Friday, March 1 - 6 p.m., Saturday, March 2 - 2 p.m., & Sunday, March 3 - 1 p.m.Blair Field - Long Beach, California
THIS WEEK'S PROBABLE MATCHUPS
Tuesday, February 26Seattle U: #33 LHP Garrett Anderson (1-2, 6.75 ERA, 5.1 IP, 5 SO)BYU: #9 RHP Chunner Nyberg (0-0, 3.00 ERA, 3.0 IP, 1 SO)Wednesday, February 27Seattle U: #20 RHP Skyler Genger (0-2, 4.82 ERA, 9.1 IP, 5 SO)BYU: #25 RHP Jeff Barker (1-1, 2.77 ERA, 13.0 IP, 8 SO)Friday, March 1:Seattle U: #37 LHP Andrew Olson (0-2, 3.00 ERA, 12.0 IP, 9 SO)Long Beach State: #22 RHP Shane Carle (1-1, 1.50 ERA, 12.0 IP, 9 SO)Saturday, March 2:Seattle U: #40 RHP Ted Hammond (0-0, 3.48 ERA, 10.1 IP, 7 SO)Long Beach State: #14 LHP Landon Hunt (1-0, 7.20 ERA, 10.0 IP, 5 SO)Sunday, March 3:Seattle U: #38 LHP Kyle Doyle (0-0, 5.40 ERA, 6.2 IP, 8 SO)Long Beach State: #46 RHP Jon Maciel (1-1, 3.75 ERA, 12.0 IP, 10 SO)TWO HOME GAMES, THEN GOING BACK TO CALI: Seattle University returns to Bannerwood Stadium in Bellevue for a two-game midweek series against the BYU Cougars Tuesday and Wednesday to end the month of February. March begins with the team's third trip to California in as many weeks, this time to Southern California to face Long Beach State at Blair Field. Seattle U is hoping to find the offense it enjoyed over the first weekend to go along with the pitching that appeared last weekend, plus shore up the defense.
LAST WEEK: Runs were very hard to come by for Seattle University, as the Redhawks lost all four games they played over the week. Tuesday, Seattle U opened the home schedule by welcoming the Portland Pilots. Portland scored once in the first inning, but Seattle U tied the game in the fourth inning when Nate Roberts came around to score. Portland manufactured a run in the fifth inning and then scored four times in the seventh inning. Seattle U roared back in the ninth inning, scoring three times and bringing the winning run to the plate, but the Pilots held on for a 6-4 victory. The Redhawks traveled to San Luis Obispo for a three-game series at Cal Poly and were swept by the Mustangs. Andrew Olson allowed just two runs, but Seattle U was held to five hits, and another ninth inning comeback fell short as Cal Poly won Friday's game, 2-1. The Redhawks managed just four hits on Saturday, and a run in the bottom of the seventh inning was enough for the Mustangs in a 1-0 win. Sunday, Seattle U was able to tie the game at 1-1 with a run in the sixth inning, but Cal Poly responded with one run in the bottom of the sixth and two runs in the bottom of the seventh to complete the series sweep, 4-1.
SCOUTING BYU: The Cougars come into the midweek series with a 3-5 record, snapping a four-game losing streak with a 9-4 victory at nationally-ranked LSU in Baton Rouge, La., Saturday. As a team, BYU has put together a .237 batting average, a .977 fielding percentage, and a 3.95 earned run average. Adam Law is hitting .333 (10-for-30) with six runs scored, five walks, and three stolen bases. Kelton Caldwell is also batting .333 (9-for-27), while both Jaycob Brugmanand Brennon Anderson have earned a double, a triple, and a home run so far this year. BYU leads the all-time series over Seattle U, 8-4. Last season, the two teams split a doubleheader in Provo before BYU took three out of four later in the season, with one game played at Cheney Stadium in Tacoma and the other three at Bannerwood Stadium.
SCOUTING LONG BEACH STATE: The Dirtbags enter the week with a 5-3 overall record, with a game scheduled Tuesday at USC before the weekend series against the Redhawks. After losing two of three at Vanderbilt and splitting two games with Arizona, Long Beach State swept Valparaiso last weekend. As a team, the Dirtbags have compiled a .278 batting average, a .966 fielding percentage, and a 3.65 earned run average. Michael Hill is batting .409 (9-for-22) with three triples, while Jeff McNeil leads the team with 13 total hits. Richard Prigatano has 10 hits, including four doubles, and has the team lead with eight runs batted in.
WEATHER FORECAST: The midweek games should be played, as the forecast calls for mostly cloudy skies on Tuesday and partly cloudy skies on Wednesday, with temperatures in the high 40s both days. Over the weekend, Long Beach will see mostly clear skies with temperatures in the 70s during the day and in the 50s as night takes over.