There are many reasons why people prefer college sports over professional sports: heart, passion and high-scoring games, to name a few. However, if they were to attend the home opener for the Long Beach State Dirtbags, they’d have been a bit let down by the night’s scores. The Dirtbags took the Rice Owls on a 10-inning ride and, at the end of the night, finished with a win.
The game seemed to fly by, mainly due to the fact that the pitchers on both teams were throwing heat and throwing strikes. Ryan Berry started on the mound for the Owls, striking out 8 out of the 26 pitches he threw.
The Dirtbags’ right-handed pitcher Andrew Liebel is no stranger to the Owls. Last season, the Owls took two out of the three games against the Dirtbags, winning the series. However, the only win they had went to Liebel.
He was brought in as relief pitcher in the first game last season and was allotted the win. This season will be different for Liebel. He earned a spot on the starting pitching rotation, and Friday night, he proved why.
On Friday night, Liebel pitched eight innings and only let five hits pass him by. He also had career-high 11 strikeouts. As I was sitting up in the media booth, I noticed that the majority of the section sitting in front of me were not typical fans — they were scouts.
It was interesting to see the amount of radar speed guns that would arise when Liebel was pitching.
We might have a star on our hands.
All in all, the game was a pitcher duel. Both preformed extremely well, forcing a scoreless game to go into extra innings. Needless to say, this was not a highly active game for position players. In the bottom of the 10th, shortstop Danny Espinosa slammed the ball over the head of the left fielder to advance Zach Barger and notch the first Dirtbag win.
The rain was no problem for our boys.
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I think Andrew Liebel is on pace to be one of the best Dirtbag pitchers since Jered Weaver. On Friday, he had an arm that could put him on the fast track up the minor rankings. By the end of his first month, he could be in AAA, and the following month, he could be going through the rounds as a starter in the majors.
Ironically, the starter for USD is Kyle Blair. He's pitching against Manny McElroy in Blair Field. Coincidence waiting to happen? I leave it to you all to find out tonight.
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