Baseball is back: Coast wins inaugural home game at Blair Field 

Long Beach’s new minor league baseball team, The Coast, played its home opener game on Tuesday showing that baseball is alive and kicking within the community as the fans sold out Blair Field. The Coast won 13-4 against the RedPocket Mobiles.

A sea of turquoise and white flooded the usual black and yellow CSULB Blair Field with Coast-themed memorabilia donned by over 3,000 loud and proud fans, whose deafening cheers for the team filled the stadium.

The Coast finally found its groove late in the second inning after designated hitter Thomas McCaffery hit a home run, scoring one and kicking off a five-run inning.

Second baseman Jacob Jablonski hit a home run of his own in the third inning that scored McCaffery and propelled the Coasts’ lead even further. 

_{Long Beach Coast outfielder Thomas McCaffery trotting the bases after hitting his sixth home run of the year. The Coast won in their home opener 13-4 at Blair Field. (Liam Hollon)}

Later, players of the Coast were served a series of walks that helped load the bases and score a slew of runs throughout the fifth inning, which helped keep a significant lead. 

After a false comeback for the Mobiles, the team struggled to hold any sort of significant competition toward the Coast, not scoring any runs in the sixth or the later innings. 

Meanwhile, key players from the Coast, such as Jablonski, fellow outfielder Eddy Pelc and shortstop Anthony Mata, made it so the team was practically untouchable both when at bat and when fielding. 

This strong lead seemingly reassured the many fans who came to support that it was fine to leave, with almost half of the stands leaving by the sixth inning. 

Those who stayed, however, made up for their small size in volume and dance moves to continue the hype that the stadium was already packed with, with thunderous applause and cheers deafening the stadium once the Coast eventually won.

That community and fandom’s prevalence was noted by Jablonski, crowned “Player of the Game” for his batting skills and his fielding efforts throughout the game.

“You could feel it in your bones, any little thing you did you could hear the roar of the crowd…we’re living the dream and it’s just a blast, especially in this environment and field, it’s beautiful and you couldn’t ask for anything better,” said Jablonski.

_{Young fans of the Long Beach Coast lean against the netting at Blair Field during the team’s first home game of the season. (Liam Hollon)}

Prior to the team’s opener, the Coast had won nine of their 12 away games against other Pioneer League teams with a six-game winning streak since their game against the Oakland Ballers on May 26.

Former Angels pitcher and now manager of the Coast, Troy Percival, noted the cohesion of the team so far in terms of their win record.

“The way these guys play….first of all they’re very talented but they play together as a team, nobody gets on anybody when they make mistakes, they know what’s going to happen when they grind…they grind out every stat and I haven’t had to do a whole lot to be honest,” said Percival.

The Coast is currently on a streak of nine wins in their opening week, beating the Mobiles 12-11 on Wednesday and 5-4 on Thursday.

Due to the nature of the Pioneer League’s scheduling, the Coast will continue playing against the Mobiles at Blair Field until Sunday, and they will switch to playing the Modesto Roadsters for six games until they head back on the road. 

The team had its opening home night as The Regulators, the team’s darker alter ego with matte black uniforms on Friday with Long Beach native and rapper Warren G performing and throwing the first pitch 

Tickets to upcoming games, home and away, are available for purchase with upcoming themed nights and many more games to come.