LONG BEACH — Blair Field’s outfield is tattered with holes – bare splotches of dirt where countless outfielders have dug in their cleats.
This is the Pioneer League, where even the starting pitcher isn’t always relieved from carrying his bag.
But the Gatorade showers are still blue, the kids still want autographs and above all else – it’s a chance to play baseball for a living.
The Long Beach Coast (31-8), one of the Pioneer League’s four new teams this season, swept reigning champion Oakland (16-23) in a three-game series Tuesday through Thursday.
With a 1½-game lead over Billings for first place, Long Beach’s magic number for a playoff spot – via a top-two finish in the first half of the season – stands at three with eight games remaining.
Left-hander Garrett VanDeventer cemented the Coast’s latest win with the franchise’s first complete game, surrendering one run.
VanDeventer pitched more than 100 innings at Jackson State in 2024 before spending the summer of 2024 and 2025 at Idaho Falls, where Long Beach manager Troy Percival helmed before making the move to Southern California.
“It’s been a real uphill battle,” VanDeventer said Thursday. “This was my chance to really start pitching like myself again.”
The southpaw, who said his career has been marred by injury over the past couple of years, opened 2026 in the unaffiliated Pecos League before signing with Long Beach on June 6 and reuniting with Percival.
In the top of the ninth Thursday, the manager went out to the mound, but left his starter in the game.
“It was just him telling me, ‘This is your game,’” VanDeventer said.
While VanDeventer surrendered nine hits and only struck out one, he needed just 83 pitches and induced five of the 11 double plays Long Beach turned against Oakland over the three games.
It seems Percival, a four-time All-Star with the Angels, has been the perfect fit for Long Beach’s new professional squad. The Moreno Valley High graduate, and a former player and coach for UC Riverside, spent the past two seasons leading the Chukars.
VanDeventer is far from the only player to follow Percival from Idaho Falls to Long Beach.
Right-hander Gary Grosjean spent the past two summers with the 2002 World Series champion after a season at Cal State Bakersfield. Though the decision to pitch in the Australian Baseball League last winter overworked Grosjean, he said Percival’s understanding nature and experience have helped him tremendously during his recovery and professional career.
“Percy, in my opinion, knows his players better than any other manager in this organization,” Grosjean said. “He knows when we need days off, he knows when we need to ramp it up, when we need to be pushed. … It’s just a very healthy relationship with every player and every coach or manager.”
Even right-hander Cole Percival is back with his dad – having previously played for him at UCR – after getting traded to the Coast on June 26 for a player to be named later.
“We all know that he’s the son,” right-hander Nathan Hemmerling said on Thursday after starting Tuesday. “They look alike. … It’s pretty cool. I mean, if I could play for my dad, that’d be sick.”
Cole Percival picked up his second save in as many appearances for the team on Wednesday, preserving an 8-7 victory in a game the Coast once led 8-2.
It’s not just pitchers either. Leadoff man and left fielder Eddy Pelc followed Troy Percival from Idaho Falls to Long Beach.
“They’re (the coaches) like older brothers or just like another teammate,” Pelc said. “They know so much, and they’re so willing to help us and coach us. It’s really nice having guys with that pedigree.”
The Huntington Beach local turned 25 while just a short drive from his hometown on Tuesday – and celebrated with his family the previous weekend. Despite an 0-for-3 performance in the series opener, catcher Johnny Pappas made sure to send his teammate home happy, hitting a walk-off sacrifice fly for an 8-7 win in a game the team once trailed by five runs.
Troy Glaus, the 2002 World Series MVP who played alongside Percival with the Angels, serves as the Coast’s third base coach. The Southern California local is back in the professional ranks after spending the last few years briefly coaching Buchanan High School, coaching in the USA Baseball National Team Development Program and even appearing with the Savannah Bananas.
While third baseman Dylan Lina wasn’t reuniting with Percival or Glaus, he was returning to Blair Field. Lina spent the 2025 and 2026 seasons with Long Beach State, but he wasn’t on a team for the summer.
“I came out here to just take BP (batting practice),” Lina said. “I didn’t even know I was going to join the team. But after BP, they offered me a contract, got my physicals and I came out for the game. That was kind of crazy.”
Percival called Lina to come out for batting practice, and signed him just hours before first pitch Wednesday. Lina was manning the hot corner that evening – adjusting to his new team and league on the fly.
“It was my first time (playing with a ball-strike challenge system),” Lina said. “It was kind of confusing. I was asking the umpire questions. So it’s a lot different than college. Even the pitch clock – here it’s 15 seconds and in college it’s 20.”
Life in the MLB partner league isn’t always glamorous, and every player is hoping to get picked up by an MLB organization as soon as possible, but the ragtag, ever-fluid roster doesn’t lack camaraderie.
Long Beach turned all of those double plays in a series in which it started a different infield quartet in each game.
The Coast have celebrations for singles and doubles and a giant blue chain they award to hitters after a home run.
It’s a long way from MLB, but Blair Field – even in the spots without grass – remains filled with dreams.
“Today, I just spent $600 on bats, I just bought $90 shoes,” Alex Bardowell, the father of right fielder Matthew Bardowell, said on Thursday. “It’s their dream to play this far, and you want your kid to succeed. … You want to see their dreams come as far as they can take them.”