Long Beach melting opposition under Snow
By Daily Bruin Staff
May 6, 1996 9:00 p.m.
Tuesday, May 7, 1996
Baseball takes on powerhouse 49ers and their coachesBy Yoni
Tamler
Daily Bruin Staff
Forget Pete Rose. Forget Mike Ditka. Meet Dave Snow, the head
coach of the Long Beach State baseball team, No. 19 UCLA’s opponent
tonight at 7 p.m. at Jackie Robinson Stadium.
Snow falls into a category psychotherapists term "type A
personality," which is characterized by compulsion for achievement,
impatience and hostility.
In eight seasons since he took the reigns at Long Beach State,
Snow’s devotion to achievement has engendered six trips to the NCAA
Regionals and three to the College World Series. His current 49er
team occupies first place in the Big West, a conference that houses
the country’s top-ranked team in Cal State Fullerton, UC Santa
Barbara and other formidable schools.
Snow’s tempestuous persona has also led to a collection of
outrageous tales about him, like the time he was applying for the
head coaching job at the University of Miami. Snow reportedly
showed up to the interview in a T-shirt and spared his prospective
employer all pleasantries. "If you wanna fuckin’ win, hire me," he
growled.
But what Snow lacks in decorum, he more than makes up for in
ability. Besides guiding the 49ers three times to the College World
Series, Snow earned himself an assistant coaching position on Team
USA. These successes came after his hiring in 1989, when Snow
resuscitated the Long Beach program by cutting the entire team
roster and holding tryouts for new player personnel.
This year the Long Beach skipper has cultivated a pitching staff
among the nation’s elite. The 49ers (32-21) have the best team ERA
in the Big West, and their closer, junior right-hander Ryan
Brannan, is considered the top closer in college baseball. It was
Brannan who earlier in the season came in to save LBSU’s 6-5
victory over the Bruins at Blair Field. Of course, none of this is
new to UCLA.
"We’re going to play a much better team than Cal State Dominguez
Hills on Tuesday, and we better be ready to play from the get-go
against those guys or we’re going to get our butts kicked," said
UCLA head coach Gary Adams after the Bruins’ 5-4 loss on Saturday.
"Last time we played them they showed us outstanding pitching
 as good a pitching as we’ve seen in a mid-week game."
UCLA will counter LBSU’s pitching with lefty Pete Zamora (5-0,
4.41 ERA), who has 43 strikeouts in 63 1/3 innings pitched. This
will be the last mid-week game of the season for the Bruins
(31-21), who wrap up the conference season with USC next
weekend.
FRED HE/Daily Bruin
Eric Valent and UCLA baseball take on Long Beach tonight….
Since he took the reigns at Long Beach State, Snow’s devotion to
achievement has engendered six trips to the NCAA Regionals and
three to the College World Series.
