The field of 64 was chosen for the NCAA baseball tournament and the Long Beach State team was left out, as it failed to win the Big West and an automatic bid this past weekend against Cal State Fullerton.
Entering the last weekend of the season, the Dirtbags (28-27, 15-9 Big West Conference) had a chance to steal the Big West conference championship away from the visiting Titans, but dropped two of the three games at Blair Field and fell to third place in the conference.
“[Long Beach] put themselves in a good situation and they have nothing to not be proud of,” head coach Troy Buckley said. “[This team] overcame a lot this year.”
Cal Poly, which entered the last weekend of the season tied with Long Beach for second, swept UC Riverside and ended its season one game behind Fullerton. Like Long Beach, however, it failed to secure a postseason spot.
“I told the seniors I’m proud of them,” Buckley said. “They did justice to the program and justice to the community.”
After splitting the first two games, the Dirtbags and Titans played a winner-take-all game Sunday. Fullerton (35-19, 17-7 Big West) took that thanks in large part to a four-run seventh inning that was highlighted by a home run by J.D. Davis that flew over the left field wall and onto Federation Drive.
Long Beach State starting pitcher Shawn Stuart had held the Titans scoreless until that fateful seventh inning, but those four runs would decide the Dirtbags’ season. The two foes would score a run apiece in the eighth inning before Titans center fielder and closer Michael Lorenzen came into close the door on the Dirtbags’ season.
“It’s disappointing, no question,” Buckley said. ” Give credit to Fullerton, they made plays when they had to.”
Before the season-deciding game, the Dirtbags dropped the series-opener 4-0, but rebounded with a strong 5-1 victory Saturday thanks to Ryan Strufing’s 8 2/3 innings pitched. Strufing went into the ninth looking for the complete shutout, but the feat evaded him as the Titans would score their one and only run. After successive singles, Buckley brought in closer Kyle Friedrichs to ensure a Long Beach victory.
Friedrichs struck out Davis on three straight strikes, but the Fullerton freshman would have the last laugh a day later with his shot over the left field wall.
Providing Strufing with offensive support, Long Beach center fielder Brennan Metzger hit the Dirtbags’ first home run at Blair since May 2010 in the third inning. The shot went just over the Troy Tulowitzki sign in left and put the Dirtbags ahead 4-0. The left field shot was only the second home run hit at Blair all year.
“That was our first [home run] so it was cool,” Metzger said. “I’m not a guy who hits a lot on home runs so I just put my head down and started running until they told me it went over.”
On Friday, the Dirtbags sent Matt Anderson to the hill to face Titan ace Dylan Floro in an attempt to tie up the Big West standings. But Floro bested the Dirtbags, throwing a complete game shutout. He struck out five and walked one on 117 pitches.
Meanwhile, Anderson lasted only four innings before Buckley called on three other pitchers to end the loss.
Long Beach third baseman Juan Avila paced the Dirtbags offense for the series, as he went 6-for-12 with two doubles and two RBI.
The Dirtbags ended their season in third place in the Big West and one game over .500 at 28-27. It was highlighted by the emergence of Avila and Metzger as formidable middle-of-the-order bats, as well as the strong pitching of the weekend starting trio: Stuart, Anderson and Strufing.
Depending on how the 2012 MLB First-Year Player Draft plays out, Long Beach may lose more than just the six seniors. Those seniors include Stuart, Metzger, pitcher Matt Johnson, outfielder Jonathan Kim, and catchers Juan Favela and Kellen Hoime.
All six were honored before the Sunday affair with the Titans in front of 2,285 attendants.