Regional rivalries are one of my favorite things about college baseball. Think, Clemson vs. South Carolina or Miami vs. Florida vs Florida State for all you south eastern fans. But for us out here on the West Coast, I don’t know of a more bitterly contested series than Long Beach State and Cal State Fullerton. In recent years, the two schools play two series every year, one at Blair Field and the other at Goodwin. In alternating years, one team hosts the non conference series, then the other gets the one that counts towards the conference standings. Big West conference play starts next week, but don’t tell the Titans and Dirtbags this series isn’t important.

“Rivals”

The Titans hold the all time record advantage over the Dirtbags, 137-68. In other words, Long Beach would need to sweep all 6 games every year for over 10 years straight to even this thing up. Furthermore, Cal State Fullerton has as many National Titles as Long Beach has CWS appearances. Since Long Beach has never won the ‘ship, LBSU Senior Associate AD for External Relations/Communications Rob Clark’s comment on LB’s new clubhouse, “We are committed to upholding and building upon the championship culture of our Dirtbags program (emphasis mine),” strikes me as aspirational, at best. I mean, it’s a rivalry, but it kind of isn’t.

That said, it has been my pleasure to watch these two teams go at each other multiple times in person. It’s an intense series, to say the least. I recall one game at Blair Field a couple years back where Long Beach took it to the Titans. As I was walking out, an LB fan working the ticket booth said, “Thanks for coming. Sorry about the game.” It was a low key slam that made me chuckle. They got us that day. Good for them. I don’t remember how their season ended up though. That was probably the highlight of the year for them. You might even find reference to it in their trophy cabinet.

Commonality

Long Beach has started 2017 inconsistently. Their 10-9 record suggests they haven’t really found their rhythm. But to their credit, they’ve played a pretty tough schedule as evident by their 8th overall SoS. The Titans, on the other hand, are off to a 15-5 start despite playing the 3rd strongest schedule in the country. The two teams have a couple common opponents as well. LB lost two separate midweeks to San Diego State and were swept in a weekend series at Arizona State. The Aztecs also beat Fullerton once in February. Arizona State hosted Fullerton for a couple midweek games in early March with the Titans taking both games.

Friday Night Lights

Jr. RHP Darren McCaughan will need to be at his best this Friday, if the Dirtbags have any hope of winning this series. Given McCaughan’s stats so far (3.15 ERA, 0.90 WHIP, and .203 BA against) he certainly is capable of shutting down the Titans’ offense. The Titans will counter with Jr. RHP Connor Seabold (2.83 ERA, 1.06 WHIP, and .230 BA against). The two squads’ offensive slash-lines are nearly indistinguishable from each other; Fullerton: .247/.349/.334 and Long Beach: .250/.337/.354. The similarities do not come as a surprise because both teams play a lunch box style of west coast baseball. Whichever dugout can play the cleanest brand of ball, will probably be the one to come out on top in this series.

Double Double with Fries

Blair Field has undergone a significant makeover this past year. The previously vast outfield is a little smaller now that the fences have been moved in. But don’t look for a lot of balls flying out. Long Beach does hit a fair amount of doubles though, 24 two-baggers in 19 games. Jr. INF Ramsay Roman leads all Dirtbags with 6 doubles. The Titans hit their share of doubles too. They have 37 in their 20 games played. RS Jr. INF Taylor Bryant sets the doubles pace at 9 so far. If the over/under on total doubles hit is 4, you might be wise to take the over in this one. Get me some In-N-Out while you’re at the sports-book, would ya?

Schedule and Probable Starters

All Games @ Blair Field, Long Beach, CA

Friday, 3/24 6 pm PST: Seabold, C. (2-3, 2.83) and McCaughan, D. (2-1, 3.15)

Saturday, 3/25 2 pm PST: Velasquez, G. (2-0, 2.30) and Sheaks, J. (1-1, 5.01)

Sunday, 3/26 1 pm PST: Gavin, J. (3-0, 1.65) and Castro, J. (0-3, 6.16)

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