Long Beach Needs to Hear Pinging of Bats

LONG BEACH — When last we left the Long Beach State baseball team, it was dealing with a Texas-sized helping of frustration.

The 49ers were feeling pretty low after making a quick exit from the NCAA tournament. The Big West Conference champions were knocked out of the double-elimination NCAA Central I Regional at Austin after only two games because they didn’t pack an offense for the trip.

Not that they left anything behind at Blair Field. The eighth edition of Coach Dave Snow’s team didn’t carry a big stick--anywhere.

Snow knows how to manufacture runs. But he needs timely hits and perfect execution to make it work. Last season’s squad just didn’t get enough clutch hits. Now, Snow has almost a completely new group. Pitching and defense win championships, so the saying goes, but three-run homers make you sleep easier.

Snow begins his ninth season at Long Beach, which is ranked 11th by Collegiate Baseball and No. 23 by Baseball America, with the makings of another championship-caliber group. The 49ers’ pitching should be among the best in the nation and their defense good enough to protect late-inning leads. The only question seems to be, how big will those leads be?

“We have a chance to be a better offensive team than last year, which we need to be,” Snow said. “But we have very few players with Division I experience. How our new players make the adjustment to this level will determine, to a great extent, our fate.”

Long Beach was last in the Big West in hitting with a .278 team average a season ago and averaged 5.6 runs. Those would be big numbers in the major leagues, but they won’t turn heads in the aluminum-bat world of college baseball.

Still, Long Beach (34-26, 15-6 in conference) won its fourth Big West regular-season title in five seasons and fifth under Snow.

Fortunately for Snow, his pitching staff was good enough to carry the team. Led by junior right-hander Marcus Jones, the Big West pitcher of the year, the 49ers’ staff was the conference’s best with a 3.71 earned-run average.

Jones, a standout at Esperanza High, made a triumphant return from a severe left Achilles’ tendon injury that forced him to miss most of the 1995 season. He was selected a second-team All-American by Collegiate Baseball after going 9-5 with a 2.29 ERA. He struck out 118 batters in 110 innings while giving up only 90 hits and 37 walks.

Junior right-hander Rocky Biddle, sensational as a freshman, fought through a “sophomore jinx” for much of last season.

He rebounded at the end, finishing 4-4 with a 4.17 ERA and 105 strikeouts in 99 1/3 innings. Baseball America has selected Biddle to its preseason All-American team.

The third spot in the rotation is still up for grabs among a group that should provide Snow with a lot of depth and choices. He will turn to senior right-hander Iran Barrera to finish games.

As for the offense and defense, Snow is trying to find the right mix among many talented newcomers. He’s counting on big things from senior outfielder J.J. Newkirk. The team’s top returning hitter with a .302 average and 25 runs batted in, Newkirk spent much of last season becoming acclimated to Division I after transferring from a community college.

Junior Toby Sanchez and sophomores Paul Day, Chuck Lopez and Chris Toomey are competing for outfield spots. Snow is impressed with the group, but like Newkirk last season, they are transfer students who might need awhile to settle in.

Senior first baseman Keith Cowley is the key man in the infield. Cowley played third last season, batting .250 with eight home runs and 28 RBIs. Like the outfield, the rest of the infield is new to Long Beach. Senior Izzy Gonzalez is expected to take over for Cowley at third, junior Steve Doherty will open at shortstop and junior Lateef Vaughn at second.

After sharing the job last season, junior catcher Casey Martin (.277, three home runs, 29 RBIs) now has the plate to himself.