either Cory Popham, Michael Hager, or Kyle Crawford. Only one of those options (Crawford) is an unhittable-lefty.

Lineup:

Juan Avila and Ino Patron have returned to the Dirtbag lineup to give the offense a badly needed boost. Avila is back after suffering a hand injury, while Patron returns after letting Royce Murai hit for him the first five weeks of the season. Both Avila and Patron have pushed their on-base percentages over .350 and Patron is slugging .418

In an interesting development, it appears The Colby Brenner Show has gone the way of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and Jeff McNeil moved into center field for the entire CSUN series last week. Colton Vaughn has taken over at second base and has some dynamic speed of his own, while currently boasting a .357 on-base mark. Keep an eye on his progress, as the redshirt sophomore could grab a starting role in 2014 if McNeil or Michael Hill depart for the professional ranks this June.

The Tigers typically offer an offense that isn’t horrifyingly awful, though this year they have just a .306 team on-base percentage and a .329 slugging mark. First baseman Erik Lockwood (.333/.418/.449 in 23 games) remains the team’s biggest threat. Catcher Jason Taasaas, with .383 OBP, is having a solid year but aside from that there aren’t many noteworthy performances from the UoP lineup. Senior second baseman Dustin Torchino has been something of a sparkplug for the Tigers for much of his career, but has disappointed thus far with a .645 OPS. Although Pacific will soon be leaving the Big West, it might be worth watching freshman outfielder Gio Brusa. Brusa has gotten off to a slow start (.414 OPS) but has the potential to be one of the better Tiger hitters in recent memory.

Dirty Talk

I’m still working on getting this blog back up to speed, so I wasn’t able to find a Pacific fan for “Dirty Talk” this week. But that’s okay because I have something even better, a chat with ever-present Fullerton fan Dave Wright from two weeks ago that I never posted. Sorry for the delay, Dave.

Dirtbag Blues: Having already climbed into the top 10 in most polls, how do you think this year's team compares to other Titan squads of the past several years? Dave Wright: There is much more cohesiveness with this year's team than there was in 2011, the last year that Serrano was the head coach, or last year in Vanderhook's first season.  There were major internal issues in 2011 and there was a transition period last season that isn't uncommon with a new coaching staff where some players didn't have as big of a role that they thought they would.  It helps that there are more seniors on the team than any other team at Fullerton in recent memory because the leadership from the seniors has been excellent. The one area on the field that this team is much better in than the previous two teams is the ability to hit for power, which they haven't done much at all since the BBCOR bats were introduced other than Nick Ramirez in 2011.  The rest of the team hit 8 HR's that year and Fullerton only hit 10 HR's last season but they have already hit 11 HR's.   DB: What could be the Titans biggest weakness? DW: The team hasn't been stringing together many hits on the weekends, hitting in the .235-.240 range in each of the last four weekend series.  However, they have seen some pretty good pitching in those series against TCU, Oregon and Texas A&M and the best starter they have seen was probably Alex Gonzalez last weekend at Oral Roberts, who is likely to be drafted in the first two rounds. DB: What's Michael Lorenzen's draft stock look like right now? Any other draft-eligible Titans making a name for themselves so far?  DW: Lorenzen has been hitting much better than he did in the last six weeks of 2012 and is driving the ball with more authority.  He will probably be drafted either late in the first round or in the second round.  The player who can be drafted in June who has made the biggest jump from last season is Chad Wallach.  The MLB guys obviously like his bloodlines but he has gone from being a poor defensive catcher, after being converted to the position last year, with a below average bat to a solid defender and one of the better hitters on the team.  There aren't too many juniors on the team so the other players who are going to be drafted are seniors and the one who is standing out is Carlos Lopez, who has gotten himself in much better shape and is having a great season. DB: I'm gonna challenge you here... who's been better, Justin Garza or Thomas Eshelman? When was the last time the Titans had two freshmen arms that were so good, so early? DW: They have been about the same.  Eshelman is a bulldog who doesn't throw as hard as Garza, who has a live arm, but Eshelman is a little more polished.  Fullerton had two solid freshmen in the weekend rotation last season with Kenny Mathews and Grahamm Wiest and had a couple of pretty good freshmen in the rotation in 2009 with Noe Ramirez and Tyler Pill, which is the last time that the Titans went to Omaha. DB: Austin Diemer looks like he's gotten off to a very nice start, any other Titans who have had surprisingly strong/poor seasons? DW: Diemer has very good speed and will be the starting CF in 2014 after Lorenzen has moved on.  He just needed to get some playing time after getting used to hitting against D1 pitchers.  Wallach, whom I already mentioned, is another one who is having a surprisingly good season. DB: We both know the Dirtbags are going to win the conference, but hypothetically speaking... who poses a bigger threat in the Big West to the Titans; UC Irvine or Cal Poly? DW: Interesting question.  Everybody expected Irvine to have a very good pitching staff and those guys have delivered but their offense has been surprisingly good and their defense has been excellent despite losing three senior starters up the middle at 2B, SS and CF.  Cal Poly returned most of their lineup but hasn't been hitting much until recently and the main reason why they got off to such a good start is due to their pitching being excellent.  They look like two pretty evenly matched teams. DB: We've talk a little about this before, but in general what do you think caused such a large regression for the Dirtbags in recent years, and what do you think they need to do to get back on track? DW: Long Beach stopped getting the amount of front line talent that they were getting in Mike Weathers earlier years as recruiting slipped and the talent level has been below average compared to where it was up to 2008 and that is a big reason why the program has regressed.  Troy Buckley has started to get the program solidified since returning as an assistant for the 2010 season but he probably needs one more big recruiting group to get the talent level in the program close to where it was in 2007-2008 when Long Beach hosted regionals in both of those seasons.

I’ll look forward to chatting with Dave again in four weeks, in the mean time you can find him on twitter here, where you can ask him pretty much anything about the Titans.

Dirtbags' Keys to the Series

An absent supporting cast

Though Avila and Patron have rebounded, Jeff Yamaguchi and the trio of freshman Eric Hutting, Zach Rivera, and Jonathan Serven have regressed, leaving the LBSU lineup awfully top-heavy. Some more support from the 5 through 9 hitters are badly needed for this light-hitting offense.

The Stassi/Hill weekend combo

The Dirtbags may have finally solidified the back end of their rotation and if Stassi/Hill are able to keep the Tigers offense at bay it’s hard to image the Dirtbags could lose this series, or even fail to sweep.

Don’t screw it up

It still seems like the Dirtbags haven’t been able to get running on all cylinders this year, and the team’s imbalanced output has been even more glaring in the last couple weeks. Rookie righty David Hill tosses a strong game against Fullerton…. Michael Hill’s inexplicably called out at third base to end the game; the Dirtbags manage to get seven hits against Northridge’s Jerry Keel… Shane Carle somehow gets lit up by a poor CSUN lineup.

The Tigers may end up being the worst opponent the Dirtbags face all season, if there’s going to be a series where everything should go right for Long Beach, this would be it.

Up Next: For the Dirtbags; San Diego State and UC David; for me, probably writing a remorse-filled letter begging Pacific to stay in the conference.

Series Preview: Wichita State @ Dirtbags, 3/15-17

I had a "shocker" related clip I wanted to play but it wouldn't load, so here's my default backup: Troll 2. Enjoy.

Overview

Travel has forced me to write much of this the Thursday before last weekend’s series against Arizona State, so my analysis here will be a bit brief and somewhat vague. I’ll make up for it in this week’s edition of “Dirty Talk.”

What’s At Stake

Things have gone so far south lately that this series may not matter in the end. Barring some remarkable situation in which the Dirtbags would crush conference competition yet still fail to grab the automatic bid, an at-large selection isn’t happening this year. Either way, the Dirtbags have held a nice rivalry with the Wichita State Shockers (11-5) over the years, so this is always a series worth watching. A series victory for Long Beach State would also be nice to get things back on track before conference play opens in two weeks.

Tale of the Tape

Pitching Match Ups

Friday: RHP Cale Elam (3.26 ERA, 17:5 K:BB, 19.1 IP) vs. RHP Shane Carle (1.82 ERA, 17:6 K:BB, 24.2 IP)

Saturday: LHP Kris Gardner (4.91 ERA, 6:1 K;BB, 11 IP) vs. LHP Jake Stassi (6.00 ERA, 8:6 K:BB, 9 IP)

Sunday: RHP AJ Ladwig (3.86 ERA, 18:4 K:BB, 21 IP) vs. RHP David Hill (4.60 ERA, 10:5 K:BB, 15.1 IP)

Ten days ago I, half-jokingly, said on twitter that Stassi needed to be starting weekend games based on his fantastic relief outing against UCLA (4 IP, 7 K). Long Beach State, totally seriously, decided to go ahead and start him last weekend. The results weren’t great (3 ER, 3.1 IP) but Stassi may get a longer leash in his second start of the year this weekend.

I have mixed feelings about the switch to the Sunday spot. Jon Maciel’s results weren’t great (5.48 ERA) but his peripheral stats were strong (20 K, 7 BB, 21.1 IP) implying he should have better luck soon. However, Coach Buckley has said for some time that he sees Maciel as a reliever long-term. On the flip side, it’s exciting to see Hill finally get his first career start. It’s probably a good bet at this point that Hill will have a permanent weekend job by next season with a slim, but not outlandish, possibility that he’ll be pitching on Fridays.

Lineups

I won’t say too much commentary on this for now so we can hurry up and get to “Dirty Talk”, but the Shockers’ have gone heavy on the platooning thus far, with 11 players having started at least seven of the team’s first 16 games. Regulars include switch-hitting senior third baseman Erik Harbutz, left-handed catcher Tyler Baker, and the team’s 3-4 hitters, first baseman Casey Gillaspie and designated hitter Johnny Coy.

The Dirtbags lineup… well, there’s not much to talk about so I’ll be brief. Jeff Yamaguchi is predictably seeing his strong early season numbers regress a little, and should probably be dropped in the order. Michael Hill is the only hitter swinging the bat right now, and really needs to be moved to the heart of the order very soon. Juan Avila and Ino Patron… get it together, guys. And Colby Brenner (.446 OPS) has really struggled, to the point where I may have to resign as president of his fan club very soon…

Dirty Talk

This week I’m thrilled to have the commentary of WSU Director of Operations, broadcaster, and former All-American pitcher Shane Dennis. Really makes up for the crappy 500 words I threw together, which preceded

Dirtbag Blues: First off, what the hell’s going on with the weather out there?

Shane Dennis: WSU played opening weekend but it was tough; temperatures in the high 30s with plenty of wind that made it uncomfortable. (Pittsburgh) made it uncomfortable, too. WSU got swept in a home series for the first time since 1970. A trip to Tulsa netted a win against Oral Roberts on the 19th. Then, between the 21st and the 27th, Wichita got 21 inches of snow, 14 inches on the 21st and that wiped out what amounted to eight games. Biggest snowfall in Wichita in years.

DB: Between the Pittsburgh series and all those canceled games, is there much cause for concern over how slowly this season has started for the Shockers?

SD: With eight days to sit around with a 1-3 start, it was rough. Forced indoors, soul-searching after four games is never fun and now you have to just practice and practice and no opponent to try and beat. There was (and is) plenty of concern. That’s not how it goes around here. It’s win or…..win. No other recourse. Plus, with three straight years of no NCAA, EVERYONE is antsy around here when you’re scuffling.

DB: LBSU’s struggles have been a bit more pronounced, but it looks like both programs have taken a bit of a dip in the last couple years. What’s been the biggest cause for the Shockers’ recent downturn and how far is the program from getting back to Top-25 territory?

SD: I think WSU is just about always on the cusp of top 25s to start seasons, if for no other reason Gene Stephenson’s track record. His clubs will get the benefit of the doubt, and in a particular year, if they have a lot of returners they’ll at least be receiving votes or in the top 30. I think the biggest reason that’s tangible for a downturn is the college baseball programs that are more interested in fielding competitive teams, frankly. More people over the last 10 years have seen that college baseball can become somewhat lucrative and if you build some good facilities you can parlay that into a good program. Many programs somewhat close to Wichita State have put more and more money into their baseball budgets and perhaps start to attract more prospects because of that and it’s leveled the playing field, somewhat.

How far is the program away? Hard to quantify but two of the last three years, the RPI of WSU has been right on the edge of NCAA-at-large-worthy, so I guess there’s that. But Wichita State isn’t used to depending on at-large berths. Conference championships and conference tourney championships are what WSU is used to locking up and that’s been rarer the last three years.

DB: What can you tell me about that dynamic duo in the middle of the order, Casey Gillaspie and Johnny Coy?

SD: Casey Gillaspie is a lot like his brother Conor when he was here, in that they both have incredible batting eyes. They rarely chase pitches, rarely strike out and almost always have a quality at-bat. Difference is, Casey has more raw power at this point in his college career and is a switch hitter. Every team likes to have a guy or two in the lineup that makes you say, “Good, we got our guy up there now”. Casey is one of those guys right now, because of what I mentioned.

Coy is an interesting guy because he was our main threat last year, leading the team in homers, RBI, average, slugging and on-base %. Unlike Gillaspie, he’ll overswing now and then and get himself out more. But mistakes to him go a long, long way. Like Gillaspie he has true game-changing, raw power but has a few more holes in his swing. If he’s going well or on a hot streak, you don’t want to be a third baseman or a pitcher. When he barrels balls up, it comes off his bat differently than other college players.

DB: How has Cale Elam’s transition to the rotation been going? In general, what kind of year do you expect from an experienced Shocker staff?

SD: Cale Elam was a lockdown closer for WSU for two years. Due to a junior college signee going pro instead, the staff decided to have Elam start. He has a good sinking fastball, down movement on all his pitches and really good makeup, along with being a good athlete on the mound. It’s hard to say if he was a better reliever because he could go max effort for as long as needed, but so far he’s still trying to settle into the starter’s role. The team is confident when he goes out there because he competes, but he isn’t that power arm that WSU has historically rolled out on a Friday. The jury is probably still out on Elam being a Friday-caliber guy, but he’s not a guy that normally will beat himself. In my opinion, because of the BBCOR bats and Elam’s ability to throw strikes consistently, that’s a start.

The staff as a whole doesn’t have big arms, but like I said, strike-throwers can get you by today. That’s not to say WSU is without ability. Albert Minnis and closer Brandon Peterson probably have the most electric stuff. Minnis is a long-to-middle relief guy with a great sinker slider combo from the left side and induces one ground ball after another when he’s right. Peterson is the guy most likely to sit at 90-92 with his heater. TJ McGreevy is a big-framed strike thrower that has done a better job eating up the middle innings. Lefty Aaron LaBrie is an innings eater in the mid-innings. Overall, very good at throwing the ball over the plate, but most will need help from the defense.

DB: What's the biggest challenge this year's team faces as it tries to get back to the regionals?

SD: I think the biggest challenge for WSU this year is simply this: get back to winning the (Missouri Valley Conference) and win the conference tourney. WSU tries every year to get good RPI games but because the schedule is made sometimes two years out, that’s sometimes a crapshoot. The leadership on the team has to come from within. For the first time ever, no one on a roster has played in the NCAAs. That has to make the players hungry. In turn, they don’t have that NCAA experience to draw on, so they need to get back to having a hunter mentality. Against most teams, WSU will be the hunted, in that it’s still a big deal for other programs to beat Wichita State. Getting that edge back will be a huge start.

Kudos to Shane for putting up with Pittsburgh, snow, and a second-rate blogger these first few weeks of the season. Be sure to check him out on twitter for additional commentary on Shocks baseball.

Dirtbags’ Keys to the Series

The Offense

This has really turned into the key to the season, at this point. The offense needs to start seeing more from their most talented hitters, Patron, Avila, and Richard Prigtano. Freshman Eric Hutting and Zach Rivera are more than holding their own thus far, and juniors Michael Hitt, Jeff McNeil, and Jeff Yamaguchi are having breakout seasons. The ‘Bags have a legitimate potential to be a solid hitting team, but right now they may have the worst offense among the mainland Big West teams.

A New Look Bullpen

The one sure benefit from the recent rotation shake up is it allows Maciel and lefty specialist Landon Hunt to return to the relief corps. While the rotation on Saturdays and Sundays may continue to be a questions mark, stabilizing the back end of the bullpen could be a huge step forward for a pitching staff that, as Coach Buckley puts it, needs more “defined roles.”

Up Next: Cal State effing Fullerton. Oh and San Diego State, too, but who cares.

Series Preview: Dirtbags @ Arizona State, 3/8-10

In Soviet Russia, the Dirtbags follow me... I guess.

Summary

My blog efforts have been about as productive as the Dirtbags’ offense against a left-handed pitcher (get use to hearing about that), but it’s not going to get much better this week (well, hopefully the Dirtbags’ offense will), as I’ll be abroad for the next few days. You’ll have to forgive any typos for now, as I likely won’t have a chance to correct them anytime soon.

The Dirtbags enter their final non-conference road series of the year with a mark of 6-7.

Arizona State is coming off a huge weekend in which they beat vaunted SEC club Arkansas twice and currently have a record of 7-2-1. They’re ranked 20th in the nation by Collegiate Baseball.

What’s at Stake

Our hopes at an at-large bid. That’s probably a bit of a hyperbole, but this weekend presents the Dirtbags best opportunity to inflate their non-conference achievements of the year, which could be vital to their post-season hopes if they fall short of a Big West title. 3.9 “RPI wins” are up for grabs.

Tale of the Tape

Pitching Match Ups

House of Sparky writer Nick Marek had a few comments on each of the Sun Devil starters, below. See this week’s “Dirty Talk” segment for more from Nick.

Friday: RHP Trevor Williams (1.29 ERA, 21:3 K:BB, 21 IP) vs. RHP Shane Carle (1.00 ERA, 14:5 K:BB, 18 IP)

“Trevor Williams is hands down the ace of this staff and he was awarded with many preseason awards including All-American honors and he was placed on the Golden Spikes Award Watch list which is given to the nation's best collegiate baseball player.”

Saturday: LHP Ryan Kellogg (1.20 ERA, 13:1 K:BB, 15 IP) vs. TBA; Projected: LHP Nick Sabo (1.86 ERA, 9:4 K:BB, 9.2 IP)

“Kellogg… can throw gas. Kellogg basically earned his spot in the rotation after his second appearance and  [pitched] against No. 1 Arkansas on Saturday.”

Landon Hunt came out of the pen this week against UCLA, so his weekend status is in question for now. If he does start he’ll need to get things turned around soon to keep that rotation position. If he doesn't start this weekend look for Sabo to start, or RHP David Hill to get his first career nod.

Sunday: LHP Adam McCreey (6.57 ERA, 11:7 K:BB, 12.1 IP) vs. RHP Jon Maciel (5.00 ERA, 18:6 K:BB, 18 IP)

Two lefties? Crap…

“McCreery did not pitch much his freshman year because he suffered an arm injury and pitched out of the pen. This year, he has struggled a bit with his command and could be at risk of losing his spot in the rotation to freshman Brett Lilek if he doesn't turn things around soon….

Head coach Tim Esmay is not afraid to utilize all of his options and if someone is struggling, then he will replace them. Plain and simple. He is very good about playing the hot arm or the hot bat and this year he has turned a lot to the pitching. ASU's bullpen has been phenomenal thus far.”

Lineups

The Sun Devils have boasted a solid offensive club thus far, with three everyday players posting on-base percentages over .400 (Kasey Coffman, Max Rossiter, Michael Benjamin) and four players slugging better than .450 (Coffman, Rossiter, Trever Allen, James McDonald). Their usual lineup looks like this, with a few variations:

CF Kasey Coffman, LH

SS Drew Stankiewicz, LH

C/DH Max Rossiter, RH

2B James McDonald, Switch

RF Trever Allen, RH

C/DH Nathaniel Causey, LH

3B Michael Benjamin, RH

LF Jake Peevyhouse, LH

1B David Graybill, RH

As for the Dirtbags, Zach Rivera has been emerging as a valuable piece to the Dirtbags’ lineup, posting an .888 OPS in limited action, though he hasn’t secured a spot in the field just yet. For all I’ve said in support of CF Colby Brenner, his OPS is just .486, though he remains a solid table setter with an on-base percentage .386. I’d be nice to see him get more of chance against left-handed pitching, but Rivera may force him out of the lineup for now. It’ll be interesting to see who gets leadoff duties against the southpaws this weekend. So far the games have been split between OF Josh Guerra and 2B Jeff McNeil. McNeil will keep batting in the top two spots no matter what.

No other new developments with the lineup seem to be on the horizon, although if Michael Hill keeps up his hot hitting (1.093 OPS) he may find himself batting in the middle of the order soon.

Dirty Talk

This week I’m happy to be joined by Nick Marek, writer for House of Sparky, part of SB Nation. Nick's also a broadcaster for the ASU men's hockey team, which recently finished third in the ACHA Nationals. He’s what Nick had to tell us about ASU (baseball, that is)…

Dirtbag Blues: What's the general state of the program as it comes out of its post-season ban?

Nick Marek: Honestly, this team has already moved past the post-season ban and during the preseason press conference, the players showed that they are more than ready to get back to the NCAA baseball tournament. The one noticeable thing about the Sun Devil's roster is that there are so many freshmen.

As of February 28, 12 freshmen have seen playing time for ASU and they are going to be an important part of ASU's success this season. People have been overly alarmed about the state of ASU baseball when honestly there is nothing different about the program. The only difference between 2012 and 2013 is that the team can compete in the National Tournament.

DB: What can you tell me about that freshman class? Looks like ASU has a pretty talented crop of outfielders joining the program.

NM: The freshman class was a top-20 recruiting class compared to the rest of the NCAA and the strength of the class was on the pitching end, which is ASU's highest need. Ryan Kellogg, Ryan Burr, and Brett Lilek are unreal pitchers and Tim Esmay is using Kellogg as the team's Saturday starter and he said in a press conference that Lilek and Burr will both be starters for ASU in the future but he loves using them in the bullpen because they are a second threat to opposing lineups.

Eric Melbostad is the other freshman pitcher who eats quite a few innings in the pen and will be used in late inning roles (possibly a set-up man like Burr)…

As for the offense, David Graybill and RJ Ybarra are the two immediate stand outs of the offensive group. Graybill has already started a few games and he has a ton of raw power who can be used at first or DH. Graybill, in my opinion, has the tools to be a Pac-12 first team All-Freshmen as does Ybarra. Ybarra plays behind the dish but the problem is that Rossiter and Causey can both steal his time as catcher. Rossiter is a senior leader and one of the better players on the team so he should play 2-3, if not all three of the teams' games behind the plate… I would not be surprised if Tim Esmay moves Causey to a different position (maybe 1B in the future) to clear room for Ybarra. But that's probably looking to next year.

DB: The 3-0-1 weekend speaks for itself, but what more can you tell me about ASU’s strong showing in the Coca-Cola Classic? The Sun Devil’s gotta have some sort of weakness, right?

NM: The biggest thing from the Coca-Cola Classic was sweeping the two game series against Arkansas and beating Ryne Stanek (a first round MLB Draft potential pitcher). ASU played very well in Surprise and no matter whom they beat the rest of the season, no win will beat sweeping No. 2 Arkansas. Sure sweeping UCLA or Oregon or Stanford or Arizona will be nice and a very good piece to add to the post-season resume, but it is not very often teams can say they swept a team in the SEC. Not to mention that team is a top five team in the country.

The major weakness is the team's fielding. It is atrocious. I don't know the stat on the top of my head but over the first ten games of the season, they have to have at least 15 errors. That's not Arizona State baseball and… they will focus on that in practice this week. Fielding is basically the reason they struggled against Gonzaga. They gave up five unearned runs in one inning against the Zags.

Surprisingly, ASU has shocked all of us in terms of pitching depth largely in part because of the freshmen class but I'm concerned about how long the starting pitchers are going. Trevor Williams should not be a concern but is coach only going to allow Kellogg and McCreery for pitch 5 or 6 innings? I love the bullpen but I want to get more consistency out of the rotation otherwise the bullpen could be overworked during the season. Esmay is really good about monitoring pitch counts and it is still very early in the season. I think after he saw McCreery suffer basically a season ending injury last year, he wanted to take things slow and give his young arms time to mature.

DB: Having never been there, what’s Packard Stadium like? What kind of home-field advantage (if any) does ASU get from it?

NM: Packard Stadium gives ASU a tremendous home field advantage especially since the Sun Devil faithful are called the best fans in the west coast based on attendance. The fans are very vocal and it's a very good family atmosphere as well. I think all the tradition the program has and the players that have come through Tempe (Barry Bonds, Paul LoDuca, Dustin Pedroia, Jason Kipnis, Mike Leake, etc) have caught visiting team's attention.

Keep in mind this may be the last or second to last year the Sun Devils will play at Packard. They are moving over to Phoenix Municipal Stadium (The Oakland A's spring training facility) because it will be upgraded facilities, stands and press box for ESPN and Pac-12 Network to broadcast more home games.

Kind of sad that we are saying goodbye to all of that history.

DB: I asked WildcatAuthority's Cody James Martin this same question... what can you tell me about the baseball rivalry between Arizona State and Arizona? 

NM: The rivalry is one of the best in college sports. The past decade, Arizona State has won the title of being the better team in Arizona, but fans were frustrated to see the Wildcats win in Omaha.

We are not poor sports about it because you have to give their fab five and their rotation credit for helping Arizona win the National Title. I think it's going to be even a more heated rivalry this year because of the impact that football, basketball, hockey and other sports have made in the university's sports community.

There is nothing better than a good college sports rivalry and I never get sick of hearing the "Bear Downs" and "Fork 'Ems." 

DB: Off-topic but since we may be seeing these guys on ESPN in late June, any thoughts to offer regarding Arkansas?

NM: Pitching. Pitching. Pitching. Arkansas is one of the best teams in the nation because they have some of the best MLB prospects in the starting rotation and out of the pen. Honestly, there is nothing flashy about their batting and they are a little above average and do not have a ton of power but they don't need to when they can lock down opponents to around three runs. But they are disciplined and well coach so you need to work ahead of the count…. teams need to be prepared to be perfect in all aspects of the game but they are beatable.

I'd like to thank Nick for basically writing most of my preview this week. Be sure to check out his work on House of Sparky and follow him on twitter @nmarekasu14. Nick will also be calling a couple of the games this weekend on pac-12.com.

Dirtbags’ Keys to the Series

Southpaw struggles

This is the second straight weekend that the Dirtbags will have to face a pair of lefties.  This sucks for reasons I mentioned during my recent hissy fit, but it’s an issue the Dirtbags are going to have to figure out if they have regional hopes this year.

Avila and Patron’s arrival

The leaders of the Dirtbag offense have been largely ineffective thus far, with Juan hitting just .227/.358/.250 and Ino .245/.298/.302. Long Beach State needs to start getting more out of its #3/4 hitters (against both righties and lefties).

Up Next: You guys won’t see anything from me until next week’s Wichita State Preview, which will feature some words from former All-American Shane Dennis.

Best of the Rest in the West: Week Three

Each week in the "Best of the Rest in the West" rankings we take a look at the top ten western  conference teams that failed to crack the major top-25 rankings. For last week's rankings click here.

This week's write-up is a bit bare bones thanks to a busy couple of days for me, but at least we have a ranking for this week at all. The next Best/Rest/West top ten won't be until week five, as I'll been traveling next week.

As for the rankings themselves, we had quite a bit of movement throughout the top ten, with the only stagnant team being the one at the top, San Diego. Cal Poly graduates to the Top 25 (NCBWA, Coaches'), no teams "drop in", and the "high potential, low performance" teams thus far (New Mexico, Dallas Baptist, New Mexico State) once again had rough weekends and finally paid dearly for them.

1. San Diego (7-4); Previous: 1; Last Week: 4-0 vs. Coastal Carolina, Gardner-Webb, UNC Wilmington, Stony Brook
2. Gonzaga, (6-4-1): Previous: 6; Last Week: 2-0-1 vs. Arkansas, Pacific, Arizona State
3. California (5-7); Previous: 3; Last Week: 1-2 vs. Baylor, North Carolina, Houston
4. Cal State Bakersfield (8-3); Previous: 9; Last Week: 4-0 vs. Fresno State, Long Island
5. Pepperdine (7-5); Previous: 5; Last Week: 1-3 vs. Baylor, Oklahoma
6. San Diego State (6-4); Previous: 10; Last Week: 3-0 vs. Seton Hall
7. Washington State (8-3); Previous: Unranked; Last Week: 3-1 vs. Cal State Northridge
8. Nevada (8-4); Previous: Unranked; Last Week: 3-1 vs. Sacramento State, Holy Cross
9. New Mexico (2-6); Previous: 4; Last Week: 0-2 vs. Nebraska
10. UC Santa Barbara (7-4); Previous: Unranked; Last Week: 3-1 vs. UCLA, San Jose State

Graduated to Top 25: Cal Poly
Dropped In: None
Dropped Out: New Mexico State, Dallas Baptist

Up Next: Check me out on twitter for any comments on the UCLA game (David Hill is starting!), otherwise, an Arizona State series preview is due up Thursday.

A brief rant on the offense

The Dirtbags just dropped the rubber match against Seattle U., 8-3; losing their second series of the year. Obviously with an 8-3 score the blame can't entirely be pinned on the offense (frankly, "blame" should never be entirely pinned on a single thing when the games are a team effort), but this marks six straight games of scoring four runs or less for the Dirtbags. 

The struggles seem to be worse versus southpaws. When right handed pitchers have gotten the start against Long Beach State this year, the Dirtbags have a  record of 6-2 and average 4.625 runs per game. Against the dreaded lefty the 'Bags are 0-4 and are averaging 3 scores a game. 

The offense in general is going to be far from a strength for the Dirtbags this year, but against LHP it appears we don't even know what we're doing. Left-handed hitting Colby Brenner, lead-off man versus RHP, owner of a solid .385 on-base percentage, and fastest man on the team, has yet to be given a start against the lefties. Josh Guerra, a righty with an OPS of .625, was given lead-off duties versus Seattle lefty Andrew Olsen this past Friday, only to be batting 8th (traditional spot for your worst hitter) less than 48 hours later against another lefty. I can't quite fathom the logic behind this kind of turnaround but I've narrowed it down to two things: 1) LBSU scouted the Seattle pitching staff so thoroughly that it knew which pitchers Guerra was specifically most inclined to succeed against, or 2) when writing a lineup versus left handers we're just randomly throwing something together. Our only other lead-off option we've tried against the left-hander is Jeff McNeil, another lefty. So why exactly is Brenner barred from playing these games?

In addition to benching Brenner on Sunday, Michael Hill, Dirtbag leader in OBP and slugging, sat on the bench presumably also because he's a lefty. Hill has gotten a couple starts against southpaws so it's possible the starting shortstop was just getting a rest today, however I don't see why DH'ing him was off the table.

This team isn't going to be scoring a ton of runs against any pitching, but I'm not sure what we're expecting to see from the offense against LHP when the lineup is apparently written without any rhyme or reason other than: Start as few left-handed hitters as possible; play significantly different lineups each game in hopes that one of them just might produce something.

Sorry about all this, this was just a frustraiting weekend for the Dirtbags and the next three weeks could make-or-break our regional hopes this season. Looking on the bright side, as least we're not bunting as much....

Third inning of Saturday's game:
Brenner walked (3-1). McNeil grounded out to p, SAC, bunt (0-0); Brenner advanced to second. Avila grounded out to p, SAC, bunt (0-1); Brenner advanced to third.

Beautiful. As a fellow Dirtbag fan asked me, "so did they try to bunt him home with 2 outs?????"

Series Preview: Seattle U. @ Dirtbags, 3/1-3

It's a little late but, after a crazy week for me personally, I don't really care. Here you go...

This pretty much sums up my week.

Summary

The Dirtbags followed up their first series win of the year (sweeping Valpo) by playing maybe their most disappointing game of the year, losing to a weak Southern California squad. They enter this weekend with a respectable 5-4 mark and will do battle with a Seattle University team which currently stands at 1-7 and has scored just four runs in its last 45 innings.

What's at Stake

After going 3-1 versus the relatively easy Valpo/USC combo over the past week the Dirtbags will get one last chance to fatten up before the schedule takes a sharp turn to whyislifesohardsville. Long Beach State faces UCLA on Tuesday then spends the next three weekends against Arizona State, Wichita State, and Cal State Fullerton. Best to rack up the W’s now.

Tale of the Tape

Pitching Match Ups

Seattle U. broadcaster Dan Giuliani was our guest for this week’s “Dirty Talk”. Before getting to that segment he had some words on the Redhawk rotation…

Friday: LHP Andrew Olsen (3.00 ERA, 9:5 K:BB, 12 IP) vs. RHP Shane Carle (1.50 ERA, 9:4 K:BB, 12 IP)

“Olson is the Friday night starter and is a really tough, gritty pitcher. Not overpowering, but good location and an excellent change up.”

RHP Ted Hammond (3.48 ERA, 7:6 K:BB, 10.1 IP) vs. LHP Landon Hunt (7.20 ERA, 5:5 K:BB, 10 IP)

“Hammond…is a really exciting kid. Was a star QB in high school in the Seattle area and has a very poised demeanor for being a young kid.”

LHP Kyle Doyle (5.40 ERA, 8:4 K:BB, 6.2 IP)  vs. RHP Jon Maciel (3.75 ERA, 10:6 K:BB, 12 IP)

“Doyle (is) a sophomore southpaw with an awesome curveball. He doesn't have a lot of velocity, but location and the hook are his best attributes.”

Lineups

For the most part Seattle has gone with some variation of this slate…

3B Cullen Hendrickson

SS Nate Roberts

LF Ryan Somers

C Brian Olson

RF Sean Narby

1B Zach Aaker

DH Grant Newton

2B Nick Latta

CF Landon Cray

The lineup’s been a bit Jekyll and Hyde thus far. The team on-base percentage has been a measly .327 but four different regulars (Narby, Somers, Cray, Roberts) have marks over .400.  Brian Olsen adds a OBP of .350 and may have yet to reach his stride this year (more on that below). The ‘Hawks have only one homer so far (hit by Somers) so they should fit in just fine at Blair Field.

As I mentioned during the live blog on Tuesday, Dirtbags that took the field against USC looked a bit too much like the 2010-2011 teams that possessed such lifeless offenses. That notwithstanding this year’s squad, though it isn’t going to break any records, up to this point has manned a very solid lineup from top to bottom. CF Colby Brenner, despite hitting just .120, has set the table nicely with a .371 OBP. SS Michael Hill, 2B Jeff McNeil, and 1B Jeff Yamaguchi each have OBP north of .380. 3B Juan Avila and DH Ino Patron have been inconsistent to start but are good bets to turn it around and C Eric Hutting has been one of the Big West’s top freshmen up to this point. The only thing keeping this team from having a legitimately good lineup is finding a star presence in the middle of the order.

Dirty Talk

In the 11th hour I lucked into scoring an interview with Seattle U. play-by-play man Dan Giuliani. Check him out on twitter (link on his name) and make a song request for his between-inning broadcast music…

Dirtbag Blues: How do you think the baseball program has handled the transition to Division 1 these past couple years and, generally speaking, what’s the future look like for Redhawk baseball?

Dan Giuliani: The program has had some natural growing pains that were to be expected starting a program from scratch. They had 5 players on campus in 2009 to redshirt a year before the first official season in 2010. After gathering only 11 wins in the first year, they have improved their win total each of the last two years. The original freshman class are now seniors, so this year the roster finally feels deep and robust. The future looks bright for the Redhawks with a good crop of young freshmen and sophomores who will be the nucleus of the team for the next few years. 

DB: What has joining the WAC meant to the program? What’s your take on the stability of the WAC in general?

DG: It's tremendous to be a part of the WAC and have the opportunity to play in a conference tournament and to go to the postseason this year for the first time. It gives the schedule some structure and will create some nice rivalry with opposing clubs over time. All important pieces of building the program. 

As for the stability of the WAC, it's really good going forward. There will be a lot of mobility with teams coming and going over the next couple years, but the conference is quite stable. It's turning away from football more and more and I think it is angling more towards a WCC or Big West style conference with a primacy on basketball and baseball. 

DB: Looks like the SU offense has been pretty well shut down lately. Has the opposing pitching just been that good or is it just a light-hitting squad this year?

DG: It seems to be a combo... (Cal Poly) San Luis Obispo had a nice staff and that series was very competitive – really was 3 legit pitching duels. The last couple games against BYU were frustrating and it appears that the offense was probably reaching since they had been struggling at the dish. But the potential is clearly there considering the 32 runs out up against Santa Clara in the opening weekend. The offense is expected to be better than they've shown, that's for sure. 

DB: Any potential draft prospects we should keep an eye on?

DG: The best draft prospect is the sophomore catcher Brian Olson. Really talented kid. Great arm behind the dish, blocks the plate well, and the stick is solid. Team MVP last year as a freshman (.382 OBP, 41% caught stealing in 49 games). Been slow to get going this year offensively, but he should be a guy to keep an eye on going forward. The other guys are the shortstop Nate Roberts, the freshman pitcher Ted Hammond (down the road), and the closer Eric Yardley who throws mid-80s from a submarine slot could be a draft guy as well. 

HUGE thanks to Dan for answering my questions fresh off the flight from Washington. Remember to follow him on twitter @DanGiuliani. He also had these last couple comments on the SU baseball program…

DG: The coaching staff at Seattle U is really tremendous. The head coach Donny Harrel is a great man and his staff is top quality. They'll have the ship righted soon... This rough start so far has been unexpected and perplexing. I expect them to turn it around. And one more note: they have the (10th) strongest out of conference schedule this year and the 29th strongest overall (DB: I believe this is referencing Boyd’s World). Most of the games…have been very competitive - one or two plays away from winning. Could easily be 4-4 or better at this point. I would expect a competitive battle this weekend!

Dirtbags' Keys to the Series

Landon Hunt’s arrival

Carle and Maciel have lived up to their billing thus far and Hunt is coming off a decent start last Saturday. Besides the Dirtbags’ need to picked up some W’s before finishing off it’s non-conference slate with a bang, Landon Hunt could use another confidence building outing before he takes the hill on the road against a Pac-12 school next week.

Fix the glovework

Aside from some great plays by the right side of the infield, the defense has been arguably the biggest weakness for the Dirtbags thus far. They’ve now managed to go three straight games without committing an error and will need to keep that going if they want another series win this weekend. Frosh. catcher Eric Hutting continues to have some growing pains (4 passed ball, 10% caught stealing) and needs to sort that out soon (thankfully the Redhawks have just two steals in seven attempts thus far).

Crack the fake rankings

As I mentioned earlier in the week, the Dirtbags are close to making the Best/Rest/West rankings and another strong weekend could finally convince the voters to get them in the top ten (Okay, I’m the only voter and I could just say “screw it” and put the ‘Bags at #1, but it’s more fun this way).

Up Next: No live blogs this weekend, so I’ll probably catch you guys next on Sunday night with a series recap and some WBC action. Good night, folks...

Live Blog: Feb. 26 @ Southern California

12:00 AM (ET): I'm not waving the white flag just yet, but I think it's time for me to wrap up this live blog. Hopefully the Dirtbags' bats wake up, but should they fail to....

These first two weeks have gone pretty much as well as you could've hoped for for Long Beach State. Losing the series (but taking a game) on the road to one of the top teams in the nation (Vanderbilt), splitting with the defending national champs, and sweeping a home series versus a mid-major.

Tonight's (possible) loss, however, is pretty disappointing. Granted, games like this are bound to happen over the course of the season and being a road match the RPI effect is only 0.7 losses. However, tonight's team seemed much to similar to the Dirtbags of 2011 and the down moments of 2012. The offense was missing and the pitching shot itself in the foot over and over.

A home series versus a struggling mid-major like Seattle is a nice way to avoid running into a losing streak, so hopefully the 'Bags will get things turned around this weekend. Series Preview due up Thursday.

And if we manage to comeback beat the ballclub formerly known as Southern Cal.... well that'd be totes cool.


11:49 PM (ET): Ryan Millison stays in the game for one batter too long and his control finally gets the best of him. Millison exits the game after tossing a solid 4 innings. He struggled with his command early on, throwing 4 wild pitches with 2 HBP in his first 0.2 innings but settled down to shutout USC in the 4th, 5th, and 6th. His first two walks of the night do him in, walking in a Trojan run. Nick Rosetta and the Dirtbag offense will have to pick up the slack.

10:09 PM (ET): Nick Sabo's status in the mid-week spot probably isn't in too much question right now, but the southpaw's start tonight certainly did look a lot like his stints from last year when he struggled mightily as a freshman.

Sabo exits the mound at Dedeaux Field with the follwing line: 2.2 IP, 4 hits (1 homer), 2 runs (1 earned), 3 BB, 1 K. Millison gets out of the third but Dirtbags trail 2-1.

9:25 PM (ET): The Colby Brenner Show may yet have some life in it. A walk in the top of the first followed by gunning down a running in the bottom half.

Unfortunately it wasn't enough to get Sabo out of the inning. Rookie catcher Eric Hutting is still struggling behind the dish. Another passed ball set up the Trojans to score on a ground out. Dirtbags trail 1-0 after 1.

8:31 PM (ET): Lineups...

Dirtbags
CF Colby Brenner

2B Jeff McNeil

3B Juan Avila

DH Ino Patron

RF Richard Prigatano

C Eric Hutting
1B Jeff Yamaguchi

LF Josh Guerra

SS Michael Hill

Trojans

CF Greg Zebrack

2B Adam Landecker

1B Dante Flores

C Jake Hernandez

RF Vahn Bozoian

SS James Roberts

3B Kevin Swick

DH AJ Ramirez

LF Timmy Robinson

Pretty conventional for both teams, although you have to wonder how long Hill will remain in the 9th spot with his slugging percentage being as high as it is. Hutting has hit himself up a notch into the 6th slot.


8:00 PM (ET): Well, the next 72 hours are going to suck for me and on top of that I'll probably miss most of this weekend's series will Seattle, so let's make this game count, guys.

LHP Nick Sabo gets the ball for LBSU, fresh off the best start of his career against Arizona last week. RHP Brent Wheatley gets the ball for the Trojans. Wheatley tossed five scoreless innings against a solid Loyola Marymount team last week, K'ing four and walking three. The true freshman is one of many highly touted rookies from the Trojans' top ranked recruiting class (#24 by Collegiate Baseball).