Long Beach State Dirtbags in NCAA Regional in Miami

LONG BEACH >> It was better late than never for the Long Beach State Dirtbags on Monday moing during the NCAA Selection Show.

After their most successful regular season since 2008, the Dirtbags (36-20) gathered in the Walter Pyramid to find out if they eaed an at-large bid into the NCAA postseason. It took awhile, but LBSU was the last matchup aounced and will be in the Coral Gables Regional in Miami, Florida. The Dirtbags start the regional against No. 17 Florida Atlantic on Thursday moing.

“That was a little nerve wracking,” LBSU sixth-year head coach Troy Buckley said. He took his team to the Gainesville Regional in 2014. The overall No. 3 seeded Miami will host the regional and open up against Stetson. LBSU is the No. 3 seed in the regional.

“We felt like we were in but you never know,” Buckley said. “I’m so proud of these guys and they’re looking forward to representing our school, our conference and the west coast.”

For the first time in the history of the NCAA baseball regional format, there aren’t any host sites in the pacific time zone.

“We know how difficult it is to play out here,” Buckley said. “All (west coast teams) can do now is go out and play well.”

This is the 21st postseason trip in Dirtbags history and a group of players including Garrett Hampson, Eric Hutting, Daniel Jackson, Zack Domingues, Zack Rivera and Ty Provencher all have postseason experience.

“Everyone has been able to contribute this year,” the senior third baseman Domingues said. “(The upperclassman) had to grow as leaders and we worked hard so it’s nice to get rewarded.”

Elsewhere in the Big West, conference champions Cal State Fullerton made it as the No. 2 seed in the Starkville Regional at Mississippi State, and UC Santa Barbara also eaed a No. 2 seed in the Nashville Regional hosted by Vanderbilt.

The Florida Atlantic Owls (38-17) led Conference USA throughout the regular season champions and are back in the NCAA Touament for the 10th time in program history. They lost consecutive 10-iing games in the Conference USA Touament last weekend. The Dirtbags have never played Florida Atlantic.

Advertisement