Notes on My Napkin time again, maybe for the duration of the summer sporting slumber. Disclaimer: If our info seems a little off kilter, it is likely because nowadays the caterers use those black napkins which makes our notes very hard to read.
We will start with the last words of men’s basketball coach Dan Monson about the new look Long Beach State team, with the motto of “Addition by Subtraction”.
The new guys are supposedly good shooters but no aircraft carriers in the lot. The list, just released by the Sports Info department, include forward Christian Griggs-Williams (Mesa CC/Mesa, Ariz.), shooting guard Travis Hammonds (Gray Military Academy/Richmond, S.C.), point guard Desmond Ross (Kellis HS/Glendale, Ariz.), power forward David Samuels (Collin College/Plano, Texas) and guard A.J. Spencer (Shawnee, Kan./Hutchinson CC).
The best of the gunners is Griggs-Williams (6-8/240) who averaged 11.6 points, while shooting 57% from the field (127-of-221) at Mesa CC (Ariz.). He shot 70% from the free throw line (87-of-123) and averaged 5.6 rebounds this past season. Hammonds (6-6/209) was a two-time All-State honoree and All-Region player in South Carolina, finishing his prep career as the all-time leading rebounder (625) and ranked fourth all-time in scoring at Gray Military Academy where he scored 1040 points. If you like pure preps to build your future around then Mr. Ross (6-3/185) was named the Arizona Boys Basketball Division II Player of the Year and garnered Arizona First-Team All-State honors after his senior season at Kellis HS (25.3 points per game with a 50% field goal percentage (89-of-178).
Samuels (6-7/212) led Collin College in scoring during the 2012-13 season, averaging 15.6 points per game (51% FG/36% 3FG). He also ranked second on the team in rebounds with 8.4 per game, good enough for first-team All-Conference and All-Region honors and Spencer (6-3/200) was the No. 2 scorer for Hutchinson CC this past season, averaging 15.0 points per game with a field goal percentage of 59.8 (211-of-353). The other newcomer will be 6-5 Tyler Lamb, the UCLA transfer who must sit the fall semester.
The see ya later list includes forward Kyle Richardson (graduating and will pursue a Master’s Degree rather than use his remaining year of eligibility, transfers Keala King, forward Tony Freeland are also not coming back and promising guard/forward Deng Deng has said that he is headed to Cal State Bakersfield.
While we are in the hoop mood this write-up from chat room wise guy Jim J on the NBA draft camping work of James Ennis. “…he performed OK…On the first day his shooting was average and he measured out with shoes at 6-7, which is what he’s supposed to be. On the second day he had average scores on the speed and agility
tests and his vertical jump was 30 (standing) and 36…He interviewed fairly well and was fairly articulate during the process. Overall his 3 days will probably not help him very much, but probably not hurt him too much also. He should go in the second round of the draft in June, but if a team has a special need for an athletic, good shooting wing he could sneak into the first round, but that’s doubtful.” So who does he compare too that you know, hopefully Michael Cooper who also was from a mid-major and became a lock down defender in the Association.
Got an urgent query from a pitcher parent who wanted to know what the stat sheet meant about an “SHO, 0/1). Seems it is about shutouts. If the there is a whole number to the left of the “/” then it is complete game shutout (such as Shane Carle got last Friday) and if it is to the right of the “/” it is a combined or shared shutout. According to baseball SID Roger Kirk three players had part of a combined shut out, Magallon, Maciel and Frye and Carle of course did the whole thing himself. Comprende!
More on the hardball front is the final series of the season behind the orange curtain at Irvine, for a Thursday to Saturday set. The usual suspects will work for the Niners, Carle, Stassi and Hill and the Anteaters have a great rotation but a somewhat worked over bull pen. They lost all three at Fullerton last weekend and then moved back home for the final four, USC Tuesday night, the Beach on Thursday at 6:30 and the same time on Friday with post game fireworks. Saturday is a 1PM start and then the Eaters will see if their RPI might earn them an at-large bid. Right now it doesn’t and the LBSU’s could be a major spoiler. Of course the BWC might get two, maybe nationally ranked Cal Poly, and even maybe CSUN, so it is a tight fit for the At Largers.
Next up for the Long Beach State track & field team is the NCAA West Preliminaries, which will be held in Austin, Texas, May 23-25 and feature has 16 athletes entered in 11 events. Best chances likely are for versatile Willie Alexander (Long Jump, Triple Jump) and Jacob Fraser (Shot Put, Discus) lead the way as Long Beach State’s multi-event qualifiers. On the women’s side, Emily Cooper (200m), Meghan Foley (1500m) and Taylor Jackson (Long Jump) qualified for the West Prelims.
The most experienced 49er goes in the hand-shaking event known as commencement. That would be departing President F. King Alexander. He expects to shake 9000 hands and insiders say will wake up at night saying congratulations. The family will leave the Presidents House in Park Estates but “after 13 years, we are ready to buy something and build some equity, “according to Mrs. Alexander. They have picked an impressive five bedroom estate (they have three kids and need a spare room for my visit). Asked at his good bye party if shaking all those hands hurts (“not my hand but my back gets sore”) and if he was worried about germs? (“I figure that the germs of one person will kill the germs of another!”) My former colleague LBSU Prof Art Levine did a nice interview of FKA on his TV show and is now required viewing for the 13,456 vice presidents on the LSU payroll.
Back to the bases, for his effort in that complete game shutout Friday, Shane Carle was brilliant again, striking out a career-high 13 batters on the way to a 5-0 win over UC Riverside, the first complete game shutout of the season for the Dirtbags. And yes, he was picked as national pitcher of the week. We can only hope that no scouts noted it, because the Beach sure would like him back for a senior year. Carle rarely ran into trouble in his best start of the season, and in the rare occasions when he did have runners in scoring position, the junior bore down and finished off the innings with strikeouts… Even more amazing Carle was able to finish off a masterpiece by striking out the side in the ninth.
The Beach record is on the way up and will be no worse than .500, (28-25, 14-10 Big West right now). Best batter, Freshman Zack Rivera who hit .400 and drove in the winning run twice last week, including in the 10th inning of Sunday’s walk off win over UC Riverside. Sweep and swept news, yes the Niners did sweep Riverside but the morose marsupials of UC Irvine were swept, walked over and walked off, by Fullerton. The Beach is now tied for fourth place behind CSUF, SLO and CSUN and Irvine is now down to sixth…RPI tumbling too, so they may have gone off the NCAA radar…Blair finale a nice crowd too…the Memorial Hospital Stramski kids swelled the Blair attendance to over 1600 and made the grandstands and grass areas a carnival.—DR. DAN
Photo: Dirtbag Shane Carle has the hardware as National Pitcher of the Week and looking for his third consecutive complete game. Courtesy of LBSU Media Relations