A small congratulations to Long Beach State

Big West Confidential's Official Whiteboard Congratulations

What do you want from us? Money? A large trophy? This is a simple blog, and the Photoshopping skills that I possess are less than desirable.

Long Beach State has won their second straight Commissioner's Cup in a completely dominating fashion. So here's how the scoring works: 9 teams, 20 points per place, championship team gets an extra 20 points (so in theory 200, 160, 140 etc... although there might be a clause with some scoring splits, like a tie between two teams for fourth would get 110 points, instead of 120 and 100).

The 49ers only compete in 14 of the 16 championships counted toward the Cup.  Pointing out how dominant they were, let's look at the numbers.  They had 1960 total points, 110 points greater than UCD (who competes in all 16 championships by the way), and averaged 24.4 points greater than the Aggies.  Even if they had come in last place in both of those events, they would have still averaged 125 points and still won by a little under 10 points.  That my friends, is dominance.  So I raise my glass to you Long Beach State, and wish you the best of luck for the next year.

Commissioner's Cup Final Standings:

1. LBSU, 140.0

2. UCD, 115.6

3. UCSB, 115.3

4. UCI, 100.0

5. Cal Poly, 98.0

6. Fullerton, 81.4

7. Northridge, 73.3

8. Pacific, 66.4

9. UCR, 58.7

Morning Links 5/31/12

It's the last day of May! Which means nothing...unless it's your birthday, then Happy Birthday to you.  Here's a few links for you on this glorious day:

LBSU hoists second straight commissioner's cup
We'll talk more about this later (and even have a special Big West Confidential message for them), however the lead that LBSU had is ridiculous (nearly 25 points greater than that of the second place team UCD).

Chian shoots 6-over to finish Round 2 at the NCAA championships
Here's hoping he has a strong Round 3 to finish the tournament, as the individual medalists are awarded after today's round.

Pacific's Nikki Armagost named to All-American team
She was one of 54 athletes named to the NFCA's All-American team, landing a spot on the third team.  She becomes the first BWC player to do so since 2009, and first Tiger to receive an All-American award of some sort since 2007.

Because we all wish we had a mega-sponsor billionaire tycoon pouring money into are school like it's nobody's business: H/T to EDSBS for finding this gem, I don't know if the twitter handle is real or not, but you can bet that the thought process was...

UPDATE: We're still skeptical, but apparently this is T. Boone Pickens' real account. OWNED!

Morning Links 5/30/12

Happy Slump Day everyone!  We're getting close to the end of college seasons, which means that we'll need links to fill up the day.  So if you have something you think is funny/clever/related to college sports, hit me up in the comment section or in the email: cjhondros at the gmail dot com.  Off we go:

Big West Conference Awards announced for Baseball
I won't go into all the details (that's what links are for!) but I will say that I agree with the POY and the Pitcher of the Year award.  Even though Vanderhook is a first year coach at Fullerton, he took over an already dominant program.  I personally would have given it to Cal Poly's Larry Lee.

Chian finishes 3-over after one round of the NCAA Championships
This puts him in a tie for 62nd out of 156 players.  He tees off at 2:20 pm PST, here's to having a better round 2!

That's all for this morning, see anything I missed? Comment below!

Nothing but Hypotheticals: If Boise State joins as 11th member, who becomes the 12th?

In our complete theoretical speculation of what the hell will happen with conference realignment, we here at the Big West Confidential know two things: 1.  BSU really wants in if the WAC dies, 2. The Big West isn't sure if they really want to expand (they're looking at it, but if the opportunity is not right, they will not accept BSU).  So lets assume that Big West feels it's worth bringing in the Broncos, who do they look at or take as a 12th member?

We have a whole slew of teams available but geographically speaking, the Big West would only be interested in about 4.  Note: there is no rumors swirling around, this is slightly more than a bunch of bullshit possibilities that I made up.

Fresno State: Let's start with the obvious of obvious, the Bulldogs of Fresno State.  This would be the most ideal team for Boise State and SDSU to drag into a "West Coast Partner" for the Big East.  Let's forget for one second that they've been okay at best the last five years in football, and look at the potentials.

1. Fresno State is right in the ideal geographical region for the Big West.
2. They hold natural rivalries with SDSU, Boise State and Hawaii.
3. They are in the "north" area of the conference.
4. They would be the sole representative of the San Joaquin Valley.
5. Their baseball would be extremely competitive with the conference, as would their basketball.

Isn't that sound just wonderful? Here's the problem, the Big East is not looking at Fresno State, as we've seen from their addition of Memphis (a horrible football school, only added for their basketball).  You can bet if there is a push to get more west teams, and BYU turns down the rumors that they'll join (as well as Air Force, who I think will stay loyal to the MWC), Fresno State will be another meaningful option.

Odds of this happening (fake statistical bullshit for the common observer): 5-15%

Nevada: This one's a little more difficult than Fresno State, however it still would be doable.  Looking at the football trends over the past five years, the Wolfpack are on the up and the Bulldogs are in Limbo, making Nevada more ideal than Fresno State to move to the Big East.  Nevada's location in Reno make them rivals with Boise State (which has been fierce as of late) and UC Davis (2 and a half hour drive).  Nevada's basketball has been in a bit of a rough patch the last couple years after dominating the WAC, and their baseball is decent, not great.  While their other Olympic sports would have a home, rifle and swimming & diving would have to find a new home.

Odds of this happening: 5-10%

UNLV: AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA...oh wait, you're serious? Alright fine, UNLV would be the total dick move of them all.  First of all, they won't get invited by the Big East unless all sports go (and if the Las Vegas Bowl gets a tie-in as well).  Secondly, lets say their football program gets dropped because you know, of fan disinterest.  The Mountain West would fight tooth and nail to keep them, and even then, there's no clue that the Big West would want them.  This is a team, who has a proud history winning a National Title with the Big West, so why wouldn't they want them back? Mostly because the basketball team would utterly dominate the sport (again) with very little resistance (except from the Aztecs).  Also, this adds another team in the southern part of the conference, and they are actually fairly far from other teams in that area, the closest being UCR at 3 in a half hours (believe me, I've checked!).  Their baseball is decent, but would not be dominant at all, and would be a middle of the road BWC team.  Plus, I have a feeling now that they've gotten Reno back from the WAC, those two schools will be packaged.  So, while not far from any stretch of the mind, adding UNLV would be a near zero probability.

Odds of this happening: 0-π%

Sacramento State: Okay, I'm just pulling things out of  my ass now, right?  Actually...I'm not.  Think about this, the Hornets men's soccer team is already a part of the BWC starting July 1st.  The WAC is about to die leaving baseball with no home (the Big Sky doesn't sponsor baseball).  The Big Sky will start sponsoring softball later this year, giving a quick opportunity for the Hornets to change their mind and join the Big West.  If Sacramento State really wanted to, they could defect their Olympic sports to the BWC while keeping football in the Big Sky (like UCD and Cal Poly).  The Hornets' arch-rival is the Aggies, which even has a name: The Causeway Classic (as the football game is called) and it provides a source of school spirit as provided from an article written a couple years back.  While this would provide more of an ideal opportunity (as like with Fresno State), I really don't see it happening unless Sac State decides to pull a Cartman at the Big Sky meetings ("Screw you guys, I'm going that way!")

Odds of this happening: Carry the Hamiltonian in your time-dependent Schrodinger equation and you have a quantum probability somewhere between zero or one.  No one really knows for sure...

Morning Links 5/29/12

Another Memorial Day has gone and passed, and now it's back to our regular routine of work or school or sitting on the couch and watching college sports... Here are some link:

NCAA Tourney seeding recap
Anyone curious to know how close LBSU was to making the field of 64?  They were ranked 68 in RPI.  That would have essentially equated to one more win against either a strong non-conference opponent, or winning the series against Fullerton (which would have given them the auto-bid anyway, so that doesn't really count).

Dome/Fawcett lose to Jha/Quigley in two sets
The No. 68 ranked upset-minded duo couldn't come back after the first set, and fell to the Kentucky pair 7-6, 6-3.  Fawcett will leave Cal Poly with a successful showing at the NCAA tournament while Dome will have one more year of eligibility left.

13 Big West Athletes make it to the NCAA Championships
UCR and UCSB led the way with 3 athletes: Travis Smith, Caleb Stuart and Ryan Swafford for UCR and Ryan Martin, Barbara Nwaba and Derek Masterson for UCSB; Cal Poly, LBSU and UCD are all sending 2 athletes: John Prader and Whitney Sister from Cal Poly, Ben Woodruff and Katrina Graves-Johnson from LBSU, Ashley Hearn and Sarah Sumpter represent UCD.  The final athlete to represent the Big West are UCI's Charles Jock.

Philip Chian to represent LBSU and the Big West at the NCAA Golf Championships
He tees off here in a few minutes but Chian made his way to the Nationals by finishing in a tie 4th overall at the Athens Regional.  Best of luck to him.

See anything I missed? Comment below!

Ladies and Gentlemen, your 2012 Big West Baseball Champions: Cal State Fullerton, enters Eugene regional as No. 2 seed.

Cal State Fullerton broke a 0-0 tie in the top of the seventh with a Michael Lorenzen RBI single.  The hit parade didn't finish there though, as the young freshman J.D. Davis crushed a 3 run home run out to left field.  Lorenzen's sacrifice in the eighth led to another run, and he closed out the ninth with a fantastic inning of pitching.  Kenny Mathews gave up four hits and an unearned run as he shut down the Dirtbags.

The seedings were announced this morning and the Titans received a No. 2 seed in the Eugene regional as Saturday's loss took dropped them to No. 19/18 in the NCBWA and Coaches polls.  They will face Indiana State in the first round of the tournament. The Dirtbags' series lost kept them out of the tournament.  Interestingly enough, Cal Poly was recieving votes in the NCBWA after their utter domination of UCR, which would have probably put them in if the Coaches' poll had done the same.

Here is your bracket for the NCAA Baseball Tournament:

 

 Click to embiggen

Dirtbags 5, Titans 1 --- LBSU's win sets up tomorrow's finale perfectly

Welp.

I thought that Friday's win would've sealed the regional host site.   With yesterday's loss though (it's past midnight as I'm writing this), the Titans probably will have to find themselves having to win to get that auto bid and host site.

One night after Floro took down the Dirtbags, Ryan Strufing returned the favor with an outstanding outing himself.  The sophomore pitched 8.2 innings, gave up an earned run on 5 hits, walking 2 and striking out 6.  Offensively, Metzger led the way with a three run shot, while Juan Avila continued his dominance of Titan pitching with 3 hits and two RBI's on his own.  Johnny Bekakis contributed to the Dirtbag hit parade with 2 hits on his own.

Offensively for the Titans, Matt Orloff and Carlos Lopez provided 4 of the 5 singles that Fullerton got.  Outside of that, Lorenzen's fielder's choice helped avoid the shutout.  Titan reliever Jose Cardonan played damage control however, as he pitched 3 shutout innings to force LBSU to rely on their pitching to get the job done.  With 2 on and 2 away in the 9th and players on the corners for the Titans, Kyle Friedrichs took over for the Strufing and struck out JD Davis for the final out.

This leads us to our final game of the season, later today, at 1:00 pm at Blair Field.  It's Senior Day and to celebrate, the Dirtbags will be sending Shawn Stuart (7-0, 2.21 ERA) against Kenny Matthews (5-2, 4.09 ERA).  My prediction for this game? 2-1 LBSU in 10 innings.




Note: this post will serve as the open thread for the remainder of this weekend.  Comment if you dare!

Cal State Fullerton 4, Long Beach State 0 -- Titans take Round 1

The Titans Dylan Floro was unstoppable tonight pitching a complete game shutout, giving up only six hits, while issuing 1 walk and 5 strikeouts.  Offensively, Carlos Lopez provided a quarter of Fullerton's hits, going 2-4 with 1 walk and 1 RBI.  The Dirtbags provided charity by gifting the Titans with 2 errors that eventually led to runs in the 6th.  LBSU had a couple of bright spots on offense however, as Juan Avila and Matt Duffy provided 2/3rds of the Dirtbags' hits.

This win should assure Fullerton a host site for the NCAA regionals, as they entered this week ranked No. 12.  LBSU can still win this series and the conference by winning the next two days, but they have to score runs.  The final two games of the series are tomorrow at 5:30 pm and Sunday at 1:00 pm.

Tomorrow's probables will feature red shirt freshman Grahamm Wiest pitching for the Titans vs. and Ryan Strufing for the Dirtbags.

Can the Dirtbags pull themselves together or will the Titans reign over the Big West in glory again?

Morning Links 5/25/12

Happy Friday before Memorial Day!  Here are some links to get you started:


Dome and Fawcett defeat Ole Miss opponents: move on to 2nd round today
The intriguing matchup is not just the fact that they're playing another SEC opponent (Kentucky) but Dome and Kentucky's Quigley will be squaring off against each other for the second time this week.  In the single's match, Quigley downed Dome in heated close sets 7-5, 6-4.  Can Dome get revenge with his partner-in-crime?

UCR leads 4 athletes into Day 2 of competition of NCAA West Regionals
The total number of Big West players advancing was 14.  The top 12 finishers in each event advance to the National Championships in 2 weeks.

We have now arrived at the final weekend of Big West Baseball, here are the list of games and times.  As always, if you live in the area: ATTEND!  Home teams are listed last and in bold.

UCI at UCD, 2:30 pm
Cal Poly at UCR, 6 pm
Northridge at Pacific, 6 pm
Fullerton at LBSU, 6 pm
UCSB at CSU Bakersfield, 7 pm

Makeup game: UCSB at Utah (from Bakersfield), 2 pm

See anything I missed? Comment Below!

Morning Links 5/24/12

Morning links have turned into afternoon links today as I've been busy with some things.  Here they are presented without anymore delays (hopefully):

Wednesday baseball recap: UCR 14, USC 9
USC had the lead up until the 5th, where the Highlanders piled on 3-run innings 3 more times and added a final run in the 9th for good measure.  USC also helped UCR with ERRONEOUS CHARITY!

Tennis individual recaps
Cal Poly's Andre Dome fell to No. 3 ranked UK's Eric Quigley 7-5, 6-4 and LBSU's Anais Dallara forced a third set before eventually losing to No. 24 Mary Anne MacFarlane 6-1,4-6, 6-3.

 Live Stats of Dome/Fawcett double's match (started at 1 PST)
As of right now, the Cal Poly duo hold a 2-1 lead in the first set against their Mississippi opponents.  Let's hope they pull out a victory.

See anything I missed? Comment below!

Morning Links 5/23/12

Wednesday is slump day because it's in the middle of the week, but that's not stopping us from bringing you proper reading material before you force yourself to start the morning, here are the links:

Baseball recaps
On one of the last non-conference days of the season, UCSB defeated USC 6-3, sending the seniors out of Santa Barbara on a high note, UCD beat Saint Mary's 7-2, UCI fell to UCLA 6-2, Northridge lost to Bakersfield 10-1 and following a great series win against Fullerton, UCR got shut out by LMU 3-0.

All 8 Big West teams represented at NCAA West Regionals
I should mention now, while there are currently 9 teams in the Big West, Pacific does not have a track and field team, therefore there are only 8 teams who compete in the sport.  81 athletes total from all 8 schools will represent their school and the Big West Conference May 24-26 in Austin, Texas.  Those that finish high enough will qualify for the Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Des Moines, Iowa.

Three Big West players set to compete in the Tennis Championships
LBSU's Anais Dallara and Cal Poly's Andre Dome and Matt Fawcett will compete in Athens, Georgia in hopes of bringing home a National Title.  Dallara's match starts at 10 AM PST today, while Dome's singles match is already underway.  Dome and Fawcett will compete in their doubles match tomorrow.  Good luck to all three!

See anything I've missed? Comment below!

Pacific Coach Bob Thomason to retire after the 2012-13 season

The University of Pacific Head Coach, Bob Thomason, announced his intent to retire after the closure of the 2012-2013 basketball season on Monday.   His main reason is completely logical and yet, illogical at the same time.  While it makes sense that he is selfless enough to want someone new to lead Pacific into a new conference and a new era, if it were up to me, I would not stop coaching until my health deterred me.  Then again, this is the reason why I'm a blogger and not a coach...

The Tigers have racked up 414 wins under him and while he was a player from 1968-1971, they can add another 56 wins to bring the total to 470.   Here’s a quote from Thomason’s announcement:

"I have had an unbelievable experience coaching at Pacific for the past 24 years," said Thomason. "The players, assistant coaches, administrators, faculty, support staff, boosters, and fans from Stockton have given me great support, and I really appreciate their support. To be able to coach the Tigers for 25 years will be a true pleasure. After next season, it will be the perfect time for me to retire from Pacific. We will have a team that can compete for the Big West Championship, and the team will be even better the following season. It was important for me to leave a good team for the next coaching staff. Also, it's a great time for a new coach to lead the Tigers into the West Coast Conference in 2013-14. I will always be a great fan of Pacific Basketball and of all Pacific sports, and look forward to spending more quality time with my family. Thank you Pacific and the Stockton community." 

While we can speculate who will be the Tigers next coach (though by that time, they’ll be in the West Coast Conference), let’s take a look back at the player and coach who immersed himself in Pacific basketball.

As a player for the Tigers, Thomason averaged 17.2 ppg, which is remarkable seeing as the three-point line wasn’t introduced to the NCAA until 1980 when the Southern Conference became the first conference to use the line.  After a fantastic college career, he went straight into coaching, going from an assistant coach at Stagg, HS, to head coaching at Escalon HS and then Turlock HS.  In 1981, Thomason became the head coach at Columbia College, located in Sonora, California.  Four years later he was introduced as the head coach at Cal State Stanislaus.  His success there gained the attention of Pacific and in July of 1988, he became the head coach of the Tigers.

As the coach for the Tigers, up to the present day, he has led Pacific to 8 NCAA tourney appearances, making the second round twice (in two consecutive years), 9 20-win seasons, and a 75% winning percentage at Spanos Center.  His focus on academics off the court has led to a 96% graduation rate from his players.  Under his guidance, Pacific has had 4 All-Americans, one overall No. 1 NBA Draft Pick and 59 Big West Conference awards.

Losing Thomason will be a huge blow to the Tigers, however, if they let him pick his successor, I firmly believe that Pacific will continue their competitive spirit for at least the next 25 years.

Morning Links 5/22/12

With one sport playing for the rest of the season, it's a little harder to do links.  However, there's a huge piece of news coming out of Stockton and we'll have more on that later:

Bob Thomason to retire after the 2012-2013 season
While you may wonder why he's not retiring now, it makes perfect sense as to why he will wait another year.  Let's hope that his last will not be like Schnellenberger's last year at FAU.

Not much else going on today, so if you have free time on your hands and you live near the ballparks, here are some games for you to go out, attend and support our conference:

UCR at LMU, George C. Page Stadium, Los Angeles,  3 PM
UCD at SMC, Louis Guisto Field, Moraga, 3 PM
USC at UCSB, Caesar Uyesaka Stadium, Santa Barbara, 3 PM
CSUN at CSUB, Hardt Field, 6 PM
UCLA at UCI, Cicerone Field at Anteater Ballpark, 6:30 PM

Would you like to share a link? Comment below!

Fullerton-LBSU Series Preview: What's At Stake?

The No. 12 Cal State Fullerton Titans are playing the Long Beach State 49ers (nickname: the Dirtbags) in what should be a thrilling conference series finale.  The Titans currently hold a one game lead over the Dirtbags heading into this weekend’s action, but there are many who believe that the scrappy Dirtbags will pull the upset and steal the auto-bid.  Which brings us to the question: Will Fullerton get an at-large bid if they lose the series?

As of May 15^th, the Titans are ranked No. 15 according to NCAA Baseball RPI Standings.  The Dirtbags are sitting at No. 59 for those of you who are comparing head-to-head rankings.  The next closest Big West team is Cal Poly at No. 85.  Being that the Titans are in a mini-slump right now, it is very possible for the Dirtbags to take the conference by surprise and end up on top.  If this happens, I firmly believe that Fullerton will get an at-large bid into the Regionals.  Whether or not they can get a host site, depends on how they play this week against the Dirtbags (win or lose).  If the Titans get swept this weekend, at worst, I can envision them in a No. 3 seed.  However, if the Titans go 1-2, they might be still ranked high enough to get a Regional host site.  Remember, all of this is assuming that Fullerton will lose the conference title this week.

On the other hand, if Fullerton wins the conference title, the Titans will most assuredly be given a host site.  However, this scenario brings up a very interesting situation for the Dirtbags.  As I’ve stated earlier, the NCAA RPI ranks them at 59 (this was before last week’s series win over Pacific).  If the Dirtbags don’t get blown out, and salvage a win, I feel that they could end up as a No. 4 seed in some regional.  If the Titans sweep the Dirtbags though, it’s sayonara for LBSU and they’ll be watching the College World Series instead of participating.  Can LBSU get any higher than a No. 4 seed?  Only if they win the conference title, and even then, it’s a stretch…unless of course, the secret council of the highly supreme NCAA RPI mathematicians value the Big West so highly in baseball that LBSU gets a generous seeding.   Whatever the case, 49er fans will have a lot to root for this week, while Titan fans will be rooting for their pride.

Interview with a Blogger: OBNUG

 As long as Boise State is still in the picture for the Big West, I want to be know what people think about this, whether it's our conference teams or whether it's someone from the outside looking in.  Thus, the "Interview with a Blogger" series is born out of necessity for those of us who want knowledge and analysis.  Having been a commenter on what I considered to be Boise State's best blog: One Bronco Nation Under God (OBNUG for short), I figured emailing Kevan from OBNUG would be the most natural choice in having someone from Bronco Nation explain as to why BSU should be in the Big West.  Below are the answers that Kevan gave to my questions.

 BWConfidential: There's a lot of talk as to why Boise State wouldn't be wanted in the Big West.  Convince me otherwise.

KL: As someone who finds conference realignment  xx, I have half a mind to say that the Big West can be justified saying and doing and deciding whatever it wants. That said, I'm a Boise State homer, so the Big West's not wanting the Broncos is an egregious mistake that will ruin them. Boise State brings national cachet and competitive sports teams that are as good but not so good as to be that much better than existing Big West schools. The Broncos are more of a geographic fit than Hawaii; Idaho and California practically touch. If the Big West wants to keep growing with quality programs, Boise State is one of the West's best. And we're single.

 BWConfidential: There's an issue of "Boise State is a bigger school in athletics, therefore will be more dominant."  Is this true?

KL: The Broncos will probably compete at the higher end of the Big West, but that's not to say that Boise State is going to dominate the conference. The BSU budget will be larger than the others, but I'm pretty sure that the football team gets the credits and debits of the budget and the rest of the sports pull from petty cash. 

 

BWConfidential: Scenario: BSU joins the Big West.  Who (other than Hawaii or SDSU) becomes the Broncos biggest and most natural rival?

KL: I would like to think that Long Beach State would fit as Boise State's biggest rival, if only because there is some recent shared basketball history there. But the obvious answer is UC Davis for the obvious - and tangential - relationship to Coach Pete and the football team.

 

BWConfidential: Scenario: The Big West declines BSU's application, and now Boise State has to look for other options.  Is the only option available to go back to the Mountain West?

KL:Considering how quickly things change in NCAA conferences nowadays, I find it hard to believe that Boise State would have no options if the Big West falls through. I don't consider the Mountain West to be an option because of the football component. I could see the Broncos taking some sort of weird independent walkabout for a year or two before college god reshuffles the cosmic dominoes and an opening is created in, say, the Big West Sky (a combination of the WCC and the Big Sky, natch).

 

BWConfidential: This is a question inspired by your blog bets: On a scale of fast food restaraunts, the high being Dairy Queen and the low being Taco Bell, how excited do you think Bronco Nation is to be even considered for the Big West?  Are we just a second-hand rag to them, or will the conference be treated with respect?

KL: Assuming Bronco Nation cares about sports other than football, I would say the Big West option is a firm Chick-fil-A (less than a Dairy Queen, but not by much). BSU fans greatest fear would be losing the Big East option or living with relegation on par with whatever fate the University of Idaho finds for itself. That a conference with the clout of the Big West and the familiar faces in San Diego State and Hawaii thinks of us when we're not around is a lot nicer than the alternatives.

 

Thanks a lot to Kevan for being willing to participate.  If you've never done so, GO READ OBNUG!  You get the analysis of all the Bronco football you need, plus a dabbling of the Olympic sports as well.

Morning Links 5/21/12

One weekend left of Big West Baseball and three teams are vying for the conference title.  Fullerton has a one game lead over LBSU and a two game lead over Cal Poly.  Theoretically if Fullerton loses the series 1-2 to the Dirtbags and Cal Poly sweeps UCR, there will be a three-way tie for first.  More on that later, first, the links.

LBSU's series win sets up for conference finale against Fullerton
Mark your calendars, and the location:  this Friday through Sunday at Blair Field (LBSU's stadium).

LBSU softball eliminated against No. 25 Syracuse
After falling to the Orange the first time, the 49ers beat LIU-Brooklyn 5-4 to eliminate the Blackbirds.  In the finale, the 49ers took Syracuse to 8 innings before Erin Jones-Wesley gave up a solo shot.  The Orange shut down the 49ers in the bottom of the 8th to win 2-1.

Baseball recaps
UCR won the rubber match with a 1-0 win over the Titans, Cal Poly came back from down 7-1 to sweep UCSB 9-8, Matadors took Senior Day 6-3 to avoid the sweep, Dirtbags won the series 2-1 with a 5-1 win over Pacific and UCI took the series against CSU-Bakersfield with a 15-6 pounding on Sunday.

Golf NCAA results
LBSU's Philip Chian finished in a tie for 4th place in the Athens Regional to advance to the NCAA Championship while LBSU finished 8th as a team, UCD finished 12th in the Stanford Regional, Pacific's Alex Edfort finished the Stanford Regional in a tie for 27th and UCI's Allen Jun finished 44th, finally Cal State Northridge's Chris Russo finished in a tie for 44th in the Greensboro Regional.

No news on conference expansion, so all is quiet on the Big West front.  See anything I missed? Comment below!

Morning Links 5/18/12

Happy Friday everyone!  We have a couple things going on, first the NCAA Men's Golf Tournament continues today, second LBSU squares off against Syracuse in the Arizona Regional of the NCAA softball tourney and lastly, the penultimate weekend of baseball is about to begin.  So with that, let's get to some links:

With Round 1 in the books, Big West is representing well thus far in the NCAA tourney
UC Davis is sitting 12th in the Stanford Regional, LBSU is T10th in the Athens regional and in the individual competition, Alex Edfort from Pacific shot 2 over to sit 6 strokes behind the leader after one round while UCI's Allan Jun is 2 under after one round.

Four Big West players make it on the All-Regional first and second teams in softball
Three are in the All-Pacific region: Nikki Armagost made it to the first team, Megan Hom and Justine Vela made it to the second team.  Cya Neal was named to the All-West Second Team.  Congratulations to all these players.

LBSU preview from the Press Telegram
Best comparison? The first sentence when LBSU is compared to a stealth bomber.  It's so rare when you see a team completely turn their season around after a horrible start, but that's what LBSU did and now they're looking to make noise in the Tempe regional.

See any links I missed? Comment below!

The Big West Mascots Meet in Secret

SCENE: Somewhere in the Channel Islands, in a cave.  The cave is made out to be like a five star resort and is run on solar energy.  Here all 10 mascots (Powercat is no longer invited) of the Big West meet in secret.  They are the ones who make the conference decisions.

Tuffy the Titan: (Trumpets to quiet everyone down) "ORDER! Order! We are here to determine whether or not Boise State will be allowed to join the Big West.  Let us take council!"

Prospector Pete: "Now look'ee here! Ain't nobody nohow gonna try and push us around with their fancy names! My brother wharbllleer (proclaims loud incoherent gibberish)."

Vili the Warrior and The Aztec Warrior look at each other and shrug.  The rest of the mascots nod their head at the prospector's babbling wisdom.

Vili: "VILI SMASH PUNY BRONCO! HE WANTS TO LEAVE MOUNTAIN WEST FOR FOOTBALL BUT WANTS TO JOIN US! VILI CONFUSED! AAAAAAAAAAAGH! VILI WILL DO HAKA FOR DECISION!"

Vili does a haka and looks at his finishing step.  He finishes on his right foot. "ACCORDING TO VILI'S HAKA, VILI CHOOSES TO SMASH PUNY BRONCO IN OTHER SPORTS BUT FOOTBALL! AAAAAAAAAAAGH!"

The Aztec Warrior: "Look bros, I know that you think that Buster Bronco and BSU will use you, and they might, but surely, their name will bring us fame.  They won't win everything, but they will be competitive." 

Zuma the Jaguar shows up: "FEAR ME! I'M CUDDLY"

The Aztec Warrior throws a spear, kills Zuma and resumes his talk: "To top it off, with Boise State comes the possibility of more national TV time, which means more time show off my abs...ladies?"

Ole: "I agree, the exposure would be muy bueno to show of my beautiful sombrero and dancing shoes for the ladies."

Matty the Matador: "Hold on there, Zorro.  Just because they look like a pretty option now doesn't mean they'll backstab us later.  Why should I want BSU here? I mean, we're always overlooked here at Northridge."

Prospector Pete: "Maybe if y'all actually stopped focusing on your looks and acting, maybe you can win a title more than once every 9-10 years."

 Tuffy the Titan: "ENOUGH OF THIS BICKERING! Peter, what do you have to say about all this?"

Peter the Anteater: "Ack! Thbbppppt!" (sticks tounge out repeatedly in a morse-code-like manner making noises that are appropriate to the signals)

Scotty the Bear: "Aye, Peter is right!  We already have too many boggin horses in our lovely little conference as it is.  Only a dobber would take in more.  Ah'm pure scunnurt with this whole ged situation. But at the same time, Ah think it's a doss idea to get more of a name fer ourselves."

Gunrock the Mustang:  "Scotty shut your trap!  And quit with your fake Scottish accent.  Playing the part only takes you so far before it gets out of hand!  Musty and I think that Buster and BSU would be a great addition to the conference.  Outside of the horse thing, we can seriously consider a takeover of the West Coast."

Everyone looks at Gunrock and Musty silently.

Tuffy: "Are you mad?! Who will take us seriously?"

Musty speaks up, in an Ernst Stavro Blofeld-type tone: "You can see, that we used to be all over the West for years, unfortunately, due to the WAC growing power hungry, they stole BSU and others away from us for years.  With the recent conference expansion, and greed of other conferences, the WAC became too much for their own good and...self-destructed, would you say?  But who do you think was behind that? The Mountain West? Not with their joke of a commissioner.  Look who had been dominating the WAC after they left the Big West (and not just in football, but smaller sports as well)."

The mascots look at Musty who all of a sudden is stroking a Turkish Angora.

The cat speaks, "We must all be in cooperation, and all of you have brought up good points.  Unfortunately, this is the prime opportunity and we need a vote.  Therefore we will let the candidate speak his mind.  Buster."

Buster the Bronco enters: "'Sup guys?  Look, I know some of you aren't pleased about this pending situation, but I'll tell you what I'll try to do.  I'll find a great 12th person to come with me, and to throw in the deal right now I'll give everyone lifetime Sun Valley season passes and a lifetime's supply of Idaho potatoes and whatever local potato vodka you want.  How's that sound?"

The mascots convene with each other, look at Buster and finally Tuffy speaks again.  "Guarantee that we won't have to pay any of the travel costs and you have yourself a deal!"

The Turkish Angora speaks up: "All in favor of Boise State entering the Big West Conference say 'aye'"

Everyone but Prospector Pete and Vili say "AYE"

The vote comes to an 8-2 pass.

Tuffy the Titan:  "Buster, it is now YOUR responsibility to find a twelfth member to fill the ranks, however, any funny business and I throw you to the streets and back to the Mountain West, where The Hair reigns supreme.  Now, who wants to surf?"

Everyone leaves the cave and goes to their favorite surf spot: the backside of Catalina.

FIN

Morning Links 5/17/12

As we continue to bring updates with conference expansion, life will continue as normal.  However, the links are brought extra early to you today:

Big West Softball All-Conference team is diverse in teams
Here are your players and coaches of the year:
2012 OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Nikki Armagost, Pacific
2012 PITCHER OF THE YEAR
Justine Vela, UC Davis
2012 DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Nicole Matson, Pacific
2012 FRESHMAN FIELD PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Shelby Wisdom, UC Santa Barbara
2012 FRESHMAN PITCHER OF THE YEAR
Justine Vela, UC Davis
2012 COACH OF THE YEAR
Brie Galicinao, UC Santa Barbara

The All-Conference teams are in the link, so be sure to visit there to see if your favorite player made it.

Track and Field Honors start a series of firsts for a couple different programs 
UCD and UCSB who had never won a conference championship before, were rewarded with COY awards for their coaches (and indirectly the staff).


Hawaii may be Boise State's biggest enemy
Now this is stupid for many reason, mainly the fact that UH football has not been extremely competitive with BSU since Colt Brennan left, however, if UH votes "no" to BSU admission to the Big West, that puts Bronco football back into the MWC, where many of the temporary rivals of BSU want them to be.  That being said, how much power the Warriors have in the Big West right now is relative.


Another article about BSU's issues with going to the Big West
This one from KBOI in Boise says that the Broncos have been given a New Member Assessment Tool which is essentially an application form.  Two issues they bring up are travel costs (which I still think is easier than UH's travel costs) and approval from 8 of 10 members.


Mountain West Connection weighs in...
This is not from me, it's from bluesyourdaddy, the BSU writer for MWConnection.  His thoughts are similar to the Hawaii article in the fact that the MWC could be pushing for Hawaii to say no.  It's interesting he brings up the twelfth member choice as Fresno State.  This could be what's really worrying the Big West, though I'm firm in my suspicions that Bakersfield would more likely get the nod as the twelfth member now that they've become more developed and already competes with the rest of the Big West on a regular basis.


Stay tuned for more action and drama!

Big West Softball: Long Beach State wins Conference Title

The 49er softball team wrapped up the conference this past weekend with a win winning the series against Pacific to hold off UCSB's furious late season rally.  They will be facing Syracuse in the Arizona Regionals of the NCAA Tournament on May 18th.  Here's a quick look as to how they got here:

After getting off to a reasonable 6-5 start, the 49ers went through a 6-13 slump to finish non-conference play.  Dropping the series against UCSB, LBSU rattled off a 15-3 record against the rest of the Big West to clinch the title.  Ashlynn Booker led the 49ers with 6 home runs while Hannah De Gaetano tore through the competition with a team leading .337 BA and 29 RBI's.

Erin Jones-Wesley and Taylor Petty were dominant in their pitching roles.  Jones-Wesley led the team in appearances and starts (37 appearances and 29 starts) and went 20-12 with a 1.97 ERA, while conference-specialist Petty kept the same consistency with 13 appearances, 12 starts going 8-2 and a team leading 1.14 ERA.

So what will happen in the NCAA regionals?  Taking a quick scouting report, the Orange have a much more potent offense than the 49ers, and the pitching is even for both teams.  Therefore, the 49ers will have to rely on their pitching to shut down Syracuse tomorrow.  As I have mentioned before, LBSU has history on their side: head to head in 3 appearances, Long Beach has all three wins.  Can they keep that streak up?  We'll find out soon enough.

Morning Links 5/16/12

After a small day off due to school/work things, we're back with the links.

Big West reconsidering Boise State
If many of you could see my face right now, it would be something like this:

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE SEND OUT AN INVITE COMMISH!
/no further comments...or is there

"SDSU sends very subtle message to Big West"...a Hollywood screenplay from AKH
There are serious articles that report facts...and then there are rolling on the floor laughing blog posts that portray what's going on from an exaggerated view point.  This is why we're bloggers.  Let ESPN/USAToday/CNN or whoever do the reporting and let us tell the story and analyze the situation.  In the meantime, the Cedric Ceballos line was my favorite...

Baseball recap from Monday: UCD 6, Hawaii 3
UCD finished of their four straight days of playing by beating Hawaii 6-3.  This is win number 4 in the last 6 as they start to make their final push for .500 ball to finish the season.

Baseball recaps from yesterday
Cal Poly beat CSU Bakersfield 6-2, UCD beat SJSU 12-9, Pacific lost to their future conference mates Santa Clara 8-5, No. 21 USD edged out UCI 4-3 and the Dirtbags fell to Pepperdine 5-3.

See something I missed? What's your feelings on conference expansion? Leave comments below!

Morning Links 5/14/12

Championship weekend is over and we have a lot to cover, so sit back and enjoy:

LBSU Softball clinches Big West title, will face Syracuse in Arizona Regional
While the 49ers softball will be entering as a heavy underdog (28-23 vs No. 25 Syracuse's 40-14 record) every time these two teams have met, LBSU has won the matchup.

Anteaters finish 4th in the Tourney, falling to Stanford and UCLA
UCI kept the third place match close, but it was the Bruins who were able to edge out the win.

Track and Field: UCD women and UCSB men capture first Big West Titles in history
While UCSB dominated their competition the whole way, UCD beat the second place UCSB women by half a point. 

Aggie Women finish 12th in West Regional
After a great second round, the Aggies couldn't finish strong.  Amy Simanton missed out on the individual finals after losing in the playoff round.

Men and women tennis championship recap
No. 63 Cal Poly men fell in the first round to No. 22 Texas Tech 4-1, while No. 46 LBSU women dominated Arkansas 4-0, before falling the next day to No. 1 UCLA.

Baseball series recaps
The Matadors won their first series over UCI since 2004 with a 5-4 win on Sunday, Dirtbags beat UCD 4-1 but lost the series after dropping the first two games, UCR dominated the rubber game with a 12-1 trouncing of the Tigers, Fullerton beat UCSB 9-3 to take the series and Cal Poly won the series but dropped the final game to CSU Bakersfield 6-4.

See anything I missed? Comment Below!

Open Thread: 5/11/12

Get ready for the games this weekend.  A couple of big things going on, so here's a schedule:

WTennis: Arky vs. LBSU, 10 am

Softball: UCR vs Cal Poly, noon
Pacific vs LBSU, ESPN3, 1 pm
UCSB vs CSUN, 1:30 pm
UCR vs Cal Poly, 2 pm
Pacific vs LBSU, ESPN3, 3 pm
UCSB vs CSUN, 3:30 pm
UCD vs CSUF, 4 pm
UCD vs CSUF, 6 pm

WWP: LMU vs UCI, 5:15 pm

Baseball: LBSU vs UCD, 2:30 pm
CSUF vs UCSB, 3 pm
UCI vs CSUN, 3 pm
UCR vs Pacific, 6 pm
CSU Bakersfield vs Cal Poly, 6 pm

Women's Tennis is single elimination and WWP there's a consolatory game for placement (we want to win the whole thing of course).

This open thread will be used to discuss games going on and results: have fun!

Morning Links 5/11/12

It's Friday and it's also championship weekend for many sports.   That means you'll get an open thread to play around with this weekend: and I expect participation!  Here are your links:

Old article: still relevant
Andy Katz of ESPN dwells on whether the Big West should let BSU in.  And people thought conference expansion was over and done with...

Big West coaches meeting results in 16-game conference schedule for 2013
SDSU coach Steve Fischer was pushing for 14, but he's not going to make an issue of it, from what we can tell.

After one round, UC Davis Women are tied for 18th in the NCAA regional
Slow start, but they can come back from this.  Remember: the top 8 teams advance, so the Aggies will have to shoot well these next couple of days.

Remember: Pacific vs. LBSU is on ESPN3 today for both their games in the doubleheader, Women's Tennis begins with Arkansas vs LBSU at 10 am today and UCI's water polo team takes on LMU at 5:15 pm in San Diego.  The Tennis tourney is in LA, and the Water Polo tourney is in San Diego: if you have the opportunity, go watch these teams!  Open thread should be up here by 10.