Long Beach State Dirtbags baseball

The McConnell Era (1954–59)

When John McConnell agreed to coach the first ever baseball team at the new Long Beach State College in 1954, he faced adversity almost from the start. For one thing McConnell was a cross country runner by trade, not a baseball player,^[7] and he was already splitting his time by also serving as an assistant coach for the basketball team.^[8] For another, the school had yet to build a baseball field of its own, so the team was forced to survive by holding practices on the public field at Whaley Park adjacent to campus. All of the team's first 11 games were played on the road; only towards the very end of the season, when the school's field was finally completed, could the 49ers host their first home game. On top of it all, the fledgling program faced by a severe lack of players: the entire roster consisted of just 14 players at the start of the year. In the end the team's unfortunate circumstances resulted in a lackluster performance, and a modest 3–13 record for the 1954 season.

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1954 Long Beach State 49ers baseball team.

Indeed, McConnell's task of producing a winning team seemed almost impossible. The program was handicapped by a minuscule operating budget of only about $3,000 (with no athletic scholarships), and the extremely limited roster forced McConnell to employ a 3-man pitching rotation.^[8] McConnell stuck with the team, determined to make the most of the school's limited resources and produce a winning program. In spite of conditions, the young 49ers managed to produce two outstanding seasons in 1955 and '56, with records of 17–4 and 18–6 respectively.

However, the young team's progress was put to the test in 1957 when Long Beach State was admitted into the NCAA's College Division (now Division II). After three years of being an independent team, the greater level of competition in the CCAA conference caused the 49ers to struggle even to produce a winning record. At the end of the 1959 season, after grinding through three consecutive years of mediocrity and a 48–42 cumulative record in NCAA play, John McConnell stepped down as coach of the Long Beach State baseball team. But because of his impressive academic record (50 of his 57 players graduated), he stayed on as a staff member in the P.E. department for nearly 30 more years.^[8]

The Wuesthoff Era (1960–69)

Dick Clegg took over the program after McConnell's departure, and almost immediately he appeared capable of taking the 49ers to heights that his predecessor had been unable to. Led by the team's first future Major Leaguer in pitcher Dick Nen,^[9] the team finished the 1960 season with a promising 20–14 overall record and a 9–6 mark in CCAA play for a third-place finish in the conference, and there seemed to be reason to hope that the future held even brighter things for the 49ers baseball program. But unfortunately Clegg was unable to reproduce the success of his first season with the club, and under his guidance the 49ers failed to garner another winning season. Clegg's teams accumulated a disappointing 32–65–1 record over the next three years, including an abysmal 6–25–1 record in 1963. This lack of production led to Clegg's dismissal following the 1963 season.

True success came when the program handed the reins to former freshman junior varsity coach, and assistant basketball coach Bob Wuesthoff in 1964. In Wuesthoff's first year as head coach, the 49ers rebounded impressively from the previous year's meltdown by going 31–13, earning the program's first conference championship and first entry into the NCAA National Tournament and setting a school record for wins that would stand until 1979 (The .704 winning percentage wouldn't be topped until 1989). This time, the first-year optimism did not give way to letdown.

Under Wuesthoff, the 49ers finished with a winning record in each of his six years as skipper at Long Beach State, accumulated a 161–101–4 (.613) overall record, and only once finished worse than third in the conference. By the time the 49ers won their second CCAA title in 1969, Wuesthoff was already the most successful coach in Long Beach State's short sports history. But changes came to the school in 1970, when Long Beach State was admitted to the NCAA's Division I. One of those changes came when Wuesthoff announced that he would not return for the 1970 season.

The Gonsalves Era (1970–88)

The 1970 season not only marked LBSU's first foray into Division 1, it also marked the first hiring of a team alumni as head coach. Incoming skipper John Gonsalves had played second base for the team from 1964–65, and even earned NCAA all-district honors his senior year. After a mildly distinguished 3-year career in the New York Mets minor league system (netting one selection to the class A New York – Penn League all-star team),^[10] Gonsalves returned to his alma mater to take over the reins from his former coach Bob Wuesthoff who was retiring.

At the beginning of LBSU's time in Division 1, and for much of Gonsalves's time as head coach, the baseball program was afforded only 2 scholarships per year, significantly less than the NCAA maximum of 13.^[11] In addition, chronic underfunding of the program forced Gonsalves to split time between his coaching responsibilities and fund raising in order to meet his team's basic operating requirements.^[11] However in his first year, despite the team's relatively uninspiring 29–23 overall record, Gonsalves led the team to an 11–4 record in conference play. This was enough to capture the first ever conference title of the newly formed Pacific Coast Athletic Association (PCAA), which sent the 49ers to the NCAA Tournament. At season end, Gonsalves received the inaugural PCAA Coach of the Year award.^[10] Gonsalves would remain at the helm of the program for the next 19 seasons, and through two conference changes. The first came in 1977, when Long Beach State joined the upstart Southern California Baseball Association (SCBA), an NCAA Division 1 baseball-only conference consisting of baseball teams from schools that otherwise competed in either the PCAA or the WCC.^[12]

The 49ers posted their best year to date in 1979^[13], when the 49ers compiled a 40–22–3 mark that set a new school record for wins and was good enough for a second-place finish in the competitive SCBA (behind Cal State Fullerton, who would go on to win their first national championship that year). Unfortunately, Gonsalves would never again coach a team to that level of success. Over the next 5 seasons, the 49ers only once posted a winning record or finished better than 4th in the conference. Even the demise of the SCBA and the renewal of PCAA competition (now known as the Big West) in 1985 couldn't change the fortunes of the hard luck 49ers, as they placed seventh in the conference in '85 and eighth in each of the next three years. Over his final 9 seasons, Gonsalves managed only a 205–342–10 cumulative record. After the 1988 season Gonsalves stepped down as head coach, citing physical exhaustion and a desire to spend more time with his family.^[11] Gonsalves remained on staff as a professor in the kinesiology department until 2002,^[10] and had his jersey number retired in 2001.^[14]

The Snow Era (1989–2001)

Dave Snow was hired as head coach in 1989 after a successful four-year run at Loyola Marymount, where he had led the Lions to two WCC titles and their first ever CWS appearance. By contrast, Long Beach was coming off the worst stretch in program history, going a combined 66–163 over four seasons. Additionally, the team was being forced to play without the benefit a true home field, splitting games between Long Beach City College, Cerritos College, and Blair Field. (Ironically, the lack of a field ended up being a crucial ingredient in the creation of the team's iconic nickname – see below).

Snow set out with the aim of raising the program back to a competitive level. Unexpectedly, that year Snow wound up engineering the greatest single-season turnaround in NCAA history.^[15] Long Beach State exploded onto the college baseball scene by winning their first 18 games to start the 1989 season.^[15] Just one season removed from a 14–45 record, the reborn 49ers performed a complete turnaround by going 50–15 overall and winning their first conference title in two decades. In the NCAA Tournament, the "Dirtbags" went undefeated in their Regional and reached the College World Series, a school first. Though they failed to win a game in the Series, the Dirtbags' improbable run earned Snow NCAA Coach of the Year honors (three years after having won the same award at LMU).

The team suffered a regression in 1990, slipping to 4th in the conference and missing the postseason. But the following year the Dirtbags returned to form as Snow led the '91 team to a 46–19 record – good for a 2nd-place finish in the conference and an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament. The team again won their regional and advanced to their second College World Series, this time reaching the second round before being eliminated.

From 1992–'94 the Dirtbags won three consecutive Big West titles and reaching the College World Series yet again in '93, for their third CWS berth in five years. 1993 was arguably the Dirtbags' finest season, as the Dirtbags advanced farther in a postseason than ever before or since: 3 outs from a berth in the National Championship Game. After capturing the Big West Title and earning a top 10 ranking in all the major polls, the Dirtbags swept through their regional with four straight wins.^[16] In the College World Series, the Dirtbags eliminated Kansas and Texas A&M en route to a semifinal matchup with the LSU Tigers. LBSU and LSU each held one victory going into the rubber match of the series, and the Dirtbags played their way to a 5–3 lead going into the bottom of the ninth inning. But the Tigers used their final at-bats to mount a 3-run rally, eliminating the Dirtbags in dramatic fashion. The Tigers went on to dominate the National Championship Game, beating Wichita State 8–0 for their second national title.^[17]

Long Beach State reached the College World Series again in 1998, led by an offense that has been recognized as "the best offensive power in program history."^[18] Lefty Mike Gallo turned in a particularly memorable postseason performance, shutting out Big West tournament host Cal State Fullerton in a dominant complete game outing. The following week he again went the distance to stun regional host Stanford 5–1 in Palo Alto. After eliminating Alabama the next day to reach their fourth College World Series,^[19] the Dirtbags fought past Florida State and Miami to again reach the national semifinal round. There they were eliminated by Arizona State 14–4, again falling just short of the national title game.^[20]

An unexpected side effect of The Dirtbags' newfound success was the triggering of a regional rivalry between LBSU and established baseball powerhouse Cal State Fullerton, where Snow had previously spent 7 years as an assistant under Augie Garrido and had declined an offer to return as head coach in 1987 (during Snow's time at LMU).^[21] The two Cal States proceeded to dominate Southern California baseball: during Snow's 13-year tenure, the Dirtbags and the Titans won 12 of 13 Big West Championships (1 shared) and combined for 22 NCAA Tournament appearances and 10 College World Series berths. (By way of comparison, traditional SoCal athletic powerhouses USC and UCLA combined for only 19 Tournament appearances and 6 CWS berths over the same period.) The Long Beach-Fullerton rivalry remains heated to this day.^[5]

Snow retired following the 2001 season after compiling a career record at LBSU of 511–290–4 (.638 winning percentage), 6 Big West championships, 11 NCAA Tournament appearances, and 4 College World Series berths, including 3rd-place finishes in 1993 and '98. Snow still holds the LBSU career coaching records in all the aforementioned categories. Snow also received more Big West Coach of the Year accolades (5) than any other coach in program history, and remains the only LBSU coach to be named NCAA Coach of the Year (1989).

The Weathers Era (2002–10)

Immediately after Snow's departure, LBSU athletic director Bill Shumard confirmed that Snow's longtime assistant Mike Weathers would take over as head coach. Weathers, who had known Snow since the pair's playing days at Cerritos College in the late 1960s, had previously served as head coach at Utah and Chapman College before spending the last 9 seasons working under Snow at LBSU.^[22] Having served as associate head coach the year before, the veteran Weathers sought to utilize his coaching experience to maintain the level of success that Snow had established before him.

In Weathers's first year after taking the reins from Snow, the Dirtbags didn't skip a beat as they cruised to a 39–21 overall record and an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. This turned out to be the first of a seven-year run for the team, where from 2002 to 2008 the Dirtbags never finished worse than second in the conference and only once ended with fewer than 37 wins. Six of those 7 seasons also saw the Dirtbags earn a berth in the NCAA Tournament.

Perhaps most impressive about Weathers' tenure was the amount of major league talent produced by him and his coaching staff. Although LBSU by then commanded a respectable baseball reputation, the limited budget afforded to the state-funded school often forced the Dirtbags staff to focus on recruiting and developing prospects that were overlooked by other schools. One such case was Jered Weaver, who was dismissed by many scouts on the belief that he was more cut out for basketball than baseball.^[23] But Weaver went on to have a fine career as a Dirtbag, and his 2004 junior season became the most decorated for a single player in school history, netting him his second consecutive first team All-America selection while also winning (among other honors) the Dick Howser Trophy, the Roger Clemens Award, and the Golden Spikes Award.^[24][25][26]

An even more dramatic example of prospect development was Evan Longoria, who (being widely regarded as too scrawny to compete for a Division 1 program) received no scholarship offers at all out of high school.^[27] Undeterred, Longoria enrolled at Rio Hondo Community College and played for one season, after which he was finally offered a scholarship at Long Beach State.^[27] Longoria would spend the next two seasons as the starting third baseman for the Dirtbags, and by the end of his junior year at LBSU, diligent hard work and expert instruction had transformed him into an imposing physical specimen who was described by various media outlets as the "top position player" and "best pure hitter" available in the 2006 draft.^[28][29] That year Longoria became the highest-drafted player in school history (3rd overall), which also marked the third straight year that Long Beach State had a player selected in the first round of the draft (Weaver went 12th in 2004, and Troy Tulowitzki 7th in 2005).

Predictably, the rivalry between the Dirtbags and the Cal State Fullerton Titans continued as heated as ever under Weathers; the annual season-ending series between the two teams more often than not decided the conference championship. From 2002 to 2008, the two rivals flexed their muscle in the Big West by combining to win 6 more conference titles (1 shared). In the 20 seasons from 1989–2008, 17 ended with either the Dirtbags or the Titans being crowned Big West champions.

Immediately after capturing the 2008 Big West title, the Dirtbags saw the conference power balance tip decidedly against them. It started in the off-season, when LBSU lost 11 players to the 2008 draft, making it the largest draft class in school history and one that featured several star players, including All-Americans Shane Peterson and Andrew Liebel.^[30] Ultimately the Dirtbags proved unable to compensate for such a mass exodus of talent, and they fell into a major slump as they skidded to a 25–29 overall record in 2009, their first losing record in over two decades. The team's funk deepened in 2010 as they finished 23–32, dead last in the Big West for the first time in 22 years. Perhaps even more embarrassing was that the Dirtbags lost each of their 7 meetings with the arch-rival Titans over that two-year span.

On May 11, 2010 (two weeks before the close of the season), Weathers announced that he would be retiring at season's end. "There needed to be a change and new energy in the program, because it hasn't been going great the last couple years," Weathers said. "I've been doing this for 32 years, and so it's time. It can give somebody else a chance, and there's no hard feelings." ^[31] Weathers was remembered by CSULB President F. King Alexander as "an outstanding leader of the program and a great representative of the university."^[32] Weathers left LBSU with the second-most conference championships and postseason appearances to his name, as well as the second-highest winning percentage in school history (all behind his predecessor and mentor Dave Snow). Weathers also had coached the most Big West Players/Pitchers of the Year (6) and the most future MLB draft picks (56) of any coach in school history at the time of his retirement.

Following Weathers's retirement announcement, the Dirtbags lost 9 of their last 10 games in 2010.^[33]

The Buckley Era (2011–Present)

On June 1, 2010, two days after the close of the 2010 season, athletic director Vic Cegles held a press conference to formally introduce associate head coach Troy Buckley as LBSU's 7th head coach. A former professional player himself, Buckley first joined the Dirtbags' program as an assistant 2001, Dave Snow's final year as head coach. During his seven years as pitching coach he tutored seven future Major Leaguers including Abe Alvarez, Jason Vargas and 2004 National Player of the Year Jered Weaver.^[34][35] Buckley then spend two seasons serving as pitching coordinator for the Pittsburgh Pirates minor league system, before returning to LBSU in 2010 to take the position of associate head coach under Mike Weathers.

Following Weathers's retirement and his own promotion, Buckley promised to carry on the Dirtbag tradition. "We're still going to play a gritty type of baseball and hopefully show our fans that these guys don't quit. They fight and they grind and they get knocked down, but they keep coming back. We want to be fundamentally sound and not beat ourselves. We want to do things the right way." ^[36] But while speaking highly of the program's legacy of fundamentally-sound baseball, Buckley also shared Weathers's growing concern that the team's recent history of producing highly regarded MLB talent had been causing the team to lose sight of that legacy. "We just have to make sure these guys that are coming here are doing it for the right reasons. Not just to get to the big leagues or be a first-round draft choice."^[37]

Buckley's first season as skipper was far from overwhelming, as the team finished with a paltry but promising 29–27 overall record. This marked the first time in 3 seasons that the Dirtbags finished over .500, and also saw the team climb from 9th place back into 4th in the Big West with a conference record of 12–12.

2012 saw little change in the Dirtbags' overall record (28–27), but the team performed well in conference play, winning all but 2 of their head-to-head series. In fact, heading into the final weekend of the season, the Dirtbags found themselves only 1 game behind Fullerton, with the final 3-game series between the two rivals once again set to determine the Big West title. Fullerton ended up winning two of the three games, clinching the Titans' 3rd straight conference championship. (Cal Poly's 7-game winning streak to close the season allowed the Mustangs to finish 2nd in the Big West ahead of Long Beach.)

After another middling season in 2013, the Dirtbags broke their 7-year postseason drought in 2014 by posting a 32–24 record and finishing 2nd in the Big West behind Cal Poly, good for an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament. Long Beach reached the final of the Gainseville regional before being eliminated by the underdog fourth seed Charleston.

On March 1, 2015, freshman starter Chris Matthewson and freshman reliever Darren McCaughan combined for the first no-hitter in program history against Wichita State.^[38] The Dirtbags finished the season at 28–26 and placed 6th in the Big West.

In 2016 the Dirtbags finished the regular season with a strong 36–20 record, barely missing the Big West championship after losing to Fullerton in the final game of the season. They were awarded an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament for the second time in three seasons, where they were eliminated in the regional final after losing two dramatic matches with #8 ranked regional host Miami.^[39]

2017 was the team's finest season under Buckley to date. On the backs of a pitching squad that ranked 8th in the nation in ERA and an offense that ranked 184th in runs scored,^[40] the Dirtbags finished the regular season with a 37–17–1 record, including a dominant 20–4 campaign in the Big West that netted the program's first conference title since 2008. The Dirtbags also compiled a 5–1 regular season record against arch rival Fullerton, and were recognized with a top 10 ranking in all major polls. Long Beach went on to host their first NCAA regional since 2008, and after an early loss to Texas the Dirtbags won 3 consecutive games out of the loser's bracket and advance to the Super Regional. There they faced none other than the Fullerton Titans, marking the first time in history that the heated rivals had played each other with a trip to the College World Series on the line.^[5] The Titans ultimately eliminated the Dirtbags on their home turf in the third and final game of the series. At season end the Dirtbags' record stood at 42–20–1, marking the most wins by the program in 20 years, since the 1998 team that reached the College World Series semifinal. 2017 also saw LBSU's largest draft class since the MLB draft was reduced in 2012, with 8 dirtbags drafted,^[41] headed by first team All-American catcher David Banuelos and second team All-American pitcher Darren McCaughan.^[42]