The Long Beach State men’s basketball team hosts Cal Poly in the Walter Pyramid, tonight at 7 p.m., in a pivotal Big West Conference game. Long Beach and the Mustangs are at the bottom of the conference standings with just two games remaining until the end of the regular season. Only eight of the nine conference teams will make next week’s Big West Tournament at the Honda Center, which means the Beach is on the brink.

A win against the Mustangs tonight would clinch a spot in the tournament for Long Beach, while a loss would put them in serious jeopardy of missing it for the first time since 2004, and first ever under Dan Monson. Since 1987, the team has only missed the conference tourney twice.

Long Beach State (10-20, 5-9) will also travel to Cal State Fullerton at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday.

We’ll have a preview of the conference tourney next week.

Dirtbags

The Dirtbags continue to power along, having taken the series from No. 6 Mississippi State. First-year coach Eric Valenzuela has drawn praise from national baseball writers for the job he’s done turning around the team in his first year, as they’re 8-4 and now ranked No. 17 in the nation. The Dirtbags are back at Bohl Diamond at Blair Field this weekend hosting Xavier on Friday (6 p.m.), Saturday (3 p.m.), and Sunday (1 p.m.).

It’ll be the Bags’ last home game until March 24 when they host USC for a Tuesday night game.

LBCC Baseball

As hot as the Dirtbags are, the LBCC baseball team is even hotter. The Vikings have started 16-3 and are now a top 10 team in the state, with a perfect 7-0 record in conference play.

LBCC will host Mt. SAC on Saturday at noon. The Vikings have local players out of the Moore League including Ryan Guerero, Alex Seguine and Zach Rivas in starring roles this year.