The College Phase

Sometimes, I just love living in California. Sure, the traffic sucks, and the smog can really be a drag, but here it is in the middle of February, and it's sunny and 80-degrees. What that equals is some perfect baseball weather and a great kickoff to the College Phase of Baseball Extravaganza 2015. This Valentine's Day/President's Day weekend saw me go to three college games in four days. The beginning of the college season, at least here in California, offers me a fantastic opportunity to see some great games underneath the beautiful sunshine.

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Friday night's action saw me head to the campus of UC Riverside to see the Highlanders play host to the Portland Pilots. This was the first time I had been to Riverside Sports Complex since the Sac State-West Virginia doubleheader last May. This is also the first of eight games I am planning to see there. The ballpark is only three exits down the 215 from where I work, so it is an easy trip to make after a day at the office. While the park isn't anything to write home about in terms of design or fan amenities, it was just good to get outside in my own backyard to see a game.

In their home opener, and first-year head coach's Troy Percival first game, the Highlanders took advantage of some Pilot errors to beat Portland 4-1.

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After taking a break on Valentine's Day to spend some time with my girl, I embarked on the first road trip of the College Phase. I planned a day of adventures down to Long Beach to see Long Beach State play host to the Michigan Wolverines. I brought my bike, did the train, rode to the beach, saw the game, and did some urban biking in Downtown. I had been to Long Beach before (it was my departing point for last year's trip to Catalina), but I hadn't gotten a chance to really explore on a bike. This was my first Baseball Road Trip this season to a new city with new sights and sounds. I was looking forward to this trip since the schedules for teams were released.

I did something different on this particular trip. I caught the 91 train in Riverside and took it to the Norwalk/Santa Fe Springs stop. I then took my bike on a 16-mile ride along the San Gabriel River Trail down to where it ends in Seal Beach. The ride itself was fantastic, and it was the first real excursion on my new bike. And, to cap it off, the 80-degree weather made the beach such a tantalizing scene as I spent an hour just laying on sand and listening to the crashing surf. I have a few road trips planned in the next few weeks that will incorporate trips to the beach with my bodyboard and serious tanning. 

With my alarm bell ringing, I jumped back on to my bike and rode down PCH to the home of the Long Beach State Dirtbags, Blair Field. Built in the 1950's, Blair Field is unique in the fact that it's a Southern California ballpark with a legitimate roof on it. It played host to the Long Beach Armada of the now-defunct Golden League for many years, while simultaneously hosting the Dirtbags. For a ballpark that is 60-years old, it is a fantastic venue. It had an old-time ambience to it, and, better yet, no netting down the baselines. You really felt more connected to the game because of it, and it had a real shared ambiance about it. Speaking in terms of strictly a "college-park", Blair Field has been the best I have been to. 

This game was a doozie as Michigan jumped out to an early 3-0 lead. Long Beach State came back to tie it in the bottom of the ninth with two outs. However, in the tenth, the Wolverines bats came alive and they put on two runs to beat the Dirtbags 5-3 in ten innings. Chalk it up to some Big Ten luck, in my opinion. Long Beach left the bases loaded in two separate innings. 

After the game, I did a little ride in and around downtown Long Beach. While riding in downtown was fun, I was a little bummed that the beach trail was closed down. I still managed to get some great sunset views of the ocean and explored some cool bike boulevards on my way to the Metro light rail stop where I boarded the light rail back to LA and Union Station for the train ride back to Riverside. 

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Monday's adventure was a lot more low-key. I decided to hit up some small-college action here locally seeing the University of Redlands play host to the University of British Columbia. Yes, the game was free to get in, and the ballpark was more like a Little League park than NCAA standards, but it was sunny and 80, so I wasn't going to complain. I bought some In-N-Out and brought it to the game, which really was awesome and probably the best ballpark food I have ever eaten!

UBC used some gap-hitting in the middle innings to post a 3-0 shutout over Redlands.

Three games in four days! It was a Baseball Weekend, to say the least. The season kicked off with some great action and experiences, and if the rest of 2015 is like this past weekend, I am in for a once-in-a-lifetime experience. 

I had planned on bringing the bike and my board out to Malibu this upcoming weekend for some beachin and baseball up at Pepperdine. Unfortunately, a storm is coming in over SoCal and the temps are dropping, rain will be falling, and games are being postponed days before. I'm a little bummed, but I know that there will be other opportunities ahead and that I need to focus on those. However, before the storm, I'll hit up the UCR game on Saturday as they play San Diego State. 

Always take on a 3-0 pitch ;)