Long Beach State shortstop Laine Huffman (Shotgun Spratling)

Breakout Players Help Complete Dirtbags

Back in January, Troy Buckley was blunt about his hopes for his Long Beach State club in 2017.

“Best team I’ve had here, by far,” he said then. “This is the fastest, most athletic, most physical position player group I’ve had as a head coach. We’re deep, all the way around. And we’ve got leadership. We’ve got catching. We’re balanced, left and right, we can move people around. I think it will come down to roles on the mound — who steps up in the Sunday spot? Will we close with Chris Rivera, or another option there?”

It took a[…]