An LBC native, Mike Guardabascio has been covering Long Beach sports professionally for 18 years, with his work published in dozens of Southern California magazines and newspapers. He's won numerous state and national honors for his writing as well as the CIF Southern Section’s Champion For Character Award, and is the author of three books about Long Beach history.
Friday night’s Big West semifinal between Long Beach State and UC Irvine was a meeting of the past and present powers of the conference. From 2006 to 2012, Long Beach made five Big West Tourney championship appearances in seven years, winning two. In the seven years since, it’s Irvine that has made five championship appearances. […]