10:00am | In the middle of my nap I woke up hearing the words, “a tradition like no other…” That means it must be time for more Notes on My Napkin. So off we go like a bunny rabbit hiding goodies all over the 324 acres.
Top of our list are the tasty treats provided by our diamond men and women. The ladies of softball finally locked the training room doors and, except for Coach Panita Thanatharm, all of the walking wounded went outside and contributed to a sweep of Cal Poly. Even Panita swung the metal (her crutches) after an accident in the weight room. (Good reason to never go inside a place like that.)
The scores were softball-like, as the Beach (16-20, 4-2 Big West) defeated the formerly frisky Mustangs 4-1, 3-2 and 2-1. The pitching came from the two headed mound monster—Taylor Petty and Erin Jones-Wesley–and the best of the batters was Cya Neal .625 with a triple and two runs scored to lead the 49ers to those three wins plus a .875 slugging percentage and a .667 on-base percentage. The next two weekends are at UC Davis and then at Northridge.
Of less surprise was the tennis result where the No. 51 Women’s Tennis (13-5, 7-0 Big West). LB had an easy Friday winning at Cal Poly 6-1 and a more difficult Saturday afternoon in a comeback win over rival UC Santa Barbara, 4-3. BBL, big bottom line, the 49ers clinched the No. 1 seed in the Big West Tournament in the desert later this month. Still TBA for playing tennis–what the heck the temperatures will be.
Baseball had one of those numbing one run losses in game one down by the Riverside (falling 3-2 late) then picked up the series with 5-4 and 8-2 victories. Lots of good play especially all three starting pitchers, solid pen men, and the return to form of guys like Duffy, Metzger. Patron, Avilla etc…The next two Big West weekends are back at Blair facing the taunts (usually something clever like “state school”) from the UCs, ala Santa Barbara and Irvine. Should be fun.
The crown jewel of the UCR trip was that 8-2 Sunday shutdown. Once again senor Senior Shawn Stuart was dealing and he picked up his second win in a row to clinch the series for the roller coaster kids from LBSU. It was the team’s second consecutive road series victory. Stuart tied Steve Whitaker for the fourth-longest consecutive scoreless innings streak in Long Beach State history, reaching 27 2/3 innings before allowing a pair of runs in the seventh inning against the Highlanders. Stuart is now 3-0 on the year, and has an ERA of 2.18. That would be plenty of support for LBSU, which pounded out 13 hits. Sophomore Ino Patron went 3 for 4 with two RBIs and scored three times to lead the Dirtbags attack, while Juan Avila finished with three RBI, tying a career high.
Back to the Napkin:
Jeri Estes, former WVB assistant, is now doing the same sort of stuff down south at East Carolina University. The list of former Beach aides in the biz is remarkable…speaking of volley looks, expect some really snazzy new uniforms for the black and gold, and (–well, that’s a secret) next season. Last add sand stuff, the Beach is still looking good to send two pairs to the NCAA title match this spring, the fifth flight of Janisa Johnson and Tyler Jackson and the first flight of Caitlin Ledoux and Tara Roenicke.
Leftover from the earlier discourse on the 49er financial life, my CSULB MVP this year is still President F. King Alexander who filled the buses and bought the tickets for that amazing BWC basketball tourney run in Anaheim. The naysayers want him to just tax the students again and again to make their sporting dreams come true but he is true to his plan of quality and value.
Insiders say the issue is “debt load” of students who graduate from Cal State Long Beach. The Beach was among the top 5 western regional universities in the last U.S. News & World Report rankings on overall excellence. Kings plan, get a good degree, still win some games, and go into the future not saddled with immense debt.
Want details? In the “Least Debt” category, CSULB ranked fifth lowest among regional universities in the west with 38 percent of its graduates leaving the campus with an average debt of $10,787. The campus’ average debt load of $10,787 ranked 11th lowest in the nation among all regional universities, and its percentage of graduates with debt (38 percent) was fourth lowest among all regional universities nationally.
Nice idea Mr. President.
Chat room gossip is free and full of speculation. Lately various folks have inquired about basketball coach Dan Monson. The most recent was SMU who had just cut loose Matt Doherty who was the top candidate in the search that ended up with Matt at Notre Dame and Wayne Morgan at the Beach. Both Wayne and Matt eventually lost their jobs, but one wonders the “what if” Matt not Wayne took the 49er job.
Ladies basketball center Ella Clark, a shot blocking star who likes swatting better than taking charges, is from a well-known British basketball family. Her dad Mark coached Britain’s national women’s team from 2006–09 and her Mum played for the National team. But this note is about Daniel Clark who decided to reject the chance to play college basketball in the United States and instead opted to accept an invitation to play at the academy of Spanish club, CB Estudiantes and now is a regular on England’s Olympic Team. He is 6-11 and just 23 so both Ella, 6-7, and her big bro have a lot of hoops in their future.
Who is the most likely to coach their pro team next year? Gregg Williams of the Saints, Bobby Petrino of Arkansas or Stan Van Gundy of the Magic?
Finally our napkin is over flowing with closing quotes, so let’s just do a data dump and clean them all out.
The first is a great quote from 2012 Masters Champion Bubba Watson who also just became a dad few weeks ago. Asked if the kid who swears he never has had a lesson, dreamed of the green jacket? “I never got this far in my dreams!” Well said!
David Wallace incoming Dean at the Cal State Long Beach College of Liberal Arts. An important recruit for the U. Why here why now? “First, the university has an enviable record of making affordable and excellent higher education available to first-generation college students and others for whom a college education might otherwise be inaccessible. Second, the college plays a critical role in insuring that CSULB students receive a well-rounded college education that prepares them for both their professional and civic lives. “
Our roving Spring Training reporters were LB alums Joan and David Pylman. Their report “Joan and I went to Arizona last week. We went to spring training at three parks – we saw the Brewers, Diamondbacks, Royals, Dodgers, Rangers, White Sox. The Dodgers and White Sox share a facility; and it is quite a layout – the clubhouses look real impressive from the outside – although the main stadiums do not seat a lot, they have all the amenities: plenty of press box space, TV wells, souvenir shops, full concessions; and lots of fields – one of the facilities has just a regulation infield, full grassed/dirt, with normal space toward dugout areas. Although we did not see all the ‘stars’, there were plenty of regulars playing in each of the games – and autograph hunters did not go unsatisfied. Tommy Lasorda took out the lineup card to the plate when we were at Camelback to see the Dodgers.” Tommy waved and signed, amazing.
Chris Aquino (ex Dirtbag and a physical education teacher at Territos High School) is one of those guys who have a fantasy baseball team. He was awful last year including last place in nearly every pitching category. This year, well his old battery mate from Dirtbag days was Vance Worley whose promotion to the big leagues last May prompted Aquino’s season-changing roster move. He ditched A.J. Burnett and added Worley, Aquino’s pal from his days at Long Beach State.
“Everyone said, ‘Who’s this Vance Worley guy?'” Aquino recalled others in his league saying. “I was like, ‘He’ll get me to first place.'” As a rookie, Worley was 11-3 with a 3.01 ERA in 25 games (21 starts). The Phillies won 14 consecutive games he started, a stretch from June 18 to Sept. 6 during which he was 9-0 with a 2.61 ERA. He fanned 77 and opponents hit just .214 off him during that time. By season’s end, the Phillies were 16-5 in games he started. He makes $495,000 this year and is arbitration eligible in 2014.
Last of the quotes comes from the Noze Brothers, an underground fraternity at Baylor. They made Coach Kim Mulkey, and all the members of the NCAA champion women’s basketball team, honorary Noze Brothers. They even asked Mulkey to autograph a football. “She has very nice penmanship,” one Noze brother said over the microphone.
Remember handwriting does count.