Diamond Hogs prepare for Long Beach State

February 15, 2001

Charlie Shields
Staff Writer

There are some real "dirtbags" coming to Fayetteville this weekend. Long Beach State University does have a more traditional mascot, of course (the 49ers), but any player will say they are proud to be a Dirtbag.

The nickname Dirtbags has a couple of accepted origins. Some say it refers to LBSU's down-and-dirty style of play and its tendency to knock off highly ranked opponents. Others say it refers to the all-dirt practice field that Long Beach practiced on in Head Coach Dave Snow's first few seasons.

The No. 15 Dirtbags will play a three-game series at Baum Stadium against the baseball Razorbacks this Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Game times are 3 p.m. for the Friday and Saturday games and noon for the Sunday game.

The forecast lists temperatures in the 40s and low 50s throughout the weekend.

Tim Montez, Arkansas pitching coach, said the expected cold weather will not be a problem for the west coast Dirtbags because they are a team that knows how to win, regardless of the conditions.

"They are a very well coached, well disciplined team," Montez said. "They are very aggressive and have great team speed."

Montez said he has a lot of respect for Long Beach.
Dave Snow, Long Beach head coach, was a mentor to Montez, who is from California, and even helped him get the Arkansas coaching job.

LBSU is 4-2 on the season after sweeping Arizona in the opening weekend and losing two of three to No. 2 University of Southern California last weekend. The Hogs are 2-2 after beating Missouri Southern State University in the season opener and losing two of three to the University of Texas at San Antonio.

The Hogs and the Dirtbags are both coming off disappointing campaigns last season, though the Dirtbags have a veteran squad of 14 juniors and eight seniors.
In comparison, the Hogs have just six seniors and nine juniors. And five juniors are transfers. Long Beach returns 10 pitchers from last season and the Hogs return eight.

Last season, Long Beach swept a three-game series from the Hogs in Baum Stadium. It was the first time a non-conference opponent had ever done so.
They also handed Arkansas its worst loss in five years. The Dirtbags lead the overall series, 5-3.

Among players to watch for LBSU are junior pitcher Matt Paz, who received Big West Conference Pitcher of the Week honors the first week of the season and junior shortstop Bobby Crosby, who is a pre-season all-American and Collegiate Baseball's pick for Big West Conference player of the year.

Crosby led the team last season in home runs (10) and steals (16 in 21 attempts) and added to that a .348 batting average.

Others who are putting up big numbers so far this season are senior outfielder Jeff Jones (.450 BA, 2 HR, 8 RBI), junior infielder Kaulana Kuhaulua (.357 BA, 6 RBI, 2 stolen bases) and junior outfielder Chris Wright (.308 BA, 9 RBI, 2 stolen bases).
Starting pitchers are expected to be Paz (1-1, 2.03 ERA) and sophomore Chad Bentz (0-1, 12.00 ERA) for the Friday and Saturday games. The Sunday starter has not been announced.

For the Hogs, junior Charlie Isaacson will start Friday, freshman Scott Roehl will start Saturday and senior Wes McCrotty will start Sunday.

McCrotty is having perhaps the best season of all the starters. He is 2-0 with a 0.00 ERA. He has nine strikeouts in just 8 2/3 innings pitched.

Senior outfielder Scott Crossett has a 15-game hitting steak. Others to watch for the Razorbacks are freshmen infielders Tigger Lyles and Cody Clark and junior outfielder Michael Conner.

Hogs down No. 15 Long Beach State

February 19, 2001

Charlie Shields
Staff Writer

The baseball Razorbacks beat the No.15 Long Beach State 49ers Saturday, 12-4, thanks to a five-run fifth inning and two strong pitching performances.

More than 1,000 fans cheered the Hogs on to victory on a chilly day that turned into a cold night at Baum Stadium at George Cole Field.

The Hogs snapped a four-game losing streak to Long Beach State. An underachieving 49er squad swept the Hogs last season.

"Long Beach is a good team, they're well-coached, and for us to put up 12 runs on a team of that caliber, that's a big confidence builder for us," said Charlie Isaacson, Razorback winning pitcher.

Isaacson pitched five innings, gave up four runs, struck out six batters and walked two. The win moved his record to 1-1 for the year.

The Hogs were down 4-1 early but trimmed the lead to 4-3 in the fourth and scored five times in the bottom half of the fifth, and that was all she wrote.

"That was important to come right back," said Norm DeBriyn, UA head baseball coach. " There were about four innings where we scored in every inning, and that becomes contagious. That was huge."

Tim Montez, UA pitching coach, said he was pleased with the way Isaacson
pitched, as was catcher Kyle Washburn.

"Today, [Isaacson] didn't have as much velocity as he's had the first two times he came out, but his movement was really good. He kept the ball down and got a lot of ground balls for us and gave us a chance to come back," Washburn said.
The Dirtbags, as LBSU is affectionately known, didn't hit a ball out of the infield until the second batter in the third inning, when designated hitter Mike Hofius hit a fly out to the left fielder.

Scott Woods, a junior transfer from the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith, earned his first save of the season. Woods faced the minimum in each of the four innings he pitched, allowing no hits and no runs. Against Woods, only two balls were hit to the outfield, and he struck out two batters.

"A bullpen guy's job is to come out and throw strikes, and Scott's been doing that all fall and spring in intrasquads, and he came out tonight and proved that he could do a good job, throw strikes and get outs," Washburn said.

Long Beach State used four pitchers. Junior Matt Paz took the loss, moving him to 1-2 on the season. Paz gave up five runs in four innings pitched.
"We played better; we probably played our best game of the year so far" DeBriyn said.

The Hogs were led offensively by sophomore first baseman Nick Pitts (1-2, 4 RBI), senior outfielder Jeff Hoefler, (3-4, 1 run), freshman second baseman Brett Hagedorn, (1-3, 1 RBI, 2 runs) and senior catcher Kyle Washburn (2-3, 1 RBI, 3 runs).

Designated hitter Scott Crossett extended his hitting streak to 16 games with a two-run single to right center in the fifth.

Some may have noticed that for the second season in a row, Long Beach State has traveled to Fayetteville. The Razorbacks had a lot of road games this season and asked LBSU to travel, which they agreed to do.

The West Coast 49ers may have regretted that decision when they arrived in Fayetteville to below-freezing temperatures and a snow-covered ground.
The Friday game between the two teams was canceled because of bad weather.

This story was printed in the Arkansas Traveler, the UA student newspaper.