Smith Begins to Deliver for Long Beach in World Series

In many ways, Brian Smith has not had the season he hoped for when he transferred to Cal State Long Beach from Pierce College.

Smith, a junior, was ineligible for the first two weeks of the season because of a transcript snafu. Once he joined the team, he platooned at first base and designated hitter as Long Beach made its run to the Big West Conference championship, the NCAA East Regional title and a berth in the eight-team College World Series.

Smith entered the World Series batting .259 in 80 at-bats and went hitless in his first eight World Series at-bats.

On Tuesday, Smith’s luck began to change. After hitting the ball hard early in the game, he had a run-scoring single against Texas A&M; left-hander Kelly Wunsch to cap a four-run seventh inning that gave Long Beach a 6-2 victory and eliminated the top-seeded Aggies.

“It’s been a challenging season,” Smith said, “but the way it’s ending couldn’t be better. It feels great to finally get untracked.”

Smith is hoping to build on that success today when Long Beach plays Louisiana State. Long Beach, which has defeated Kansas and Texas A&M; since losing its opener against LSU, must defeat the Tigers today and Friday to advance to Saturday’s championship game.

“It’s weird, but the truth is, people on our team aren’t worried,” Smith said. “No one is too uptight about anything.”

Smith (6-feet-5, 190 pounds) began his college career at Arizona State after he batted .431 during his senior season at Agoura High.

He played sparingly as a freshman, and transferred to Pierce after longtime Sun Devil hitting coach Jeff Pentland left to take a job with the expansion Florida Marlins. “(Pentland) resigned one day and I left the next,” Smith said. “He was the reason I went there.”

Smith was hampered by injuries last season at Pierce, but batted .342 and drove in 22 runs in 20 games.

“There were other schools I was thinking of going to out of Pierce, but one of my big goals was to go to the College World Series,” Smith said. “Long Beach seemed like a natural. Long Beach is knocking on the door every year.”

Smith helped Long Beach make its third World Series appearance in five years with his performance at the East Regional. He had two hits in six at-bats in starts against Central Florida and Notre Dame. He pinch-hit against Mississippi State and drew a bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the ninth inning to give Long Beach a 2-1 victory.

“He’s taken advantage of his opportunities lately,” Long Beach Coach Dave Snow said. “He’s a guy who can help us in a number of situations.”

Smith intends to help Long Beach earn a spot in the championship game. No team that lost its first game has won the national championship under the current format that was instituted in 1988.

“The World Series has been like our season--we started off kind of bad, and now we’re rolling,” Smith said. “I just want to help us keep it going.”