Tags
49ers, baseball, Big West Conference, Cal State Fullerton, College Baseball, College World Series, Dirtbags, Long Beach State, NCAA, Southern California, Super Regionals, Titans
Fans will be seeing a lot of this in Long Beach this weekend. Photo courtesy of Cayer’s Photography
This is huge!
Two SoCal colleges,
Who are from the same conference (and from the same state university system!),
And are longtime bitter rivals who have met over 220 times,
Will be meeting in the NCAA Super Regionals, a best of three playoff to determine who will be going to the Promised Land of college baseball, the College World Series.
The kicker to all of this?
Neither school is named UCLA or USC!
It’s perfect!
To say it’s going to be an intense affair is a pronounced understatement; although I hope it doesn’t happen, I wouldn’t be surprised if the benches don’t clear once or twice, there’s SO much at stake.
This is certainly the most exciting thing that’s happened not only between the two baseball teams, but at these two institutions, located 17 miles apart, as being commuter schools without football programs, not that much attention is paid to them and not as many students are as rah-rah about sports as they are at UCLA and USC.
It’s also a publicity boost for the Cal State University system, which Long Beach and Fullerton are a part of, which is always needed and welcomed.
I’m definitely looking forward to these games being instant classics!
Here’s a little history and tale of the tape of the baseball programs at Cal State Fullerton, who won the Stanford Regional, and Long Beach State, who won their regional last night, as they will clash this weekend…
CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, FULLERTON TITANS BASEBALL
Founded: 1965. Became a Division 1 program in 1975; has never had a losing season in D1.
Conference Championships: 28. 16 Big West Conference Titles, latest in 2016
College World Series Appearances: 17, last one in 2015
National Championships: Four (1979, 1984, 1995, 2004)
Notable Alumni in the Major Leagues: Tim Wallach, Mark Kotsay, Phil Nevin, Justin Turner *
2017 Record: 37-21
* Went 3-0 in Stanford Regional
A taste of what to expect: Long Beach State & Cal State Fullerton clashing on May 28, 2016, Fullerton winning 2-1. Video Courtesy of YouTube.
LONG BEACH STATE UNIVERSITY 49ers/DIRTBAGS BASEBALL
Founded: 1954. Became a Division 1 program in 1970.
Conference Championships: 12. Nine Big West Conference titles, including this year.
College World Series Appearances: Four, last one in 1998
National Championships: None.
Notable Alumni in the Major Leagues: Jason Giambi, Jered Weaver *, Evan Longoria *, Troy Tulowitski *,
(* = denotes current MLB player)
THE CAL STATE FULLERTON/LONG BEACH STATE RIVALRY BY THE NUMBERS:
Number of meetings: 217
All-Time Series: Cal State Fullerton leads 142-75
2017 Season: Long Beach State won five of six games
INFO ON THE NCAA SUPER REGIONALS BETWEEN THE TITANS AND THE DIRTBAGS:
Place: Blair Field, Long Beach, CA
Days/Dates: Friday, June 9th – Sunday, June 11th (if a Game 3 is necessary)
Times: 3:00 p.m. on Friday, 12 noon on Saturday and Sunday
TV: ESPN2 on Friday, ESPNU on Saturday, TBD on Sunday
A Fullerton runner trying to beat a Long Beach pick-off attempt. Photo courtesy of Cayer’s Photography.
SoCal Sports Chronicles 