Professional Alumni- Evan Longoria

Today's Dirtbag alumni is third basemen, Evan Longoria, of the Tampa Bay Rays.

Longoria was born on Oct. 7, 1985 in Downey, Calif. He attended St. John Bosco High School where he lettered on varsity baseball for two years. After playing shortstop for one year at Rio Hondo Community College he was offered a scholarship to Cal State University Long Beach.

Longoria had to make the move to third base because shortstop had been taken by former Dirtbag Troy Tulowitzki. According to the Boston Globe, Longoria had an MVP summer season with the Chatham A's in the Cape Cod League before sharing Big West Player of the Year honors in 2006 with CSULB.

Longoria was called the "best pure hitter" by Baseball America in the 2006 Major League Baseball Draft where he was selected third overall by Tampa Bay Rays.

After a quick stint in the Minor Leagues, Longoria made his Major League debut on April 12, 2008 against the New York Yankees where he got his first hit and RBI. Two nights later he got his first home run.

Longoria ended up with a .272 batting average with 27 home runs and 85 RBIs in 2008, earning him the American League Rookie of the Year according to MLB.com. He also set a rookie record with four home runs in a post season series.

Longoria enters the 2010 season with a career .277 batting average with 60 home runs and 198 RBIs. He is also featured on the cover of 2K Sports Major League Baseball 2K10, a video game released on March 2, 2010.

Las Vegas Luck Gets Dirtbags Series

The Dirtbags traveled to Las Vegas, Nev. this past weekend to take on the University of Las Vegas's Rebels.

The Dirtbags entered the series on March 19, with a losing 7-9 record.

Long Beach State came out strong Friday night scoring 17 runs in their 17-8 victory over the Rebels according to the Daily 49er. Led by Steve Tinoco's four hits and Joey Terdoslavich's second home run of the season, the Dirtbags had 19 hits and 13 RBIs. TJ Mittelstaedt also tied a Long Beach record with his 16th career triple.

Another slugfest ensued Saturday as the Dirtbags had a 10-1 victory over the Rebels. TJ Mittelstaedt broke the career triples record with his 17th career triple as Jake Thompson allowed only one run with five strikeouts in 7.2 innings. The win brought the Dirtbags to a 9-9 record.

The Dirtbags luck would run out however as they fell to the Rebels in a 2-1 loss on Sunday. Branden Pinder pitched a strong seven innings giving up no runs and striking out a career best six hitters. An RBI hit in the second inning by TJ Mittelstaedt had the Dirtbags up throughout the game.

In the bottom of the ninth, reliever David Brown managed to get the first out, but after a hit batter, a walk and two singles the game was tied. A wild pitch from Brown and an error by second basemen Derek Legg, ended up giving the Dirtbags their loss.

The series put the Dirtbags at a 9-10 record on the season. They are currently second to last in the Big West Conference standings with games against Hawaii and Oregon State this week that will bring them up to conference play.

Professional Alumni- Jered Weaver

Starting pitcher for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Jered Weaver, is today's professional alumnus.

Weaver was born was born on Oct. 4, 1982 in Northridge, California. He has an older brother named Jeff Weaver, who is also a Major League Baseball player. According to Weaver's bio on MLB.com he attended Simi Valley High School and after graduation was accepted into Cal State University Long Beach.

While at CSULB Weaver had a successful 37-9 career record, posting in his last season a 15-1 record with an 1.62 ERA with 231 strikeouts and 21 walks in 144 innings. In 2004 he was awarded College Baseball's Dick Howser Trophy along with the Roger Clemens Award, two top college baseball honors. Weaver was also on the cover of EA SPORTS's MVP 07: NCAA Baseball which came out on Playstation 2 back in 2006.

A 2004 article for the Los Angeles Times described a young Weaver as a pitcher who, "batters with a fastball between 89 and 94 mph, a sharp slider and an improving curveball all thrown with the same three-quarter arm delivery. He also has a fiery streak that is revealed with a fist pump or yell after a strikeout that ends an inning or a long at-bat."

In the first round of the 2004 Major League Baseball Draft Weaver was the selected 12th overall by the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. After months long of negotiations he finally signed with the club before the May 2005 deadline in what was the longest holdout in draft history. Only 361 days later, Weaver made his major league debut on May 27, 2006 against the Baltimore Orioles where he earned his first win after throwing five strikeouts in seven shutout innings of work.

Weaver's success continued in 2006 where he went on to win his first nine decisions to start his career, tying the American League record held by Whitey Ford. He ended his season with a 11-2 record and a 2.56 ERA finishing fifth in the years Rookie of the Year award standings according to baseball-reference.com.

In 2009 Weaver was given the first Nick Adenhart Pitcher of the Year award, which honors his teammate and close friend Nick Adenhart. Adenhart was tragically killed in a car crash back in spring 2009 after pitching a no decision shutout in his season debut.

Weaver enters the 2010 season with a career 57-27 record with 546 strikeouts and a 3.73 ERA. This offseason he reached a $4.265 million deal to avoid arbitration next year and is slotted to take over as the Angel's ace with the departure of John Lackey. Weaver told MLB.com about taking over as the number one starter, "Sure, I'd love to have that role. But I really don't like to think about it. I just try to improve every year, and this year is no exception."

Weaver recently pitched an inning on Jan 30, 2010 at a Dirtbag Alumni scrimmage. He was accompanied by Colorado Rockies shortstop Troy Tulowitzki, another former Long Beach alum.

Dirtbags Take Two, Third Still Undecided

The Dirtbags traveled to Arizona this past weekend for a three game series that turned into a two game series due to rain on Sunday. Despite the weather, the road trip was successful in bringing two victories, leaving the Dirtbags with a .500 win percentage.

According to the Dirtbag game recap, on Friday February 26 the Dirtbags went down by four runs in the first inning. However, this deficit was soon erased as the Dirtbags answered back with two runs in the ninth inning to overtake Arizona 8-7. Jonathan Jones had a successful night going 4-for-5 with a double, two runs, an RBI and a stolen base.

The Dirtbags also won a blowout 10-3 victory on Saturday. Steve Tinoco was 3-for-4 with three RBIs in the game.