I worried for a while about any year with a “13” in it, and sure enough, this Big West baseball campaign for 2013 is puzzling, Case in point when you have thought that the gentlemen farmers, vintners’, and agrictulralist from California Poly San Luis Obispo (27-11, 7-5 Big West) would be ranked in the top 20 (#18 at this moment,) and owners of a couple of fancy streaks, 7-0 and 13-1 starts in the first four weeks of the current season.

Such is the fate of still wobbly Long Beach State (18-20, 7-5 Big West) but riding a two game win streak with smack downs of UCSB (8-4) last Sunday and UCLA (11-1) Tuesday. The Mustangs, playing for 11th-year head Coach Larry Lee swept UC Davis to open Big West play four weeks ago, lost two of three at UC Santa Barbara, won two of three against Hawai’i and lost two of three against No. 4 Cal State Fullerton last weekend before large crowds in Baggett Stadium. The best of the Mustangs are pitcher Joey Wagman (8-2) and hitters Elliot Stewart’s (four home runs) and of the year, and Denver Chavez (leads the Big West with his .380 batting average; hits (60) and runs scored (36), Surprise of the year is freshman designated hitter Brian Mundell 27 RBI and eight home runs on the year, second only to Matt Jensen (nine) among freshmen in Cal Poly’s 19-year Division I history. The Mustang starting rotation of senior right-hander Wagman (8-2, 2.95 ERA), sophomore southpaw Matt Imhof (4-1, 1.51 ERA) and sophomore righty Bryan Granger (5-3, 4.47 ERA) and Buckley goes rubber to rubber with the usual LB three, Carle, Stassi and Hill.

Back to the ‘Stangs, Lee has guided Cal Poly to a quartet of 3-0 starts with season-opening series sweeps over San Diego in 2005, Fresno State in 2006, Oklahoma State in 2012 and San Francisco this year. While Long Beach State, coached by pitching guru Buckley (third season, 75-74, Santa Clara ’90), has returned 21 lettermen, including 10 position starters and nine pitchers. Last year his team went 28-27 and finished third in the Big West with a 15-9 mark. The recap reminds the faithful of the roller coaster at the Pike, the Dirtbags won five of their first eight games, including a sweep of Valparaiso, and then lost eight of nine before sweeping Wichita State. Long Beach State then lost five straight before winning Big West series against UC Davis and Cal State Northridge. The Dirtbags are 14-8 at home but just 4-12 on the road. The best bats for the Beach boys are shortstop Michael Hill (.336, 17 RBI, six steals), outfielder Jeff McNeil (.329, 16 RBI, eight steals), right fielder Richard Prigatano (.317, 23 RBI, six steals) and designated hitter Ino Patron (.293, 25 RBI). McNeil is a Nipomo High School graduate so is well known to the SLO staff…

The Long Beach State pitching staff is paced by right-handers Shane Carle (2-6, 3.25 ERA) and David Hill (3-2, 4.37 ERA) along with southpaw Jake Stassi (4-1, 2.75 ERA). The closer is right-hander Jon Maciel with a 1-5 record, 6.10 ERA and four saves. The Dirtbags are hitting .265 as a team with 72 doubles, 16 triples and eight home runs, while the pitching staff has compiled a 3.88 earned run average. Long Beach State has committed 51 errors in 38 games for a .965 fielding percentage.

HISTORY DUSTING--While Cal Poly is having it’s best year in the polls (including the Dave Snow and Ozzie years) Long Beach State has eight Big West titles (the last in 2008), has qualified for an NCAA regional 19 times and has reached the College World Series four times (1989, 1991, 1993, 1998). Cal Poly and Long Beach State have met 131 times on the baseball field since the series began when both teams were California Collegiate Athletic Association members back in 1957. The Dirtbags hold an 84-47 advantage, winning two of three games against the Mustangs a year ago in Baggett Stadium…SLO which fell two spots to No. 18 in the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper poll Monday, one spot to No. 23 in the USA Today/ESPN Coaches Poll and one position to No. 23 in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association poll…Next week, Cal Poly caps the road trip by visiting Pepperdine for a 3 p.m. non-conference game Wednesday, then returns home to host UC Riverside. Saturday’s game time is 2 pm which allows for time to freshen before the Jewels of the Night show that evening…the surprise guest auctioneers or celeb is CBS college basketball commentator Bill Raftery, a former college star (LaSalle) and coach (Seton Hall), and talking partner of Verne Lundquist. If old Bill still likes a stogie he has a cigar lounge to visit and nice stuff from South Wine, Molina Health Care, SA Recycling, WEP Construction, Big Daddy Cigars, Pelican Hill Resort…the good chow of course comes from McKenna’s, Gladstone’s, Spaghettini’s, Fora, La Strada, Naples Ribs, Parker Lighthouse, George’s Greek plus drinks and dessert…you might still buy a ticket by calling (562)- 985-4550…in that laugher over UCLA (not funny to John Savage who like his pal Mike Gillespie at UCI) got tossed for unkind utterings…the UCLA offense didn’t do much and now must get their game face on for a trip to Pullman to take on Washington State (19-18, 6-9)…last Pac add, The City of Phoenix and Arizona State announced that Sun Devil baseball will begin playing at Phoenix Municipal Stadium in 2015 season, in a 25 year deal…the yard is just two miles from campus (Blair is a mere mile and a half from campus)…the differences is not just seating capacity (nearly 8,000 in the desert) but big time corporate pals…so far the remodel of Blair hasn’t had any angels in the outfield or infield, or press box, etc……in sand volleyball, in addition to earning a spot in the team portion, Long Beach State’s selection also garners the top two pairs from LBSU entry into the pairs tournament, which will pit the 16 top pairs in the nation in a single-elimination tournament to determine a team champion on Sunday, May 5….the National Championships will be televised on tape delay on CBS Sports Network in three one-hour blocks, beginning on Tuesday, May 21 at 7PM ET, followed directly by an 8 p.m. broadcast. The third block will be shown on Tuesday, May 28 at 8PM ET—DR. DAN