Long Beach State - Taking It One Game At A Time

As the host school, there is an expectation to survive the regional since you have the home field advantage. Yet for the Dirtbags - who play as the No. 1-seed after finishing second in the Big West conference and are currently ranked No. 16 in Collegiate Baseball and No. 21 in Baseball America - it's not about what others are expecting, but sticking to their own game plan.

"We focus on what we have been doing and one game at a time," Long Beach State senior outfielder Robert Perry said. "We are not going to make anything bigger than it is and just sticking with what got us here."

The Dirtbags (37-18) are hoping to use some of the momentum from taking two of three from Cal State Fullerton at Fullerton from last weekend is Long Beach State junior RHP Manny McElroy (5-2, 4.18 ERA), who had a 21.2 inning streak of not walking a batter until the beginning of May.

"I think that I got away from my game plan and tried to rush too much instead of taking it one pitch at a time and being focused and relaxed," McElroy said. "Sometimes you get away from your game plan, so I've just got to stick to my game plan this weekend."

Part of the game plan for the Dirtbags will be the Saturday starting nod going to junior RHP Andrew Liebel (8-3, 2.83 ERA).

"Liebel is throwing as well as anyone right now and gives us a chance to win game two and go into Sunday undefeated," Long Beach State coach Mike Weathers said. "If we go in on the short end after Friday, he has proven that he can keep us in that game Saturday and keep us in the tournament."

No matter who pitches, the Dirtbags have an advantage over the other three teams in this site's Regional - familiarity.

Not only is Long Beach State familiarity with their Southern California foes of No. 2-seed UCLA, No. 3-seed Pepperdine going to be an advantage, but the Dirtbags also know No. 4-seed University of Illinois-Chicago following their meeting last season.

"We went 5-3 on Friday and had shut-outs on Saturday and Sunday, but the shutouts were close until late," Weathers said. "Mike Dee's team plays very hard and tough - similar to us. They don't have the top round draft picks, so they do it with dirtbag-type players. We saw ourselves in the mirror a little bit last year and assume we are going to see ourselves in the mirror again on Friday night."

UCLA - Sticking to the Savage Plan

Getting to this weekend was all part of the plan for UCLA coach John Savage.

"Our plan is to turn this program into a national program year in and year out," Savage said, who has enjoyed coaching stints at USC and UC Irvine prior arriving at UCLA. "We are in year three with our second recruiting class now being on the field and we feel good about where we are at. We still have a long ways to go and this is a big weekend for us."

Along with this being a big weekend for the program as a whole, this year's Regional appearance is also a big deal for this third-place team from the Pac-10 that finished 30-26 overall and 14-10.

"If you look at our record, yes, we were up and down this year, but I think it is good going into the playoffs to have played the tougher teams because that's who we will face in the post-season," UCLA's Brandon Crawford said. "I think it gives us some confidence knowing we can play with the better teams."

Along with having some confidence of playing with some of the better teams in the country - which included away game match-ups against Miami, Mississippi and Fullerton - the UCLA roster is also boosted by the experience of playing in the 2006 Regional at Pepperdine.

"This year I am just going to take it as any other game during the season, but it is a must-win approach," Crawford said. "Last year there were a lot of nerves, but after that first game, it helped out a lot with having more confidence in knowing we can play in the post-season."

Getting the starting nod for UCLA in their first game match-up against Pepperdine on Friday afternoon will be right-handed pitcher Tyson Brummett (9-5, 3.60 ERA).

"I am nervous a little bit, but whenever you get into the post-season you are going to be a little bit hyped up," Brummett said. “I'm ready to go out there, compete and give my team a chance to win."

Pepperdine - Scratching An Itch

For the third consecutive year, No. 3-seed Pepperdine (35-20 and 14-7 West Coast Conference) are experiencing their season being extended for at least one more weekend. Yet just being in the NCAA tournament is not enough for the Waves as they are tired of not making it to the Super Regional.

"We would like to say that every game is the same and no game is bigger," junior right-handed pitcher Barry Enright (12-4 and 1.73 ERA) said, who is starting against UCLA on Friday afternoon. "But we have been here three years and we have that itch."

The Waves are making their 24th NCAA tournament appearance and fifth consecutive appearance which gives them a wealth of experience coming in this weekend. Partnered up with this experience is an understanding of how to handle the ups and downs of the game.

"It's just like a marriage," Pepperdine coach Steve Rodriguez said. "When you have experience, you understand there is going to be some difficulty and mistakes but you can't really focus on those things. I try to explain that errors and strikeouts are going to happen. The key is, if you are going to make a mistake, make it aggressively."

The Waves - who are ranked No. 30 by Collegiate Baseball and No. 24 by Baseball America - come into this Regional on a three-game winning streak after finishing third in the West Coast Conference and receiving at at-large bid. The only thing the Waves want from this weekend is a happy ending.

"We are tired of being here and not winning," Rodriguez said. "Hopefully this time we can do it."

University of Illinois-Chicago – Third Time Is The Charm

While the crowds at the Long Beach Regional are going to favor any one of the three Southern California schools, the No. 4-seed University of Illinois-Chicago (UIC) Flames (34-19, 21-6) from the Horizon League are not worried. In fact, the ability to play well in hostile environments has been one of the themes of their season.

"We played four consecutive road series and faced Vanderbilt after facing Georgia Tech and Tennessee and they are as good as any team I've seen in 20 years," UIC coach Mike Dee said of his team's mid-February to mid-March road schedule. "We played them pretty well and what I felt good about after that stretch is that there wasn't a moment in that month where I felt our kids were intimidated or nervous when we played very good teams. We played hard and did not played scared. This was the moment when I felt good about our team and the potential they had."

Now - in their third NCAA tournament appearance in the last five years - is the time for Dee's Flames to get hot.

"We are pretty close to playing at our best," UIC senior third baseman Nick Rainwater said. "We played as well as we've played all year in our conference tournament. We put up a lot of runs and beat some teams who played us tough all year. If we keep doing that, we are going to be ok."

Along with continuing to play well, the Flames are sticking to their plan of just taking one game at a time.

"One of the things that we stress in our program is not looking past today," Dee said of his decision not to name a starting pitcher for Saturday after giving redshirt junior right-handed pitcher Ryan Zink (6-3, 4.79 ERA) the starting nod for Friday. "Our goal going into tomorrow is to try to do everything we have to do to win tomorrow. There really isn't anyone on our pitching staff we are going to hold back as we are going to try to win tomorrow. Then we will evaluate after tomorrow's game what we need to do on Saturday."

No matter what happens with the Flames this weekend, they are confident in pursuing their game plan thanks to a different type of team meeting the guys have.

"We go over our routines and how to turn around things that go wrong," Rainwater said. "We'll have team meetings and mental game meetings. This is where we go in and talk about what you are going to do when someone makes an error. A lot of guys have their little things that get their mind off a mistake they made and get them back on track. We are just getting ourselves in a position to play as well as we can."

Friday games start with Pepperdine facing UCLA at 3 p.m PT and Long Beach facing UIC at 7 p.m. PT.