11:30am | This just might be the perfect pairing to open a college baseball season for Long Beach State and Virginia Commonwealth. Mid Majors in the shadow of a big town, Richmond is fighting for ink in the DC region and Long Beach the same from LA.

Pro franchises nearby cut into their fan base (Orioles and Nationals for VCU; Dodgers and Angels for LBSU). Both are picked third in their respective pre-season conference polls, both have TV basketball games in the Bracket-Buster this weekend, etc. etc.

And finally, sort of like soccer, this is a “friendly”, three staffers with LBSU connections work at VCU, and all that vitriol you save for Fullerton is, well, still in the bottle. While the Dirtbag firm of Buckley, Gilbert and Zepeda has a mix of new guys and grizzled vets the Rams do also. First the visitors have a boss man behind the plate in the sturdy form of catcher Taylor Perkins, a real stud, who played everywhere for two seasons before becoming the everyday catcher in 2011. He hit .320/.401/.467. last year. Off the field VCU has three guys with LBSU connections, former LB fixture David Benedict and two of AD Vig Cegles kids, Vic Jr., who runs the Ram Fund and Casey, who heads corporate sales.

The difference for the 2012 Dirtbags is depth, pitching and playing defense. And, one hopes, hitting the baseball to the corners of spacious Blair Field. The Bags return seven position starters, including the entire outfield, as well as the “heart of the defense” up the middle with catcher Royce Murai, shortstop Matt Duffy, second baseman Jeff McNeil, and center fielder Brennan Metzger. With Buckley being the Picasso of Pitchers one expects that part of the deal to be somewhere between effective and strong. The eight returnees accounted for 19 of the team’s 29 wins and 14 of its 19 saves.

For the newcomers, a lot of interest is on a free swinging freshmen Richard Prigatano, the highest ranked of the new kids. He hit .494 average with six home runs as a high school senior, and was a Top 200 draft prospect (selected in the 16th round by the Toronto Blue Jays but chose not so sign and improve his lot with LBSU). Five more newcomers who turned down pro deals should figure—JUCO Matt Anderson, and freshmen Robert Vickers, Edgar Gomez, Ty Provencher, and Chaz Meadows. Mix in junior closer Eddie Magallon (named to the NCBWA Stopper of the Year Watch list) and his bull pen pals Jon Maciel (1.25 ERA, 17 APP), Josh Frye (1.72 ERA, 15 APP), Jake Stassi (18 IP), Kyle Friedrichs (4-2, 47.1 IP), and Matt Johnson (5-1, 48.0 IP) and there is something to trot out in these early games.

VCU has mound talents of their own, especially, returning top gun and inning-eater Kyle Haynes, (he posted a 6-7 record with a 3.36 ERA last season.) Haynes works well with the aforementioned catcher Taylor Perkins. Infielder Joey Cujas, who hit .321 with a team-high 41 RBI as a freshman, will have the West Coast cross checkers making notes but he isn’t draft eligible this year.

The pitching rotation starts with the Friday guys, RHP Shawn Stuart, 4-4, 3.16 ERA against VCU’s RHP Kyle Haynes, 6-7, 3.36; on Saturday new Niner on the block RHP Matt Anderson gets the go for the Beach against Ram LHP Ryan Farrar, 0-1, 7.04 and the Sunday pairing is LB lefty Ryan Strufing 3-2, 4.70 ERA tangling with VCU’s RHP Kyle Pelchy, 1-1, 6.66. The lineup behind the Beach is subject to change but coaches expect the following: “C-Royce Murai Gets the early nod behind the dish over Hoime; 1B-Jeff Yamaguchi had 31 hits as a freshman; 2B-Jeff McNeil hit .271 in 53 games as a true freshman; 3B-Robert Vickers Started 30 games at Santa Barbara City; SS-Matt Duffy Led 2011 Dirtbags with 31 RBI; LF-Richard Prigatano .18th round draft pick out of HS; CF-Brennan Metzger .in Center for the fourth season; RF-Juan Avila ..396 slugging pct. led 2011 Dirtbags and the DH-Ino Patron .277 average best among returners.”

Mixed Dust 

In Troy Buckley’s first season as head coach of the Dirtbags, LBSU made big strides in a number of areas from last in 2010 to a fourth-place finish and a .500 record in league play last season…The Dirtbags, as usual, have one of the toughest schedules in the nation coming into the season–the Dirtbags have the No. 6 non-conference schedule and are 18th overall…the Niners had four players drafted following the 2011 season:

– Two-year ace Andrew Gagnon was the first selected, in the third round by the Milwaukee Brewers, followed by 16th rounder, Branden Pinder

– Two position players — Mike Marjama in the 23rd round with the Chicago White Sox and Kirk Singer in the 29th with the Pittsburgh Pirates.

VCU is picked third in the Colonial AA and pitchers Farrar and Haynes figured to go in early rounds…Next up for the Niners are a couple of familiar faces that pop up in the middle of the 2012 Pac-12 Baseball Preseason Coaches’ Poll. Tuesday it is a visit from historic but stumbling USC and then on the weekend a three game series with California who saved their program, had a good season last year, but a lot of question marks this year.