IRVINE, Calif. (February 14, 2022) – Long Beach State has been tabbed as the preseason favorite to win the 2022 Big West baseball crown, as voted on by the league’s 11 head coaches.  

Long Beach State enters the year in the preseason top-25 by two publications (24th – Perfect Game & D1Baseball.com), after closing the 2021 campaign with a 28-15 record, and a 26-14 mark in Big West action. The Dirtbags topped the 2022 Big West Baseball Preseason Coaches’ Poll with 97 total points and seven first-place votes. 

Devereaux Harrison, a preseason All-American selection by three publications, is expected to highlight the Dirtbags’ bullpen. He is coming off a 2021 season that saw him named to multiple national postseason All-American lists as well as his selection as Big West Freshman Pitcher of the Year. 

Harrison posted a 1.57 ERA, the lowest by a Long Beach State pitcher since 2016, in 34.1 innings of work. He held opponents to a .175 average, fanning 42 batters. The righty finished the season as one of 23 relievers nationally to notch double-digit saves (10). 

Harrison is joined on the 2022 Dirtbags’ roster by fellow Big West First-Team selection in first baseman Chase Luttrell and second-team pick in reliever Matt Fields. 

The Long Beach State schedule starts out on the road as the Dirtbags take on defending national champions Mississippi State in Starkville, Miss. In the season-opening series. 

UC Irvine, champions in 2021, were slotted in the second position with 92 points, and received three first-place votes. The Anteaters are under the direction of program alumnus and 2021 Big West Coach of the Year Ben Orloff. 

The club finished off last season at 43-18 with a loss in the regional final to host Stanford, and a Big West record of 32-8, setting a new program record for conference wins in the process. UC Irvine starts the 2022 campaign with lofty expectations in a bevy of national preseason polls, rated in the top 20 by five publications, coming in as high as 14th by Collegiate Baseball News.  

The team will have a familiar feel, returning eight players who made the Big West postseason awards lists. Outfielder Nathan Church will be joined on the 2022 roster by three fellow First Team All-Big West picks from the bullpen: starting pitcher Michael Frias, reliever Gordon Ingebritson and closer Jacob King. Also ack for the Anteaters are second-team picks Justin Torres and Nick Pinto. 

UC Santa Barbara (41-20, 29-11 BW in 2021), claimed the final first-place vote by the coaches and 81 total points. The Gauchos received an at-large bid into the NCAA postseason field of 64 last season bowing out in the regional final against Arizona after twice dispatching Oklahoma State by an eyepopping combined score of 27-7.  

UC Santa Barbara lost four Big West first teamers from a season ago, but return shortstop Jordan Sprinkle, the 2021 Big West Co-Freshman Field Player of the Year, and reliever Carter Benbrook to the roster, along with a pair of second-team selections. Sprinkle was named to two preseason All-America teams by various publications, and the Gauchos find themselves rated 17th nationally by Collegiate Baseball News.  

Cal Poly (31-25, 21-19 BW in 2021) comes in fourth in the coaches’ rankings with 75 total points. The Mustangs are headlined by all-everything shortstop and the skipper’s son Brooks Lee.  

He was named Big West Co-Player of the Year, Co-Freshman Field Player of the Year and earned a spot on the first team for his stellar efforts in 2021. After a season in which he broke the school record for doubles and hit .342 with 10 home runs and 57 RBIs in 55 games, the redshirt sophomore has been named to all five preseason All-America teams leading up to the 2022 season.  

Over the summer, he hit .405 for Yarmouth-Dennis in the Cape Cod League — the first player in 19 years to hit over .400 in a league comprised of college baseball's elite players as he collected six home runs, four doubles and 13 RBIs in 21 games. 

Along with the handful of Preseason All-American nods, Lee was ranked as the No. 1 shortstop in the country by D1Baseball.com. 

The grouping of Cal State Fullerton (58 points), Hawai’i (51) and CSUN (50) follows in 5th through 7th. CSU Bakersfield, UC San Diego, UC Riverside and UC Davis round out the preseason rankings.  

First pitch from across the league is slated for this Friday, Feb. 18, as all 11 squads take to diamonds across the country.