In the winter when LMU (now 21-18) had a weekend out of West Coast Conference play available, they dialed up Long Beach State (21-21) for some nearby baseball for teams that frankly must win their conference to earn post season.  These out of conference deals really aren’t that important because they offer no RPI boost and little of importance to alumni, boosters, big media, etc. This is really the last three of four, (LMU defeated Long Beach State on April 17, with a walk-off with a 5-4 ninth inning victory) and comes up just before their BWC stretch drive battles with UC Davis, CSUN and Fullerton. “I thought when they called that taking the Friday off wouldn’t be such a big deal,” Beach skipper Troy Buckley said, “but if we are careful how we use our pitchers I think we will be okay.”

That note is due to Friday being dark due to finals week in Westchester so the three-game set begins today (Saturday) at 5:30 p.m. in big and beautiful Blair, goes to LMU for game two on Sunday at 3:00 p.m. with the series finale back in the LBC Monday at 6:30 p.m. Buck then has this plan to not terribly disrupt his mound rhythmus for the stretch drive.  He will start veteran Matt Anderson (4-2 and a 2.71 ERA over 11 starts)  against LMU frosh phenon Colin Welmon who has a resume that includes 7 shutout innings on the road at Texas, a March 2 win at UCSB (6.0 IP, 3 ER, 5 K) and great work vs. Indiana, Portland, Nevada and Gonzaga.  Right-hander Matt Anderson and keep this a secret but Buck expects Sunday’s to be split between lefty Ryan Strufing (5-2, 3.00 ERA) and righty Shawn Stuart (5-0, 2.32 ERA).  Monday, secret two pitching assignment will be Johnny Wholestaff led By Matt Johnson, who started against the Lions on April 17, and pitched well against UCLA. He has a 1-3 record and a 3.02 ERA in 16 appearances, 47 innings and seven starts.

Last weekend the Beach won their series at CSUN and LMU took two-of-three from Gonzaga also on the road last weekend, and like LBSU won the first and final games of the series.  LMU trailed 3-1 headed into the ninth inning on Sunday, but rallied to score three times en route to claiming a comeback victory at 4-3 to take the series…the series victory was the first over Gonzaga since 2006, and the first on the road since 2001.

Sophomore Marco Gonzales went 11 innings and struck out 15 without walking a batter but did not factor in the decision as Gonzaga walked-off with a controversial 1-0 victory in 12 innings on Saturday.  (The game aired live on ESPNU and third-base umpire Rick Jaggars was at the center of the controversy in the 12th after calling a balk) which led to the Lion loss.  Freshman Trevor Megill was impressive again on the mound and at the plate and in the field Jason Gill had some stars.

Colton Plaia picked off a runner in the bottom of the seventh before leading off the eighth with his fifth home run of the year to tie the game at 4-4…Shon Roe, who connected on a game-winning home run to knock-off No. 8 Cal State Fullerton on Tuesday, picked-up another game-winner on Friday, singling-home the go-ahead run in the top of the ninth…Plaia finished 2-for-4 with the homer and two RBI, while Roe’s only hit of the day proved to be one of the biggest…Nick Devian also homered, finishing 2-for-3 with the round-tripper to knot the tally at three runs apiece in the sixth. Junior Matt Lowenstein has also starred (hitting .354 with 12 runs scored, three doubles, a triple and five RBI against WCC foes

Out of Conference Outtakes

The BWC and the WCC know each other pretty well.  The Lions are 5-7 so far this year against the Big West, LMU is now 29-37 (.439) under Coach Gill in games against the Big West…LMU has lost 10 of the last 15 games against the Big West, but has recorded victories in each of the last three…including the 12 played so far, LMU is slated to play 17 games against the Big West this year…LMU has played seven of the nine Big West schools under Gill, holding a winning record over Cal State Northridge (6-4), UC Riverside (6-4) and Long Beach State (4-3) but not UC Irvine (up 2-7)…on Friday in the BWC Fullerton beat UOP 5-2, UC Davis beat SLO 5-4 in 11, CSUN beat UCR 8-7 and UCI shutout UCSB 2-0…tomorrows game is supposed to be free on LMU video… Brennan Metzger leads the way offensively for the D-Bags batting .315 with a team-high 32 runs scored, 11 doubles, a triple and that rare stat, a home run…he has also swiped nine bases in 13 attempts and has gotten more doses than the dummy in nursing school…elsewhere in the BWC this weekend CSUF beat UOP 5-2; Davis took out SLO 5-4; CSUN nipped UCR 8-7 and Irvine shutout UCSB 2-0…nothing left to say about Jered Weaver except that better than all the media, Arte’s big bonus etc. is that he gets his own bobblehead giveaway on Saturday, May 19 when the Dirtbags play Pacific at 5:30 p.m. in Blair Field. First 1500 fans who come get the treasure to put on their shelf and hopefully remember to dust it better than I have done with Misty, Fighting Bob, Evan, Tulo etc