There is one line in the press release on Long Beach State baseball that speaks volumes. “The Dirtbags return to Blair Field for the rest of the season.” If you dream of road dusting the in the post season, like tennis did, and golf and softball are about to do, you first have to defend the house.
Today’s assemblage of notes and quotes starts with baseball but travels far and wide in a focus on the 49er future. On Sunday the unlucky lineup for Beach baseball finally turned their wagon around when highly touted Freshman slugger Richard Prigatano was 3-for-4 with a solo home run and his pitching pal Senior Shawn Stuart allowed two hits and one unearned run over seven innings as Long Beach State finally solved pesky UC Davis 4-1. (Some say that Stuart should be in the conversation for conference pitcher of the year, he is 6-0 with a fancy ERA of 2.40.)
More good news, how about the mid season flame-out Eddie Magallon. After Stuart, got the D Bags to the seventh, it was time for Magallon, who struck out four in two innings of relief to collect his first save of the season. Friday and Saturday, not so good especially when UCD’s Tom Briner pitched his third complete game of the year and just needed 79 pitches. Magallon is important with a weekend visit from Pacific coming up Friday through Sunday and Long Beach State still two games behind Cal State Fullerton in the Big West with six games to play. The Dirtbags are bringing in the Titans for a season-ending series May 25-27.
Beach tennis has earned kudos for their roasting of the Arkansas Razorbacks 4-0 at UCLA and also on the plus side Senior Anais Dallara continues her season in two weeks at the NCAA Championship in Athens, Ga. Issy is the third 49er ever to receive an invitation to the singles championship, one of 64 players selected to compete for the individual title in 2012. Ranked No. 102 in the nation, the tiny Frenchwoman will try to improve on her school-record 30 singles wins. Jenny’s gals eventually lost 4-0 on the road at No. 1 UCLA on Saturday, but ended up with a 19-win campaign.
Bonus baseball notes. So when you are Troy Buckley and you have to take your sometimes light hitting baseball team on the road and know that the other guys (UC Davis) have two or more great lefthanders. So what to do? Call Pepe. AKA Mike Gallo the talented Dirtbag of old (and former major leaguer) so he comes out and throws BP on Wednesday for two rotations and comes away satisfied but with a big time blister. Good idea that didn’t work.
In the Midwest league they have a good idea that works. That would be Wisconsin starter Drew Gagnon (3-1). He is the third-round pick of the Milwaukee Brewers out of Long Beach State a year ago and except for one hiccup the tall right-hander had allowed only four runs all year before he got tagged for five in his five innings of work. Every outing is different.
And in the American League Jason Vargas (Apple Valley via LBSU) was seventh in the American League in innings pitched (43 2-3) through Sunday’s games. He’s 4-2 with a 2.79 ERA in eight starts as the Seattle Mariners’ No. 2 starter (and gets paid good, like $4.85 million a season).
Our sand correspondent Terry Ledoux reports that one of the stars, her daughter Caitlin, will stick around for next season as a grad student in kinesiology/sports management. “Look for Caitlin and Tara back on the sand next spring.” Thanks Terry we trust you.
More mother stuff, since joining the ranks of motherhood, Misty May’s Beach partner Kerri Walsh has added P&G as a sponsor. She’s helping with the campaign that will raise money for youth sports programs and pay the travel costs for more than 800 mothers of U.S. Olympians and Paralympians. The company has also come out with patriotic products, like the stars and stripes Pampers that Walsh is already dressing her sons in to get them into the Olympic spirit. ”I want them looking their best,” she said. (With their history of success, Walsh and May-Treanor will be among the medal favorites in London. They’re already fan favorites for the American TV audience that remembers May-Treanor sprinkling her mother’s ashes in the sand before the gold medal matches in Athens and Beijing.)
And left over from Misty the merchandiser last week another sponsor, Add “Ditch the Drip” where are Misty is a paid spokesperson for Teva Respiratory. “I realized that I had to prepare in advance of my peak allergy seasons if I didn’t want my symptoms to spike and impact my performance both on and off the court.” In our parents as spies system, Misty’s dad Butch stopped by when we were both at the Mid for the USA volleyball and said that while he likes the duo to win everything, that these Grand Slams are just warm-ups to the real contests in London since MM and Kerri are already qualified.
And how neat was that packed Pyramid when the USA behind a flawless coaching effort by on leave Long Beach State coach Alan Knipe led the USA Olympic Men’s Volleyball team, as their victory in the gold medal match of the NORCECA Olympic Qualifying Tournament. They beat Cuba in the semis and then went over Canada with tough serving and big blocks in their 28-26, 25-18, 25-20 victory. “It’s a special, special thing,” Knipe said. “This is what I wanted to leave Long Beach to do. Today allows us the opportunity to go to London and experience all that.” Three LBSU alums played big roles, David Lee, Paul Lotman, and David McKenzie. “I really want to thank the fans of Southern California and especially Long Beach,” Knipe gushed. “It doesn’t surprise me at all that they came out. It’s the greatest environment I’ve ever been a part of as a part of USA Volleyball. The crowd inspired our guys, and we can’t thank them enough.”
Last — sad — add. Super 49er fan and the anchor of the great Schiller family, Karen Schiller, passed away last week. Her husband Bob, brother in law Roger, daughter Kristy and granddaughter Abby were always front and center in the Pyramid, at Blair and all around the Beach sports programs. Remembrances in the form of sponsoring Abigail Schiller in the Avon Breast Cancer walk would be a great idea.