Riding a three-game winning streak, the Long Beach State baseball team returns home to Blair Field for its first home series in nearly a month against UC Santa Barbara.(16-14, 4-2).
The Dirtbags last played at home against the Arizona State March 11 and have played 14 of their last 15 games on the road, including trips to Wichita State, UC Riverside and Cal Poly.
Along with returning home, the Dirtbags attempt to win their third series in a row against a Big West Conference opponent. LBSU (13-17, 4-2) took two of three games apiece against Cal Poly and Riverside.
The series wins were much needed as the Dirtbags have played the toughest schedule in the nation to date according to College Baseball RPI source Boyd’s World.
In step, the Gauchos (16-14, 4-2) who have arguably the toughest lineup in the Big West and have won in seven of their last ten games.
As of April 11 the Gauchos boast three of the top five hitters when it comes to batting average in the conference in Brandon Trinkwon, Greg Mahle and Brett Vertiga.
Trinkwon could be considered the best hitter in the Big West overall as the sophomore second baseman leads the conference in on-base percentage, slugging percentage, walks, doubles and comes in third in runs batted in, runs scored , hits and second in batting average, hitting at .391 clip.
Aiding Trinkwon in the line-up is two-way freshman Mahle, who is hitting .386 and has driven in a 22 runs, good for second in the Big West.
When not driving in runs Mahle, a Westminster native, serves as the UCSB closer. The freshman has four saves and 21 strike outs in 20 and 2/3 innings.
Before calling on Mahle UCSB head coach Andre Checketts’ first recruiting class shows its promise with another rising freshman in Friday night starter Andrew Vasquez.
Vasquez may be the best overall pitcher in the Big West leading the conference in wins with five, ERA at 1.19, while striking out 62 batters in a mere 49 innings pitched.
In Vasquez’s eight starts for the Gauchos 6-foot-6 inch lefty has only surrendered six earned runs, a feat that should spell trouble for the Dirtbags come Friday night.
Backing Vasquez in the Gauchos’ weekend rotation is fellow freshman Austin Pettibone and senior Matthew Vedo. Pettinbone shares the Big West lead in wins with Vasquez with five, yet has a less than flattering ERA at 5.09.
Meanwhile, Vedo leads the Big West in strikeouts with 67 although the senior’s 4.65 ERA does little to instill fear.
The Gaucho trio is a formidable group, but the Dirtbags have been swinging the bats well lately and other than Vasquez LBSU should be able to score plenty of runs for their own pitching staff.
As always, the Dirtbags enter the weekend with strong pitching of their in starters Matt Anderson, Ryan Strufing and two-time Big West pitcher of the week Shawn Stuart.
It remains to be seen if Stuart will reclaim his Friday night starting spot coming off of two strong starts.
However, junior right-hander Matt Anderson has been nothing short of solid in the role since Stuart had to relinquish the role due to injury three weeks ago.
The Dirtbags weekend rotation is arguably the best staff in the Big West with no pitcher registering an ERA over 2.77, which ranks them all in the top 10 in the conference.
The series between the powerful bats of UCSB and proven arms of LBSU will be held at Blair Field, where the Dirtbags strengths of small-ball offense will come into play.
The Gauchos power will be less than effective in the vast outfield at Blair, especially with Dirtbags mainstay and defensive wizard Brennan Metzger manning center field.
Rain has been predicted in the Long Beach area throughout the weekend with the first pitch scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on Friday night. Game time for Saturday’s game is 5:30 p.m., while the Sunday game is set for 1:30.