Baseball "Fan Fest" at Blair Saturday.

49er Baseball, a.k.a. Dirtbags Baseball (😁), will hold its annual Fan Fest kickoff event tomorrow at Blair Field.  Come check out this season's team, along with the latest upgrades to the facility, as the Beach looks to defend its Big West championship, and take another shot at getting back to Omaha.  More info on the event can be found HERE.

MBB wins big on the central coast, but the Ladies can't hold on at home.

Bad news first...A long season got a little longer for 49er WBB last night in the Pyramid, as Cal Poly recovered from a 13-point deficit to beat The Beach, 75-64.  The Beach was HOT early on, as Jessica Gertz led an onslaught of 3-pointers to get LB out to a 17-7 lead in the 1st quarter, before the Mustangs went on a 9-0 run to get within one early in the 2nd.  The 49ers stretched the lead again with their own 13-1 run, and had their largest lead, 30-17, 2 minutes before Halftime.  CP had cut the lead to six by the half with defensive pressure and better rebounding, and that continued through the 2nd half.  The Beach held grimly onto a five-point lead after three quarters, but fatigue and turnovers helped the Mustangs in erasing the lead by the 6:54 mark, as they cruised the rest of the way to the 11-point win.  The Leaupepe twins lead the way for CP, Dynn with 23 pts., 13 boards and 4 steals, and sister Lynn with 16 pts. and 3 steals off the bench.  Shanaijah Davison came off the bench for the Niners to score 18 points, but also gave up 6 turnovers, while Gertz drained 5 3-pointers, and finished with 17 points.  As if the 4th quarter collapse wasn't bad enough, senior Cecily Wilson went down late in the game with a leg injury, and had to be carried off the court.  She's been battling knee trouble all through the season.  You can find more about the game and the boxscore HERE.  The ladies will try again for their first win outside of the state of Arizona next Thursday, as they host conference-leading UC Davis.

And now, the good news...49er Men's Hoops got themselves another road win last night in SLO, putting away struggling Cal Poly, 87-71, and taking sole possession of 2nd place in the BWC.  Gabe Levin led the way with 21 points, and Temi Yussuf added a double-double with 17 pts. and 10 boards.  PG Deishuan Booker added 17 pts. and 5 assists, and freshman Edon Mazhuni continued his hot play. pouring in 14 pts.  G Bryan Alberts made his return to action off the DL, and added a 3-pointer in 18 minutes off the bench.  Also, freshman Jordan Roberts chipped in a career-best 9 rebounds, as The Beach dominated the boards, 45-28, and 17-4 on the offensive glass.  The Mustangs are in freefall, having lost their last five games.  The Beach is back in action Saturday up the 405 at CSUN, starting at 7pm.

Top-Ranked 49er Men's Volleyball comes back to the Pyramid for their first two official home games of the 2018 season, hosting Stanford tonight at 6pm, then taking on USC tomorrow night at 7.  The Beach swept the Cardinal on the road last weekend.  LB got more good news this week, as the Press-Telegram reported that TJ DeFalco has given notice that he will stay with the program next season for his senior year, and a chance to play for an NCAA title on his home court. 

One final bit of negative news...Two of our sports journalists have become victims of the recent bloodletting at the Southern California News Group, owners of the Press-Telegram, OC Register, LA Daily News, Riverside Press-Enterprise, etc..  Mike Guardabascio and JJ Fiddler have been covering Long Beach sports at the college and high school levels with passion and flair for quite some time now, first with the Gazettes, the with the PT.  Hopefully, they will find another outlet to continue their efforts soon.  Good luck and best wishes to them!

(BTW, Mike G. has also published a couple of books on the history of Football in Long Beach and Basketball in Long Beach, including LBSU and all the city's high schools.  They are both a  must-read for any local sports fan.  Look for them at your local Long Beach bookstore or online at the links above.)

A fresh start

Howdy BEACH fans!

I can't believe it's been nearly 4.5 years since I updated my previous Long Beach St. sports blog, LBSU 49'RS NUGGETS.  Life has really gotten in the way, but I'm ready to give it another try.

I can't seem to access the old blog to edit it, so I'm setting up a new, more modern one.  It will ultimately have all the links and stuff the old one had, and hopefully I'll be able to keep adding content at regular intervals.

I'll be providing occasional recaps of games I see in person, and links to stories on those I don't.  I also plan to post some historical content on the page (including the images below), for those not as familiar with the interesting past of 49er athletics.  

I hope you find what I put up here interesting, entertaining, and useful!  GO BEACH!! 😀

(BTW, I'll be tweaking and toying with the layout of the site for a while, so don't be too alarmed.) 

Photo taken from my phone while standing in the temporary concourse bleachers, installed before the MBB game vs. North Carolina back in November, 2012.  The additional seats brought the Pyramid's seating capacity to nearly 7000 seats!  Listed game attendance was 6912, as the Beach fell, 78-63.

Football helmet from the final two seasons of the LBSU program (1989-91), under coaches George Allen and Willie Brown (photo credit :unknown).

Did you know Prospectin' Pete had a female counterpart?  Took this pic at Homecoming in 2016.  I suspect the mascot art is from the early/mid 1960's.

 

Linebacker David Howard, who played for the Beach in 1983 & 84, and starred in the NFL for the Minnesota Vikings.