Long Beach State Skids Right In

In mid-April, it looked as if Long Beach State was going to breeze past the rest of its Big West Conference opponents and roll into a ho-hum postseason tournament as the best baseball team in the conference.

Well, forget that.

Since then, Long Beach has won only eight of its last 17 regular-season games, and has lost four of its last five, all at Blair Field. The 49ers were swept in a three-game series last weekend by Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

The skid is reminiscent of Cal State Fullerton’s late-season nosedive last year. The Titans, who won 38 of their first 42 games, went into a slump and won only three of nine games before the conference tournament, and then were eliminated in three games.

“We’re concerned going in,” Long Beach Coach Dave Snow said of the weekend tournament. “We’ve been going through some struggles on the mound, and a lot at the plate. I wouldn’t be surprised by whichever team wins. I think it’s up for grabs.”

The double-elimination playoffs for the conference’s automatic NCAA Regional berth begin today with Cal Poly San Luis Obispo (36-19) playing Nevada (37-17) at 3 p.m. at Blair Field in Long Beach. Long Beach (34-22) faces UC Santa Barbara (26-28) at Blair Field at 7 p.m., and Cal State Fullerton (34-21-1) meets Pacific (27-27) at 7 p.m. at Titan Field. All other games Friday through Sunday will be at Blair Field.

The Fullerton-Pacific game matches two of the Big West’s most successful pitchers. Pacific’s Dan Reichert (12-4) leads the nation in victories and strikeouts and is among the national leaders with a 2.17 earned-run average. Fullerton’s Brian Tokarse (10-1) has a 3.30 ERA and opponents are batting only .219 against him.

Reichert, regarded as a probable first-round draft choice in June, shut out the Titans on six hits this season. Reichert hasn’t given up a home run all season, and has given up more than one run in an inning only twice this season.

“If any team is at a disadvantage going into the tournament, it might be us in that we have to face Reichert in the first game,” Titan Coach George Horton said. “They’re a different team when he’s on the mound. It definitely will be a challenge for us.”

Fullerton, however, begins the tournament having won 11 of its last 13 games, including a three-game sweep at Nevada, the top team in the Northern Division.

“You’d like to be playing your best baseball when it’s the most important,” Horton said.

The Titan pitching staff has the Big West’s best ERA at 4.66 and Horton is hoping that depth will be a factor.

The Titans have Matt Wise, second to Reichert in the conference with a 3.27 ERA, ready for the second game. Wise’s 5-7 record is deceiving. Four of those losses have been by one run, and the Titans have been shut out in two of his losses. Brandon Duckworth (8-1, 4.98) is the No. 3 starter.

“I’m happy with the way our pitching has progressed,” Horton said. “And when you go into a six-team tournament like this, I think you have to look at the teams with the best pitching depth as having the best chance to win.”

Long Beach State has the Big West’s second-best staff ERA at 5.03. Marcus Jones (9-5, 4.12), the 1996 conference pitcher of the year, will start the opener against Santa Barbara’s Brian Noyes (6-4, 6.77).

Snow is more concerned about his No. 2 starter Rocky Biddle (8-5, 4.45) and No. 3 starter Iran Barrera (5-3, 4.97). “Biddle’s last couple of starts haven’t been very good, and Barrera’s last couple have been mediocre,” Snow said.

Fullerton and Long Beach both have effective closers. The 49ers’ Ara Petrosian (4-2, 3.53) has 13 saves, which is tied for the best in the nation. The Titans’ Mike Greenlee has a slightly better ERA at 3.30 with seven saves.

“I think the team that wins it will be the team that swings the bat this week,” Snow said.

The conference has three players batting above .400. Cal Poly San Luis Obispo’s Scott Kidd leads the conference at .411 followed by Pacific’s Shane Rooney (.409) and Long Beach’s Toby Sanchez (.405). Andy Dominique of Nevada has 26 home runs and leads the conference in RBIs with 87.

The coaches hope that at least two of the teams, in addition to the conference champion, will get NCAA at-large berths. The Big West had four teams in the regionals last year, but the conference might not be as strong at the top as it was a year ago when Nevada Las Vegas, Fullerton, Long Beach and Santa Barbara made the field.

“I think there’s probably more balance this year,” Horton said. “Some of the teams that weren’t up there last year have improved.”

Snow says the expanded 30-game schedule might have been a factor. “You probably see more teams go through up and down cycles with the longer schedule,” he said.

Long Beach won 20 of 23 games during one stretch before its recent slide.

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Big West Baseball Tournament

* When: Today-Sunday

* Where: Cal State Fullerton (tonight only) and Long Beach’s Blair Field

* Format: Six teams, double-elimination tournament

* First-round schedule:

At Blair Field--Nevada vs. Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, 3 p.m.; Long Beach State vs. UC Santa Barbara, 7 p.m.

At Titan Field--Fullerton vs. Pacific, 7 p.m.

* Championship game: Blair Field, Sunday, 1 or 5 p.m., depending upon results.

* Tickets: $10 box seats, $7 grandstand for adults, $4 for students, seniors and youths. No passes. Tickets available at box office.