JOHNNY B GOOD VS. GEORGE OF THE JUNGLE AND OTHER POP UP HITS FROM DEAD RACOONS

Last year about this time, Oregon head coach George Horton was a bit nervous about exposing his tender young Ducks to baseball in Southern California. So, forgetting his powerful presence in the Big West for 11 years as the head coach of Cal State Fullerton (and a 41-31 record against Long Beach State), Horton scheduled a bunch of one-game deals with LBSU, UCI and CSUF. In fact, they beat the Dirtbags, 6-2. George is back, and although his team – ranked 15th, 18th and 21st – was projected to be a world beater,  they are mere mortals coming in at 4-4. OU quacked up a 5-3 home loss to Portland Tuesday night, the same day that the Dirtbags enjoyed a 5-4 comeback win over Southern Cal. More from our well-chilled correspondent (me, I guess)…

“In the still and the chill along the third base line a well bundled Beach fan hollered at the slender six-foot just-under-165-pounder from Clayton Valley High. ‘Hey Johnny B, you go get ‘em.’ From the dugout, his teammate mentor, Matt Duffy, a similarly-sized sophomore from Lakewood, sent in his own succinct advice. ‘Trust It.'”

So with both dugouts lining the railings, and both teams really wanting to win and get out of there, Johnny B (in your scorecard as Johnny Bekakis) had to stand in against one of the Trojan veterans, 6-3 210 pound junior Chad Smith – who won five times last season and had a sub-1 ERA (0.46) in the tough Alaskan Summer League. Johnny was the 21st button that Troy Buckley pushed, and as he said, “I am really glad that we stick with our guys.” The remodeled infield (Mike Marjama at third, Kirk Singer at short, Matt Duffy at second and Brennan Fulkerson/Jeff Yamauchi  at first) played vintage Dirtbag defense. Singer led off the ninth with a walk and advanced to second on a wild pitch, scoring when Bekakis hit the single to right field and trusting it paid off again.

Tonight, it is the next edition of TGIG, that is the Friday version of a new season ticket mini-plan, “Thank Goodness It’s Gagnon.” He did anchor the Friday night pitching role in 2010, but despite pitching against two Top 20 opponents, Gagnon has allowed just two earned runs all season over 14.2 innings of work and has a 1-1 record and a great 1.23 ERA. He opened against Fullerton and took the L in a 2-1 defeat.

Last weekend Drew mixed his dazzling four-pitch plan, fanning seven, zero walks and scattered four hits against No. 17 Arizona. Bonus prize, the Big West Pitcher of the Week award, notice from USA Baseball and a note in the Baseball America Golden Spikes Spotlight.

Oregon’s ace is Tyler Anderson, a 6-4 lefty with a 2.03 ERA. The Beach will again have to shuffle around injuries, catcher Kellen Hoime (at least two more weeks with the back issues) and versatile Michael Hill, maybe ten days or so with the upper-extremity deal. The Ducks got back shortstop KC Serna, who was the 2010 leadoff hitting a team-high .348… But Serna got benched to start the season for breaking “team rules”… KC was 1-5 on Tuesday but is needed, since Stefan Sabol suffered a broken left hand and is expected to be out 4-5 weeks. The freshman was batting .556 with an .889 slugging percentage and .667 on-base percentage… Schedule change for Sunday, game moved to 12:30 pm.

ALL THE DUST THAT FITS—It is way too early to study stats, but a couple of familiar 49ers, Junior CF Brennan Metzger (.346. 9 hits and 0 errors) and Sophomore Matt Duffy (.323, six RBI and a pair of stolen bases), are contributing along with newcomers Matt Hibbert (.446) and Mike Marjama (.333)… Insiders like the Tuesday alignment of Marjama, Singer, Duffy and Yama around the horn, but it does leave the catching question somewhat unsteady… Detroit prospect Adam Wilk, drafted by the Tigers in the 11th round of the 2009 draft recently went back and got his Crim degree… Tiger blog asked him, “Who’s one player in the majors you’d love to strikeout?” “I think it would be pretty awesome if I got to face a few of the ex-Dirtbags, maybe Tulowitzki or Longoria. A little one-on-one against a former Dirtbag who played before me would be a great experience.”… And what does he throw these days? “I throw a 4-seam fastball, a 2-seam fastball, a changeup, a curveball, and a cutter. I would not say I have a go-to pitch because I am a control pitcher and confident to throw any of my pitches in tight situations”… “For a pregame meal I tend to keep it small on what I eat, normally a peanut butter and jelly sandwich”… In the house Tuesday and able to afford more than peanut butter was uber-agent Scott Boras watching his USC son ride the pine… Daddy’s client Mark Teixeira is in the third season of a $180 million, eight-year deal… More parent talk, softball rookie sensation Erin Jones-Wesley (5-2, 1.82) comes from good stock. Her dad “Robert” Wesley played 2B and SS for Coach Gonsalves in 1981-82… Erin’s mom, Darcelle, and dad met on campus… Softball boss Kim Sowder said, “Erin’s work ethic both on the field and in the weight room along with her poise on the mound are two reasons why she is off to a strong start.”

Our closing quote–One of the tweets I read yesterday was from a young lady with the screen name of JoyJoy… Anyhow it appears she has a part-time campus phone job… “I’m at work answering questions about applying to CSULB and I ask if the caller if they have more questions and then she said, “Do you know Casper Ware?” Sports does sell.