Long Beach State entered this weekend’s home series against Wichita State with its highest ranking being No. 10.; Wichita State’s highest ranking was No. 7.
In the highly-anticipated matchup between two of collegiate baseball’s biggest powerhouses, the Dirtbags out-hit, out-pitched, out-ran and pretty much out-played the Shockers in every aspect of the game, as they not only took the series, but the sweep as well, defeating Wichita State 3-2, 8-5 and 8-3.
This was the second series win in as many weeks over a top-10 opponent, as LBSU knocked off Rice at home last week as well.
But apparently, the people over at Baseball America, Collegiate Baseball, Rivals.com and the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association failed to notice the stellar performance the Dirtbags turned out, as LBSU’s highest ranking is still just No. 10.
Baseball America moved the Dirtbags up just one spot on the polls to No. 10. Rivals.com moved them up from No. 16 to No. 12, and Collegiate Baseball even moved them down one spot from 10 to 11.
Shane Peterson put up outstanding numbers in the series. Last week, Peterson hit .471, drove in eight runners including five in Sunday’s win, and slugged .706, culminating in a Big West Player of the Week nod. The first baseman may have been given the recognition he deserved in the Big West, but went largely unnoticed elsewhere.
Andrew Liebel put in another career-high performance on the mound to start the Dirtbags off Friday. The ace tied his career-high strikeout total of 11 for the second week in a row, and shut down the Shox, going scoreless for 7.1 innings, giving up just four hits.
Liebel’s standout numbers just flew right under the radar this week.
Danny Espinosa has yet to cool off, putting in three more strong performances this weekend after catching fire in the first series. Espinosa hit .500 in the series, scored five runs and over the past two weeks has amassed a .786 slugging percentage and a .576 on base percentage. The shortstop also has yet to make an error with his glove.
Apparently, Espinosa’s clutch play just doesn’t make a difference in the eyes of Baseball America, Collegiate Baseball and the others.
Yes, it was a home series, which gave the Dirtbags an obvious advantage. And yes, they battled the Shockers, going into 12 innings Friday night. They did leave several runners stranded and all of these are factors that I’m sure could affect their national rankings. But let’s be honest, you know a team is good when it knocks off two top-10 teams in a row. If you’re playing a top-10 level, consistently defeating the teams at that level, shouldn’t you be in the top 10?
Being ranked at No. 10 on just one poll is pretty unfair, and any Blair Field regular can attest to that.
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