Showdown at The Beach: Bears Face Dirtbags
2/18/2004 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
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No. 11 BAYLOR
at
No. 8 LONG BEACH STATE
Feb. 20-22, 2004
Blair Field
Long Beach, Calif.
Baylor travels west this weekend for a three-game series at Long Beach State. The Bears (3-1) have won three straight, including a 6-1 victory Tuesday night at home over Texas-San Antonio. The Dirtbags (4-2) took two of three from Southern California last weekend. Both teams are ranked 15th or higher in the four national polls. Baylor is ranked 11th by Collegiate Baseball, 12th by Baseball America and in the Sports Weekly/ESPN Coaches poll, and 16th according to the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association. Long Beach State is ranked 12th, 8th, 9th and 9th, respectively. All Baylor baseball games are carried in Central Texas on KRZI 1660/1580 AM. Live stats also are available for all home games and most road games at www.BaylorBears.com, the official website of Baylor Athletics and a member of the Official College Sports Network.
QUICK NOTES
* Baylor and Long Beach State meet for the seventh, eighth and ninth times this weekend. The Dirtbags lead the series 4-2.
* Head coach Steve Smith enters the weekend four wins shy of career victory No. 350.
* RHP Zane Carlson needs one appearance to tie Matthew Marcom's school record of 91 career appearances.
* RHP Zane Carlson needs one save to move into a tie for sixth on the NCAA all-time career saves list. He needs two saves to move into a fifth-place tie.
* Baylor's 16 strikeouts Tuesday against Texas-San Antonio ties the school record for a nine-inning game and ties for the fifth-highest tally overall in school history. Bear pitchers also notched 16 Ks April 29, 1988 vs. Texas Tech and April 9, 1999 at Texas.
* LHP Cory VanAllen was named one of five National Players of the Week by Collegiate Baseball following his combined no-hitter with RHP Zane Carlson Sunday against Loyola Marymount. The game was a seven-inning affair, the fifth seven-inning no-no in Baylor history and the seventh overall. It was the first no-hitter by Baylor pitchers since Kyle Evans' nine-inning gem April 15, 2000 against Iowa State. VanAllen is the first Baylor freshman to participate in a no-hitter. ... VanAllen also earned Big 12 Conference Pitcher of the Week honors along with Zach Jackson of Texas A&M and David Purcey of Oklahoma.
* Baylor has been ranked nationally for 24 consecutive weeks, dating back to the 2003 preseason rankings. The Bears have appeared in the national rankings during 100 of the last 101 weeks. Baylor has been ranked during each of the past 80 regular-season polls. The Bears' last regular season game as an unranked team was Feb. 21, 1999, an 8-2 victory over then-No. 24 Houston.
* Since the start of the Big 12 in 1997, the Bears have the league's best conference record at 124-71 (.636). Baylor leads all conference schools in both first-team all-Big 12 selections (21) and first-team Academic all-Big 12 selections (35), and the Bears are the only Big 12 Conference program to have ranked in the top 10 nationally during each of the past six seasons (1998-2003).
* Baylor is the only Big 12 school and one of just 12 schools nationwide to have been named to each of the past six NCAA Tournament fields; the others are Auburn, Cal State Fullerton, Clemson, Florida State, LSU, Miami, Oral Roberts, Rice, South Alabama, Stanford and Tulane.
* Baylor has won 40-plus games four times during head coach Steve Smith's tenure and nine times in school history, including 45 wins last year.
* In 2003, USA Baseball named Baylor the 23rd-best program in the nation at providing players for the USA National Team. Six Bears have played for a total of seven seasons wearing the Red, White and Blue: Pat Combs (1988), Jason Jennings (1997-1998), Bryan Loeb (1998), Jon Topolski (1998), Zane Carlson (2000) and Michael Griffin (2003).
* Baylor has had 39 players drafted in the past six years, including four first-round picks. That total ties Texas A&M for the most in the Big 12 during that period.
* Baylor Ballpark was named the No. 3 collegiate stadium in the country in a survey of college coaches conducted by Baseball America in January 2003.
* Baylor Ballpark also was featured as the January Stadium of the Month in the 2004 Baseball America Great Parks Calendar. The Bears' home was the only collegiate facility featured.
* Collegiate Baseball has ranked Baylor's recruiting class among the top 25 in the nation four times in the past six years (23rd, 1998; 25th, 2001; 13th, 2002; 19th, 2003).
THE LONG BEACH STATE SERIES
Baylor and Long Beach State meet for the seventh, eighth and ninth times this weekend, playing their third three-game series since first meeting in 1999. The Dirtbags lead the series 4-2, winning both the 1999 series at Long Beach and last year's series at Baylor Ballpark two games to one. Four of the six previous meetings have been decided by one run, including all three games in the 1999 series. Long Beach State has won the last two games, downing the Bears 7-3 and 7-1 after a 6-5 Baylor victory in last season's series opener.
THE LONG BEACH STATE DIRTBAGS
Long Beach State (4-2) is in its third season under the direction of head coach Mike Weathers, a 1971 Chapman University graduate. Weathers, who served as an assistant at LBSU for nine years prior to being promoted to head coach in 2002, has amassed a career record of 363-323-2 in 14 seasons as a collegiate coach. Prior to joining the Dirtbag staff, Weathers spent nine seasons as head coach at his alma mater (1984-1992) and two years as a head coach at Utah (1980-1981). Weathers is 84-43 in three years as head coach at The Beach.
LBSU Notes: The Dirtbags opened their season with a pair of two-games-to-one weekend series victories. First, Long Beach State took the first two games at then-No. 26 California before dropping the series finale. Last weekend, the Dirtbags won the series opener and finale at home against 16th-ranked Southern California but dropped the Saturday contest at USC. ... The Beach hits .269 as a team with two home runs and four stolen bases. ... LHP/1B Jason Vargas (.450, 1 HR, 3 RBI) leads the Dirtbags at the plate. He also has scored a team-best four runs and has a .593 on base percentage thanks to a team-high seven walks. ... The Long Beach State pitching staff totes a 2.60 ERA with three saves and 51 strikeouts. ... All-American RHP Jered Weaver (2-0, 0.64 ERA), brother of Major Leaguer Jeff Weaver, anchors the staff. He has tallied 20 strikeouts against just one walk in 14.0 innings of work. Weaver, who struck out the first 10 batters he faced last weekend against Southern California, has been named one of Collegiate Baseball's National Players of the Week two straight weeks. Vargas (1-1, 3.07) is also a strikeout artist with 14 whiffs in 14.2 innings. ... The Dirtbags are a solid fielding team at .986 with five double plays and only three errors this year. ... IF T.J. Bruce transferred to LBSU from Texas Tech this season. He hit .321 with three homers and 38 RBI last season for the Red Raiders.
SMITH NEARS ANOTHER MILESTONE
Baylor head coach Steve Smith is four wins away from victory No. 350 in his collegiate career, all coming at Baylor. Now in his 10th season at the helm of the Baylor program, Smith is 346-204-1.
McCORMICK SUSPENSION LIFTED
RHP Mark McCormick has been reinstated and his suspension lifted, head coach Steve Smith announced Wednesday. McCormick, who was 6-2 with a 5.32 ERA last season, was suspended indefinitely Feb. 8 for a violation of team rules. A native of League City, Texas, McCormick is active immediately and will be available this weekend for the 11th-ranked Bears' three-game series at No. 8 Long Beach State.
VANALLEN HONORED BY COLLEGIATE BASEBALL
LHP Cory VanAllen was named one of five National Players of the Week Monday by Collegiate Baseball. VanAllen was honored after combining with RHP Zane Carlson for a seven-inning no-hitter in Baylor's 1-0 victory over Loyola Marymount in the second game of a doubleheader Sunday at Baylor Ballpark. A true-freshman from Sugar Land, Texas, VanAllen carried a perfect game into the seventh inning before leadoff batter Billy Lockin reached by virtue of an error. Carlson then came in and closed the door on LMU, preserving Baylor's seventh no-hitter and first since 2000. VanAllen is the first Baylor freshman to ever participate in a no-hitter. The southpaw did not walk a batter and struck out four in his 6.0-plus innings of work. Others honored by Collegiate Baseball this week were Zach Jackson (LHP, Texas A&M); Luke Holscher (RHP, Western Michigan); Jered Weaver (RHP, Long Beach State); and David Purcey (LHP, Oklahoma). Baylor is likely to face Jackson, Weaver and Purcey this season.
BIG 12 HONORS VANALLEN, AS WELL
LHP Cory VanAllen joined Oklahoma's David Purcey and Texas A&M's Zach Johnson as Big 12 Conference Pitchers of the Week, the league office announced Tuesday. Jackson also tossed a no-hitter as the Aggies blanked Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 15-0 in seven innings Saturday. Purcey hurled seven shutout innings as the Sooners blanked Arizona State 6-0 Sunday, snapping ASU's NCAA-record of 506 consecutive games without being shutout. Texas 2B Seth Johnson earned Big 12 Player of the Week honors.
CARLSON EYES NCAA SAVES MARK
With two saves in the Loyola Marymount series, senior RHP Zane Carlson needs 13 saves to break the NCAA Division I career record. The nation's active career saves leader starting the year, Carlson has 36 during his four-plus seasons at Baylor. Former Southern California closer Jack Krawczyk currently owns the record; he tallied 49 saves from 1995 to 1998. Carlson already owns the Baylor and Big 12 Conference records for career saves. As a freshman in 2000, he established Baylor's single-season saves record with 15, ironically also the school career mark at that time. On top of that, Carlson owns the Cape Cod League career saves record with 24. Carlson needs one save to move into a sixth-place tie on the all-time NCAA list and two saves to move into a fifth-place tie.
BAYLOR IN THE NATIONAL RANKINGS
Baylor moved up one spot in this week's Baseball America Top 25 (No. 12) and in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association poll (No. 15). The Bears dropped one spot in the Sports Weekly/ESPN Coaches poll (No. 12) and held tight at No. 11 in the Collegiate Baseball rankings. The Bears have been ranked nationally for 24 consecutive weeks, dating back to the 2003 preseason rankings. Baylor has appeared in the national rankings during 100 of the last 101 weeks and during each of the past 80 regular-season polls. The Bears' last regular season game as an unranked team was Feb. 21, 1999, an 8-2 victory over then-No. 24 Houston.
2004 SCHEDULE AMONG NATION'S TOUGHEST
Baylor's 2004 schedule ranks as the nation's 10th-toughest, according to the preseason schedule rankings released by BoydsWorld.com. The Bears' 2003 schedule was ranked first in the preseason rankings and was deemed the fifth-toughest by season's end. One component of schedule strength is the strength of one's opponents' schedules. Baylor plays 13 teams ranked the preseason top 30 in the strength of schedule rankings: Arizona (2nd), Cal-Irvine (4th), Texas (5th), Long Beach State (7th), Texas A&M (13th), Houston (14th), Oklahoma (19th), Rice (20th), Texas Tech (22nd), Oklahoma State (23rd), Texas State (25th), Loyola Marymount (26th) and Nebraska (28th).
BIG 12 CONFERENCE NOTES OF INTEREST
* Baylor and Texas A&M pitchers tossed no-hitters against Loyola Marymount and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, respectively, to give Big 12 moundmen a combined three gems in the first month of the 2004 campaign. From 1997 to 2003, there were four total no-hit contests hurled by Big 12 pitching staffs; the eight-year tally now stands at seven.
* Oklahoma stopped the NCAA-longest streak of games without a shutout at 506 after blanking Top-10-ranked Arizona State 6-0 last Sunday in the Surprise (Ariz.) Coca Cola Classic.
* Big 12 teams for the week (all contests from Feb. 13-15 because of a rainout and a Feb. 12 exhibition outing) finished a composite 18-9 against rugged non-league opposition.
* Kansas was within three outs of upending second-ranked Stanford at the famed Sunken Diamond with a 6-3 advantage before falling to the Cardinal 10-6. Brian Hall's walk-off grand slam capped a seven-run ninth for 2003 College World Series finalist Stanford. The Jayhawks also currently have played the most Division I contests in the early portion of the season with 15 (7-7-1 record).
BAYLOR AMONG ALL-TIME WINNINGEST PROGRAMS
With 1,780 all-time wins in 102 seasons of collegiate baseball, Baylor ranks 39th nationally in total victories to start the 2004 campaign, according to the NCAA Baseball Records Book. Baylor is sixth in the Big 12, trailing Texas (2nd/2,760); Texas A&M (19th/2,094); Oklahoma State (22nd/2,057); Oklahoma (26th/2,006); and Missouri (36th/1,834). Fordham, which first fielded a team in the 1850s, leads all schools with 3,174 victories in 145 seasons. Baylor also ranks 23rd nationally in total victories through the first four seasons of the 21st century with 163. That ranks third in the Big 12 behind Nebraska (5th/195) and Texas (7th/189).
BEARS BEST IN THE BIG 12
At the start of the 2004 season, Baylor has the best conference record of any team in the Big 12 Conference since the league's start in 1997. At 124-71 (.636), the Bears are ahead of Texas Tech (120-77-1, .609). Included in the first seven seasons for Baylor are one Big 12 championship (2000) and a pair of runner-up finishes (1998, 1999). On top of that, Baylor is the only Big 12 Conference school to have ranked in the top 10 nationally during each of the past six seasons (1998-2003). Including the 2003 totals, Baylor leads all conference schools in Big 12 history in both first-team all-Big 12 selections (21) and in first-team Academic all-Big 12 selections (35).
BAYLOR 11TH IN ATTENDANCE
The Baylor baseball program finished the 2003 season 11th nationally in average home attendance, according to numbers released by the NCAA. In 28 home dates, 85,620 fans came through the turnstiles at Baylor Ballpark, an average of 3,057 fans per game. The 2003 average set a school record for the fifth straight season; the Bears' average attendance has improved each season since the team moved into Baylor Ballpark in 1999. The Bears' average ranked 11th in the country and was fourth-best in the Big 12 Conference, behind Texas (third), Texas A&M (fifth) and Nebraska (sixth). The Bears' total home attendance was the 20th highest total in the nation for 2003, despite the fact that the team's 28 home dates tied Wichita State and Arkansas for the fewest home games among teams ranked in the top 30 in total attendance. Baylor has ranked among the top 25 programs in the nation in average and total attendance each year since moving into Baylor Ballpark, with program-best rankings of ninth in average attendance and 13th in total attendance set in 2001.
BAYLOR BALLPARK NO. 3 STADIUM IN AMERICA
Baylor Ballpark was named the No. 3 collegiate baseball park in the country in a nationwide survey of college coaches released by Baseball America in January. In voting by the nation's coaches, Baylor Ballpark placed third, just behind Auburn's Plainsman Park and Arkansas' Baum Stadium. Nebraska's Haymarket Park and LSU's Alex Box Stadium rounded out the top five. College media relations contacts were also asked to vote on their favorite stadiums. Baylor Ballpark finished fourth in that survey, behind Auburn, Mississippi State's Dudy Noble Field and Arkansas. The survey asked coaches and media relations contacts to rank their top 10 parks based on aesthetics, facilities (dugout, locker rooms, extra cages/bullpens, etc.), fan amenities, playing conditions and tradition. Baylor Ballpark also was featured as the January Stadium of the Month in Baseball America's 2004 Great Parks Calendar. The Bears' home was the only collegiate park featured in the calendar.
GRIFFIN DONS RED, WHITE & BLUE
Baylor sophomore Michael Griffin made the final cut for the 2003 USA Baseball National Team; he and 19 other top collegiate players represented the United States this summer at the 2003 Pan-American Games. Griffin is the fifth Baylor player to make the USA National Team, joining Pat Combs (1988), Jason Jennings (1997 and 1998), Jon Topolski (1998) and Zane Carlson (2000). Additionally, head coach Steve Smith was an assistant coach for the 1998 team. Bears Bryan Loeb (1998) and Kelly Shoppach (2000) were each invited to the USA trials but did not make the final cut. The USA National Team was selected from a pool of 36 players that completed a four-day trials process Friday at Hi Corbett Field in Tucson, Ariz. For a full detailed roster and a schedule of all games, log on to www.usabaseball.com. The 2003 USA Baseball National Team will represent the United States this summer in the Pan Am Games, August 2-12 in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
HEAD COACH Steve Smith
Head coach Steve Smith is in his 10th season as head coach at Baylor; in that time, he has compiled a 346-204-1 record. Smith led the Bears to their first-ever 50 win season in 1999 and a Big 12 Championship in 2000, and has piloted the team to six straight NCAA appearances. His Bears have the best conference record in the Big 12 since the league began and are the only Big 12 team to have appeared in each of the past six NCAA tournaments. Through the 2003 season, Smith ranked 37th nationally among active coaches in winning percentage with a .628 mark, fourth among Big 12 coaches. The 2000 Big 12 Coach of the Year, Smith came to Baylor from Mississippi State, where he was an assistant under Ron Polk for five seasons. Prior to that, he served as a graduate assistant at Texas A&M. A former standout pitcher at Baylor in 1982-1983, Smith led the Southwest Conference with a 1.72 ERA as a junior. He was drafted in the fifth round of the 1983 Major League draft by the San Francisco Giants and played four years of pro ball before moving into the coaching ranks. An accomplished pitching coach, Smith has tutored six pitchers in the last 12 years who were selected in the first round of the Major League Baseball draft. He also had at least one pitcher named to the all-conference first team for 11 straight years (1992-2002). In Smith's nine seasons as head coach, the Bears have produced four first-round draft picks, 10 all-Americans, six Academic All-Americans, one National Player of the Year, one GTE/CoSIDA Academic all-American of the Year, 25 first-team all-conference performers, nine freshman all-Americans, and three conference players of the year. Baylor has also placed 35 players on the Academic all-Big 12 first team in the past seven seasons, a number that leads the Big 12.
BAYLORBEARS.COM
Baylor's official athletic web site can be found at www.BaylorBears.com. The comprehensive site, which includes releases, photos, biographical sketches and audio broadcasts, is part of the Official College Sports Network. OCSN currently hosts sites for more than 100 universities, including four Big 12 schools.
STREAMING VIDEO AVAILABLE FOR SELECTED GAMES
Live streaming video of 26 Baylor baseball games during the 2004 season will be available through an Internet webcast package with New Media Networks. Eighteen of the 26 webcasts will be against Big 12 Conference opponents, including the Bears' series at Oklahoma and Nebraska. Fans may purchase the games for $5.95 per game ($154.70 if each of the 26 games were purchased individually), $8.95 for a series ($89.45 for every series and three single games) or $39.95 for the entire season. The video and audio for each game will be provided by the home team. Visit http://BaylorBears.nmnathletics.com for access to streaming video. For a list of selected games, visit www.BaylorBears.com, the official website of Baylor Athletics and a member of the Official College Sports Network.
BAYLOR BASEBALL RADIO NETWORK
Catch every inning of Baylor baseball in 2003 on the flagship station for Baylor athletics, News/Talk Radio KRZI 1660/1580-AM. Tom Barfield and Lark Smith are in their second season together as the primary play-by-play and color men for Baylor baseball. Barfield, the operations manager for KRZI/KRZX and KLRK-FM in Waco, is best known as co-host of the afternoon "You Make the Call" call-in show. Barfield saw his first action calling Baylor baseball last season, when he and Smith called the Bears' sweep of Southern California at Dodger Stadium. Smith, whose attachment to Baylor baseball dates back to the days of coach Dutch Schroeder, was Sports Director for the Baylor campus radio station in the late 1970s and served as play-by-play voice for the Bears' 1977 and 1978 College World Series teams. After nearly two decades in broadcasting, Smith now works for the Heart O'Texas Federal Credit Union in Waco. All Baylor Baseball games in 2003 will be available on the internet at www.BaylorBears.com. BU baseball is also a staple of the daily "Baylor SportsBeat" hosted by Morris and airing weekdays at 7:25am and 5:25pm on KRZI 1660/1580-AM.
INSIDE BAYLOR SPORTS TV SHOW
Inside Baylor Sports, a half-hour look at the world of Baylor athletics, airs weekly throughout Central Texas and the region. The program, co-hosted by John Morris and Lori Scott-Fogleman, airs on KCEN-TV Channel 6, Fox Sports Net Southwest and the College Channel (Waco cable channel 18). KCEN carries the show at 10:30 p.m. Sundays, and it airs at 1 p.m. Wednesdays on FSN Southwest.
UP NEXT ...
Baylor returns home Tuesday for a 6 p.m. CST game against Texas State at Baylor Ballpark. This is the first of 14 home games in a 17-game stretch for the Bears. Baylor does not leave the Lone Star State again until a March 26-28 weekend series at Oklahoma.
